مَشهدMASHHAD
Index / Navigation2026
Studio
hello@mashhad.space
Language
07 / Identity
Visual Language

Visual identity manifest

The MASHHAD identity is composed with the same restraint as the scenes themselves · a fixed set of decisions about name, mark, palette, type, grid, photography, voice, motion and material.

01
The Name

Etymology

MASHHAD
The Nameمَشهد
Root
شsh
هh
دd

Derived from the triconsonantal root sh-h-d · to bear witness, to be present, to perceive with the eye or heart.

Definition

A scene. A composed view. A place where something quiet is witnessed.

In architectural terms, Mashhad refers to the spatial condition of visibility · the frame through which a moment is captured and held.

02
Principles

Five operating principles

  1. 01

    Restraint over expression

    Every element earns its place. The identity is what remains after everything decorative has been removed.
  2. 02

    Architecture before graphic

    The brand is governed by the same logic as the wall · mass, light, shadow, proportion. Not by trend, gradient or effect.
  3. 03

    Bilingual by default

    Arabic and English are equal in weight, never translated as an afterthought. Both languages set the page.
  4. 04

    Quiet, not silent

    We speak deliberately. The work is reserved, but never absent.
  5. 05

    Built to outlast its season

    No element is designed for a campaign. Every decision is sized for the long horizon of public life.
03
Logotype

The Mark

A single typographic gesture, rendered with the discipline of a museum label. The mark is built on a four-unit baseline grid; every counter, every interval, every breath of space is measured.

APrimary
MASHHAD
Baseline grid · 4uPlate 03 / a
Construction
MASHHADCAPBASE
Clear space
MASHHAD
xx

x = cap height

Scale
Minimum → Display
MASHHAD
10 px · Caption
MASHHAD
14 px · Body
MASHHAD
32 px · Header
MASHHAD
72 px+ · Display
Usage
MASHHAD
✓ Ink on paper
MASHHAD
✓ Paper on ink
MASHHAD
✕ Do not stretch
MASHHAD
✕ Do not recolour
03.B
Master mark

One DNA · parent and scenes

The master mark and the SceneMark sub-marks share one vocabulary · the thick slab, the hairline frame, the Arabic-above-Latin stack. The parent is not a different language · it is the same line at the parent scale.

مَشهدMASHHAD
Top edge

One line at two weights · thick slab (left 45%) flowing into a 1px hairline (right 55%).

Frame

Hairline closes on the left, right and bottom · the top is the slab itself.

Stack

Arabic above Latin · right-aligned · zero descent between the two lines.

Use

Header at small scale · footer at large scale · identity sheet at presentation scale. Never inline in running text.

Applied across the site · in the header, in the footer, and as the master sheet here. The SceneMarks inherit the same edge and frame, with the scene number written into the right half.

04
Palette

Chromatic restraint

No additional colour is introduced. Restraint is the system. Paper carries surfaces, Ink carries voice, Stone carries quiet, Line carries division.

05
Typography

Type system

a. Bilingual pairing
SCENE
مَشهد
Sora · 200 · −2% trackingIBM Plex Sans Arabic · 300 · 0% tracking

Latin and Arabic share the baseline and the same optical weight. Neither is a translation of the other · both set the page together.

b. Letter anatomy
Sora · M
M
cap heightx-heightbaseline
IBM Plex Sans Arabic · م
م
سقفخط الأساس
c. The scale, lived
Display
128 pt · 200
MASHHAD
Title
56 pt · 300
MASHHAD
Body
16 pt · 400
MASHHAD
Label
9 pt · 500
MASHHAD · 01
d. Glyph set
Sora
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
IBM Plex Sans Arabic
ا
ب
ت
ث
ج
ح
خ
د
ذ
ر
ز
س
ش
ص
ض
ط
ظ
ع
غ
ف
ق
ك
ل
م
ن
ه
و
ي
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
e. Typesetting rules
  1. 01
    Display tracking
    Latin: −2% · Arabic: 0
    MASHHAD
  2. 02
    Long-form leading
    Latin: 1.6 minimum · Arabic: 1.7 unified across all text
    Calm sentences breathe.الحروف العربية تحتاج فسحة أوسع.
  3. 03
    Numerals
    Latin numerals only · in both languages. No Arabic-Indic, Roman or Arabic-letter numbering.
    01 / 02 / 03
  4. 04
    Quotation marks
    «...» Arabic · "..." Latin
    "Scene"
  5. 05
    Emphasis
    Weight only. Never italic.
    quiet presence
  6. 06
    Mixed direction
    Arabic flows RTL, Latin embeds inline
    مشهد MH-02
f. Weight comparison
M
200
Display only
M
300
Titles
M
400
Body
M
500
Labels
MASHHAD
MASHHAD
MASHHAD
MASHHAD
Test the system
Quietly alive.
06
Grid

