Palm Jumeirah is the man-made, palm-shaped island off the coast of Dubai, master-developed by Nakheel and launched in 2001.[1] The island itself is the primary visual identity: its silhouette of a trunk, fronds and crescent is the brand’s defining mark. The original corporate identity and logo for “The Palm” were designed by FutureBrand HyperMedia in 2002.[2]
Design and History
FutureBrand HyperMedia created the corporate identity and logo for The Palm, which was unveiled in 2002.[2] The logo depicts a palm frond, a choice made for its association with the region and with the lush vegetation planned for the islands.[2] The mark was applied across the broader Palm development program, which at the time encompassed multiple palm-shaped island projects.[3]
Nakheel, the developer behind Palm Jumeirah, underwent its own rebrand in September 2022.[4] The reveal video showed blue letters forming “Nakheel” floating between the fronds of the Palm Jumeirah before assembling into the brand name.[4] The rebrand was developed with brand partner Ochre and won six awards at the Transform Awards MEA 2023, including Gold for Best brand evolution and Best visual identity.[5]
Typography and Design
For the 2022 Nakheel rebrand, type foundry F37 was commissioned to develop a custom type family based on its F37 Incise design.[6] The starting point was developing and refining the new logo, a semi-condensed sans serif with deep vertices and angular incisions.[6] The type family includes three sub-families: Display, Text and Logo, all with Arabic and Latin language support.[6] The Logo sub-family is a direct expansion of the logo itself into a functioning font, allowing Nakheel to set any existing or new development name in the logo font to create new logos with the existing logo DNA.[6] The rebrand unified Nakheel’s visual identity under a single colour palette and typography.[5]
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