01What "Arabic-first" actually means
Most Qatar projects we audit have an Arabic version that was designed last, translated quickly, and styled as an afterthought. The result is always the same: English looks great, Arabic looks like it's wearing borrowed clothes.
"Arabic-first" doesn't mean Arabic is your primary language — it means Arabic is a first-class citizen of your design system from day one. Both versions are designed in parallel. Both versions are tested with native speakers. Both versions ship at the same quality level.
For most Qatar businesses, this is the single highest-leverage UX investment you can make in 2026. Native Arabic users instantly notice (and trust) products that treat their language with care.
02Arabic typography done right
Arabic type is not Latin type with curly bits. It's a different writing system with different metrics — contextual letter forms, baseline behavior, kerning rules, and weight distribution.
Pair fonts carefully
Don't use a "universal" font like Arial. Pick a paired Latin + Arabic family designed to live together — examples we use often:
- IBM Plex Arabic + IBM Plex Sans
- Tajawal + Inter or Geist
- 29LT Bukra + 29LT Bukra Latin
- Noto Sans Arabic + Noto Sans (free, broad coverage)
Get weight pairing right
Arabic letterforms read heavier than their Latin equivalents at the same nominal weight. A 400-weight Arabic typically reads like a 500–600 Latin. Adjust pairings accordingly — you'll usually need to step Arabic down by one weight to balance.
Size and line-height
Arabic comfortably reads 1–2 px larger than English at body size. Line-height needs to be 5–10% looser to account for diacritics and tall letterforms. Test on real Arabic content, not Lorem ipsum.
03RTL is not "just flip the design"
RTL means: text flows right-to-left, the visual scan path reverses, layouts mirror — but some elements specifically should not mirror. Common gotchas:
- Numbers and Latin words inside Arabic sentences stay LTR (bidirectional text)
- Phone numbers, dates, version numbers, currency amounts stay LTR
- Icons with directional meaning (arrows, play buttons, progress bars) do flip
- Brand logos do not flip — ever
- Charts can be tricky: time-series usually flip; comparison bars usually don't
Treat RTL as a design discipline, not a Tailwind directive. Build out a small RTL test page covering bidirectional text, mixed Arabic/Latin headings, currency formatting (with QAR), and form inputs — and review it before every release.
04Arabic copywriting
Translated copy reads like translated copy. Native Arabic users feel it within a sentence and quietly assume your product is not for them.
What good Arabic UI copy looks like in 2026:
- Written, not translated, by an Arabic native
- Matches the register your audience expects — Gulf dialect for casual consumer apps, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) for serious B2B and government
- Same warmth, voice, and personality as your English copy
- Tested with actual Qatari users before shipping
Arabic users instantly notice when a product was built for them, versus translated for them. The difference shows up in conversion within the first week. — Tahmid Hossain, Design Director, DreamIT
05How to test bilingual UI
Five concrete tests we run before shipping any bilingual product:
- The "longest string" test. German breaks Latin layouts; Arabic with full diacritics breaks Arabic ones. Test every component with worst-case content.
- The mixed-script test. Build a single screen with Arabic body, Latin product names, and Eastern Arabic numerals (٠١٢٣٤). Make sure it reads naturally.
- The flip-and-back test. Switch a user from EN to AR mid-session. Does state carry over? Do form fields preserve content? Does the URL update?
- The screenshot diff. Capture every screen in both locales. Eyeball them side by side. Hierarchy should feel equivalent.
- The native review. A 30-minute review with a native Arabic speaker who hasn't seen your product before. You'll find 8 issues you'd never catch yourself.
Want our Arabic + English design checklist (free)? Email hello@mydreamit.dev and we'll send our internal 42-point list we use on every Qatar project.