Brand Design Lead – Arabic Branding, Illustration & Packaging

Brand Design Lead – Arabic Branding, Illustration & Packaging Lead Joud’s Arabic-first visual identity across branding, illustration, packaging, menus, campaigns, and culturally relevant design. About Joud Joud is an Abu Dhabi-born cafe brand entering its next stage of growth. We are building a stronger cafe, breakfast, bakery, dessert, retail, coffee, and lifestyle experience. We are looking for a Brand Design Lead who can shape Joud’s visual world across Arabic and English — from brand identity and campaigns to illustration, packaging, menus, retail products, social media, signage, and in-store touchpoints. This is not a basic graphic design role. We are looking for someone with strong artistic taste, strong Arabic design capability, and the ability to create work that feels culturally relevant, premium, memorable, and original. Arabic design is a must for this role. The right candidate must be able to design in Arabic with confidence — not simply translate English layouts or place Arabic text as a secondary layer. What we need this person to create We are looking for a designer who can produce brand work that combines: Arabic typography English typography Illustration Pattern design Poster design Packaging design Menu design Campaign visuals Product labels Stickers, cups, bags, boxes, cards, and merchandise Collateral systems that feel collectible and brand-building The work should be able to move across digital, print, packaging, and physical brand applications. We are especially interested in candidates who understand how to create visuals inspired by regional culture, vintage print, old stamps, hotel labels, packaging labels, Arabic poster art, heritage motifs, calligraphy, editorial layouts, and modern lifestyle branding — without making the work feel cliché, old-fashioned, or generic. Key responsibilities Lead the visual direction of Joud across brand, campaign, packaging, menu, retail, social, signage, and in-store applications. Build Arabic-first and bilingual design systems across Arabic and English. Create strong typographic layouts where Arabic is treated as a main design language, not as a translation layer. Select and use Arabic fonts properly across headlines, body copy, menus, packaging, posters, and campaign assets. Create or direct original illustrations, icons, patterns, borders, labels, stamps, visual motifs, and custom graphic assets. Develop packaging concepts for coffee bags, bakery packaging, cups, stickers, boxes, retail products, merchandise, and limited-edition drops. Design campaign visuals for product launches, store openings, Ramadan, Eid, National Day, collaborations, breakfast campaigns, bakery campaigns, and seasonal moments. Translate UAE / GCC / Arabic cultural references into modern, premium, and commercially usable brand design. Create visual systems that can be applied across multiple touchpoints, not one-off designs only. Work closely with marketing, photography, videography, product, operations, suppliers, printers, and external agencies. Review and improve creative work across the brand to ensure consistency, quality, and strong taste level. Protect the brand visually across all customer-facing materials. Requirements Strong portfolio in branding, visual identity, packaging, illustration, editorial design, campaign design, hospitality, lifestyle, retail, cultural, or F&B design. Strong Arabic design capability is required. Must be able to read, understand, and design professionally in Arabic. Strong understanding of Arabic typography, Arabic font pairing, Arabic hierarchy, calligraphy-inspired layouts, and bilingual composition. Strong illustration ability, either hand-drawn, digital, or stylus/tablet-based. Ability to create custom visual assets such as patterns, icons, borders, labels, stamps, editorial graphics, packaging artwork, and campaign illustrations. Strong taste level and ability to create work that feels premium, artistic, warm, modern, and culturally relevant. Strong understanding of print, packaging, layout, and how designs translate into physical collaterals. Confident using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and relevant design tools. Experience with Procreate, iPad/stylus, Figma, motion direction, AI creative tools, or packaging mockups is a plus. Experience with cafes, restaurants, hospitality, coffee, bakery, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, cultural institutions, or retail brands is a strong advantage. Comfortable working in a fast-moving environment with multiple projects running at the same time. Based in Abu Dhabi or willing to work full-time from Abu Dhabi. Portfolio requirements Please apply only if your portfolio clearly shows examples of: Arabic typography Arabic or bilingual brand identity Illustration-led branding Packaging, labels, cups, bags, boxes, or retail collaterals Posters, campaign visuals, or editorial layouts Pattern design, iconography, stamps, borders, or custom graphic systems Hospitality, cafe, restaurant, cultural, lifestyle, fashion, beauty, or retail work Strong art direction and visual storytelling Applications without strong Arabic design examples and original visual work will not be considered. What we are looking for in simple terms We need someone who can make Joud look more distinctive, more local, more premium, and more memorable. Someone who can design in Arabic properly. Someone who can combine Arabic typography with illustration. Someone who understands packaging, print, menus, campaigns, and collaterals. Someone who can create a full visual world, not just social media posts. Someone with the taste and skill to make Joud feel like a real lifestyle brand. Locations Abu Dhabi , Dubai Remote status Hybrid About Joud Coffee Joud Coffee (“Joud”) was founded in 2015 with the mission of introducing speciality coffee to Abu Dhabi. After opening our first cafe in the Al Bateen, we have expanded to neighbourhoods across the city where each location offers a uniquely designed space for our community to gather and experience our delicious food, pastry, and coffee offerings. We are proud to roast our beans in small batches at our roasting facility in Abu Dhabi, sourcing them through ethical and sustainable direct trade partnerships that connect us to coffee growers and traders around the globe. Today, Joud has its presence in more than 11 locations and continues to grow within the region. Founded in 2015