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Sadly, R&D&Co has ceased trading. We'd like to thank all our clients over the past five years who have allowed us to do such interesting and exciting projects. In particular though, we'd like to thank our designers - Eric Au, Nahim Afzal, Dave Brown, James Harvey, Natalie Bullard, Anthony Smith and Anoushka Jahangiri - for producing such fantastic work for us.

Arbah Capital

Capital ideas

Arbah is an old Saudi word meaning 'a fair trade', a principle that is deeply rooted in Saudi culture, and the foundation of Islamic business ethics. Arbah Capital have established the first fully Shari'ah compliant wealth management institution in Saudi Arabia. It's a mouthful, but for Saudis, we knew it meant "your wealth, your way"

A law unto themselves

To be fully Shari'ah compliant takes a lot of work. You need to know where all the money has come from, where it's all going, and who is benefitting. But it is worth it - because you can rest assured that every transaction is ethical.

The complexity has often left even arab banks adding Sharia'ah compliance as an aside to more easily-manageable products, simply because once you start from somewhere else, it's very difficult to add later. The result is that Shari'ah compliant products have been viewed as unsophisticated by wealthier private investors keen to maximise their assets. Arbah Capital has created a range of products that appeal directly to this market, and in one fell swoop redefined ethical private banking, for Saudis, Muslims and ethical investors world-wide.             

A foot in two worlds

Working with Alama, our partners in Saudi Arabia, to fully appreciate the cultural context, the brand we created for them is the combination of luxury and history; proud of the mercantile Saudi history and its traditions of hospitality, but appealing to the new generation of Westernised and label conscious Saudi, as stylish in its presentation and iconic in its logo as a pair of Dunhill cufflinks or a Patek Philippe watch.

The ripple logo combines the geometric style of western graphic design and the hidden calligraphy that so typifies arabic art. We hope that it typifies the meeting of the Western and Arabic mindset, and that, rather than slavishly mimicking historical Saudi forms, or imposing inappropriate Western ones, that we are working towards developing a visual language that combines the sophistication of both.

 

What we did

  • Brand architecture
    • Brand identity
      • Brand strategy
        • Naming
          • Tone of voice
            • Literature
              • Typeface design