Arabic as a design language
Right-to-left is designed, not mirrored. Arabic typography set for legibility at interface sizes, bidirectional text handled where Arabic meets Latin identifiers, and Hijri dates where users expect them.
تصميم عربي أولاًWhat we build
Four shapes cover most of what Saudi organisations ask for. The differences that matter are usually in the integrations and the compliance scope, not the front end.
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Multi-tenant SaaS platforms
Subscription products for the Saudi and GCC market: tenant isolation designed against PDPL rather than assumed, billing that handles VAT correctly, and an Arabic interface that is not an afterthought.
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Enterprise portals and internal tools
The systems your staff use all day. Usually the highest-leverage work available, and usually the least glamorous — which is why it stays un-built for years.
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Customer-facing mobile products
iOS and Android where users expect Nafath sign-in, mada payments, Arabic content and offline tolerance on inconsistent connections.
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Data and operations dashboards
Interfaces over systems that already hold the data but make it unreadable. Often faster and cheaper than the platform replacement someone proposed instead.
The requirements that catch foreign teams out
Products built abroad and localised afterwards tend to fail in the same predictable places. These are specified at design time, not discovered during UAT.
Nafath for identity
National single sign-on is what users expect for identity verification. Worth being precise: private products integrate with Nafath, not with Absher directly.
Nafath SSOZATCA e-invoicing
Any product issuing invoices needs Fatoora-compliant e-invoicing, including the clearance and reporting phases. Retrofitting this into a live billing system is painful.
Fatoora phase 2mada and local payment rails
Card coverage in the Kingdom means mada first, then international schemes. Products that launch with Visa and Mastercard only see conversion drop noticeably.
mada · Apple PayPDPL by architecture
Data residency, consent capture, retention limits and the 72-hour breach notification path affect schema design and hosting region — not just the privacy policy.
PDPLNCA security standards
Compliance target rather than an integration. Controls are built to NCA ECC expectations where the client or their sector requires it.
NCA ECCHow a product gets built
Six stages, though the first two are where a product is usually won or lost. Most failed products we are asked to rescue were engineered competently against the wrong specification.
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1–2 weeks
Discovery
User research with actual Saudi users, not proxies. Opportunity mapping, constraint gathering, and an honest read on whether the thing should be built at all.
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1 week
Strategy
Scope cut to what a first release must prove. Success defined as a number somebody will be held to, and a roadmap for what deliberately waits.
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2–3 weeks
Design
Arabic and English interfaces designed in parallel, prototyped and tested with users before any production code exists.
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5–8 weeks
Engineering
Fortnightly releases into a real environment. Cloud-native, API-first, with test coverage written alongside rather than promised for later.
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1–2 weeks
Launch
Performance tuning under realistic load, security review, store submission where relevant, and the operational runbook your team will actually use.
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Ongoing
Iterate
Instrumentation from day one, so the next release is decided by behaviour rather than by whoever argues most persuasively in the room.
What we ask before quoting anything
A proposal written without these answers is a guess with a number attached. If you can answer them, most agencies will quote you more accurately — including the ones that aren't us.
- Who specifically is this for, and what do they do today instead?
- What has to be true in six months for this to have been worth building?
- Which existing systems must it talk to, and does anyone own those integrations?
- Does it handle personal data, and if so, whose and under what basis?
- Who inside your organisation can decide scope without escalating?
- What is the honest deadline, and what happens if it slips by a month?
Three ways to work with us
Most engagements start as the first and become the second once the product has users.
MVP build
A defined first release with an agreed scope, delivered to production and handed over with documentation and a maintenance runbook.
Best when the problem is clear and the scope can be held still for three months.Embedded product team
Designers and engineers working as your product team, on your board, at your cadence — with a named lead accountable for delivery.
Best when the roadmap is alive and scope will keep moving.Product recovery
A two-week read on a product that is late, unstable or unused, ending in a recommendation: stabilise, partially rebuild, or stop.
Best when something is already built and nobody agrees on why it is not working.Questions, answered plainly
How long does it take to build a digital product?
A focused MVP typically takes 8 to 14 weeks. A full enterprise product runs 4 to 9 months depending on integration count and compliance scope. Delivery is in fortnightly sprints, so working software is visible throughout rather than only at the end.
What does "Arabic-first" actually mean?
Right-to-left layout is designed rather than mirrored. Arabic typography is set for legibility at interface sizes, bidirectional text mixing Arabic with Latin identifiers is handled, and Hijri dates and Arabic numerals appear where users expect them. Retrofitting Arabic into an English-first product usually costs more than building for both from the start.
Can you integrate with Saudi national platforms?
Yes, within what each platform permits. Nafath handles national single sign-on for identity verification — worth stating precisely, since private products integrate with Nafath rather than with Absher directly. ZATCA covers e-invoicing through Fatoora. Payments run through mada and your acquirer. NCA standards are complied with rather than integrated against.
Do you build SaaS products for the Saudi and GCC market?
Yes: multi-tenant architecture, subscription billing that handles VAT correctly, tenant data isolation designed against PDPL, Arabic interfaces, and hosting on AWS Saudi or Azure KSA where residency applies.
What if we already have a product that is not working?
That is a recovery engagement rather than a build. It starts with a two-week assessment of the codebase, architecture and delivery process, ending in a recommendation — including, sometimes, that the product should be stopped rather than rebuilt.
Who owns the code?
You do, from the first commit. Repositories sit in your organisation. Handover documentation is part of delivery, not a separately priced add-on.
Start here
Bring the six questions. We'll bring an honest scope.
A first conversation is a working session, not a pitch. You'll leave with a scope, a rough range and a clear view of what should be in the first release — whether or not you build it with us.