Arabic + Latin monogram logo for a watch brand (M · ح · A)

Arabic + Latin monogram logo for a watch brand (M · ح · A) The project I'm developing a watch brand and need a mark built around three letters: the Latin M, the Arabic letter ح (haa, U+062D), and the Latin A. My starting assumption is a monogram, but see "Two routes" below. I'm open to a mark derived from the meaning of the names instead. I have a hand-drawn draft and a written design brief covering production constraints and four possible style directions. Why these three letters The letters come from the names of two brothers: Muhammad Hassan Ali Muhammad Haider Ali They share a first name (Muhammad → M) and a family name (Ali → A). Their middle names differ: Hassan (حسن) and Haider (حيدر) but both begin with the same Arabic letter, ح. So one monogram is literally correct for each brother read on his own. One mark, two people, no compromise. That structural fact is the brand's story and I'd like the design to earn it. What the names mean: Name Arabic Meaning Muhammad محمد praised, praiseworthy Hassan حسن good, beautiful Haider حيدر lion — historically an epithet of Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali علي high, elevated, exalted Read together: praised · good · lion · exalted, elevated, beautiful Three routes I'm open to 1. The letterform route: the M‑ح‑A monogram described above, drawn as one continuous mark, doing all the work on its own. 2. The meaning route: a mark derived from what the names mean rather than how they're spelled. For Example "Lion" and "elevated" are both strong visual ideas with real precedent in this category: Grand Seiko's lion, Zenith's star, Longines' winged hourglass, Ferrari's borrowed prancing horse. 3. A companion emblem: in addition to the monogram, not instead of it. The monogram is still the logo and still has to work on its own at 5mm; that requirement doesn't move. But alongside it I'd also consider a separate simple shape, the way Rolex has both a wordmark and a crown, Patek Philippe the Calatrava cross, Vacheron Constantin the Maltese cross. It would be a second device for the crown, clasp, caseback and packaging: extra identity, not a rescue for a monogram that doesn't hold up small. The emblem could come from route 2. A hybrid is welcome too: a monogram whose form carries an ascending or leonine quality without becoming illustrative. Worth knowing as precedent: the Ottoman tughra, the calligraphic art of compressing a personal name into a single flowing designed mark. If that tradition informs your approach, say so, but treat it as inspiration, not appropriation. What I need One mark, not three letters side by side. The letters should flow as a single continuous form, but each must stay individually readable. My own draft failed because the three merged into an unreadable shape. It has to work at 5mm. The primary application is a watch dial at roughly 5mm tall, plus the crown and caseback. A two-file system: a detailed primary mark for packaging and web, and a simplified version that survives dial production. Non-negotiable The ح must be correct. Its skeleton: the head stroke, the open bowl, the tail, cannot be distorted to fit the Latin letters, and it must not drift toward ج, خ or ه. You should either read Arabic fluently or have a native reader review the letterform before delivery. No AI-generated output. I've already tried that route and it doesn't work for this. I want drawn vector work. Production constraints to design within Pad printing, the main dial process, holds lines down to about 0.2mm Applied metal logos need letters of at least ~0.8mm and isolated elements of at least ~1.5mm Hot stamping needs strokes of at least ~0.3mm Fine tapered calligraphic terminals will thicken or drop out entirely at this size Style direction: I'm open on style and would like you to propose one. The directions I've considered: 1:Traditional Arabic calligraphy (thuluth or diwani) 2:Modular square Kufic 3:A naskh form harmonised with a Swiss-style Latin 4:Hand-drawn signature (ruq'ah) Design principles I'm working from: Above all: simplicity. Almost every logo that survives reduces to one simple, recognizable shape: a crown, a star, a swoosh, a pair of interlocked letters. Complexity is the enemy here, because the eye prioritizes silhouette over detail as a mark shrinks. A three-letter monogram pulls against that, and I'm aware of it, but the monogram is the logo, and it has to reduce to a single memorable shape at 5mm. That is the hard requirement, not an aspiration. A companion emblem is welcome as an addition, but it does not lower the bar for the monogram itself. If you think three letters genuinely cannot meet it, tell me before we start rather than after. Monogram construction Overlap, don't merge. Letters can cross, but pooling shared strokes into one body is exactly what killed my draft — it stops being three letters and becomes one abstract shape. One letter dominates, the other two read as subordinate. I'd expect the ح to carry the spine, but argue otherwise if you disagree. Two or three deliberate crossing points, not a continuously shared edge. A hair of visual separation at each crossing. Keep counters open. They're what lets the eye reconstruct a letter from a fragment, and they're the first thing to fill with ink at 5mm. Entry and exit strokes should be decided, not incidental — the connection points between letters are a design decision. Latin and Arabic together Never break the illusion of continuous movement. This is the first rule of Arabic type design. For letters that join, the connective stroke has to read as one unbroken movement, which is precisely why a single flowing mark suits this project rather than fighting it. Match optical size, not point size. Arabic has no capitals and behaves differently vertically, so setting the two scripts at the same nominal size produces a mismatch. Adjust by eye. Match colour and stroke modulation. The two scripts should carry the same weight on the page and the same degree of thick/thin contrast. High-contrast Latin pairs with comparably modulated Arabic; monolinear pairs with monolinear. Reconcile the baselines rather than imposing one. The Arabic baseline is dynamic letters sit on a connective ribbon, not a rigid line. Tie the Latin baseline to that ribbon; don't flatten the Arabic onto a Latin one. Give the Arabic its own rhythm. It needs more vertical breathing room and a different horizontal rhythm than Latin. Applying Latin spacing, tracking or proportion rules to it is a recognised error. Don't invent case. There is no uppercase in Arabic. Don't treat the ح as a capital or letterspace it as though it were one. Never distort the skeleton to fit the Latin. Bending the ح toward a Latin curve to make the composition work is the single most common mistake in bilingual marks, and it is visible instantly to anyone who reads Arabic. If the Latin letters need to move to accommodate a correct ح, move the Latin letters. How I'll judge the work Squint test: blurred until only dominant shapes remain, can you still see three distinct letters and identify the dominant one? Silhouette test — filled in solid black with no internal detail, is the outline still distinctive enough to be recognised? Legible and forgettable is still a fail. Thumbnail test: printed at exactly 5mm and viewed at 16px, do the counters survive and the letters stay separate? Single-colour test: flat black on white, no gradients or effects Reversal test: white on black; dials come both ways, so colour can never do the work of separating the letters Two-second test: shown to a first-time viewer, do they read M, ح, A? ح-integrity test: an Arabic reader confirms the letter and that its skeleton hasn't been distorted Production-floor test: every stroke ≥0.2mm, isolated elements ≥1.5mm, letters ≥0.8mm for applied metal Dial furniture test : placed at 12 o'clock alongside indices and hands, does the weight relate without competing? Deliverables Primary mark and simplified dial mark, as editable vector source (.ai or .svg) plus PDF and PNG exports Black on white and reversed white on black versions Proofs at 5mm, 3mm and 2mm Full copyright and ownership transfer To apply Please include: Examples of Arabic or bilingual Arabic–Latin lettering you have drawn: not generated Whether you read Arabic, or who would review the letterform A sentence or two on how you'd keep three interlocking letters legible at 5mm Your fee and timeline for the scope above Applications without Arabic lettering samples won't be considered.