Packaging that sells on the shelf and holds up in production.

Packaging in the UAE has to win on a crowded shelf next to imported brands from every major market, while carrying more information than many other countries require. Bilingual labelling is expected here, which means fitting Arabic and English product names, ingredients, directions and warnings onto the same surface without the pack looking cluttered. Planning that information hierarchy is often the hardest part of the job.

Food and some other regulated products follow UAE standards for labelling, covering details such as the Arabic content, dates, storage, origin and ingredient declarations. Requirements change and can differ by product category and emirate, so we design the label to accommodate them, but we always suggest confirming the final text with the relevant authority or a regulatory consultant before printing. We are designers, not a compliance body.

Many brands here produce in one country and sell in another, so artwork is often shared with a manufacturer abroad. We prepare dielines, colour specifications and print files clearly enough for a factory in another time zone to follow, and we flag finishes or materials that tend to cause trouble in the heat and humidity of a Gulf summer, such as some soft touch coatings or labels that lift in cold chain storage.

Retail channels shape design choices too. Supermarket shelves, pharmacy counters, airport duty free and quick commerce apps all show your pack differently. A design that reads well at arm's length may become an unreadable thumbnail on a delivery app, so we test each pack as a small product image as well as a physical mock up.

The most useful thing you can bring to a packaging project is a clear picture of your production constraints. Which printer or converter will produce the pack, which printing process they use, their minimum order quantities, and whether the format is a stock size or a custom structure all change what is realistic. A common and expensive mistake is to approve a design on screen before the factory has confirmed it can print those colours on that material. We ask for the printer's specifications at the start and design within them, rather than discovering the limits at the proofing stage.

Packaging also has to connect with everything around it. The same pack appears in product listings on your own website and on marketplaces, in social posts, on exhibition stands and in presentations to retail buyers. We supply clean front, back and angled renders, flat label artwork and styled compositions that your eCommerce and social teams can use straight away. When you plan a seasonal edition for Ramadan or National Day, we design it as a variation of the core pack so it feels special without confusing returning customers or requiring new structural tooling.

Codeeo is a team of 80+ across Dubai, Riyadh and Karachi, with more than 200 projects delivered across the UAE and the US. You can review samples and printed proofs with our designers in Dubai Silicon Oasis, or follow progress on WhatsApp and video.