12 columns

12
Columns
6pt
Gutter
16pt
Baseline
50pt
Outer margin
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
01 · 02
All scenes snap to this grid.

Twelve columns. Six-point gutters. Sixteen-point baseline. Fifty-point outer margin. Asymmetry is permitted within the system, never against it.

11 · 12
In practice

Four moves anyone can apply tomorrow.

  1. 01
    Divide your canvas into 12

    Whether it is a slide, post, or page · imagine 12 equal vertical strips. Every element starts and ends on a strip edge.

  2. 02
    Leave the outer 50pt empty

    Never push text or image to the very edge. The breathing room is part of the identity, not wasted space.

  3. 03
    Snap text to a 16pt rhythm

    Line-height, spacing between paragraphs, distance between blocks · all multiples of 16. The page reads like a score.

  4. 04
    Break, but only on a column line

    Asymmetry is welcome. A title on columns 1–7, image on 8–12. The break is composed, not accidental.

Ready formats

The same grid · across every surface you publish.

Instagram post · 1:1
Social announcements
Story · 9:16
Vertical reels & stories
Slide · 16:9
Presentations & decks
Document · A4
Reports & proposals

Every surface — from a phone story to a printed proposal — sits on the same 12-column logic. Open any Mashhad template and you will find the grid already drawn.

07
Photography

Image direction

We photograph
  • Natural light at the edges of the day
  • Shadow as the primary subject
  • Human presence, never human performance
  • Material at close range · stone, lime, palm
  • Scenes held quietly in long horizontal format
We do not photograph
  • Stock corporate imagery
  • Staged smiling people
  • Over-rendered architecture
  • Crowded or commercial scenes
  • Luxury staging or aspirational lifestyle

The image must hold atmosphere, not perform it.

08
Naming

How a scene is named

Place, then element.

Every scene is named by joining a geography to a single architectural element it belongs to · courtyard, valley, wall, palm. No invented words, no abstractions, no marketing. A name should sound like a place on a map and a thing you can touch.

Formula
Place
Unaizah
UNZ
+
Element
Courtyard
CT
=
Scene name
UNAIZAH COURTYARD
MH-UNZ-CT-01
Choose place
Choose element
Sequence
01
Sub-mark · selected
06 / 10
06 · Thick top · half R
فناء عنيزة
Unaizah Courtyard
MASHHAD · MH-UNZ-CT-01
Adopted as the canonical sub-mark. A single thick slab anchors the top-right; a continuous hairline closes the remaining three edges.
Anatomy of a reference code
MH−UNZ−CT−01
MH
Mashhad prefix
UNZ
Place
CT
Element
01
Sequence (Latin)
Place catalog
Code · Region
  • UNZUnaizahQassim
  • AQQAqiqMadinah
  • DRYDiriyahRiyadh
  • AHSAl-AhsaEastern
  • TABTabukTabuk
  • JZNJazanJazan
Element vocabulary
Code · Word
  • CTCourtyard
  • VLValley
  • WLWall
  • PMPalm
  • STStair
  • WTWater
Conventions
✓ Allowed01
Diriyah Wall
Place + element. Concrete and locatable.
✓ Allowed02
Al-Ahsa Palm
Singular element, no descriptors.
✕ Forbidden03
Whispering Sands
Poetic invention. Not a place.
✕ Forbidden04
Heritage Vibes Vol. 2
Marketing language. Forbidden.
09
Materials

Material register

Material is the part of the identity that you can touch. Seven elements form the standing register · stone, glass and metal selected for their behaviour with light and time.

MH-M01
Flamed · honed
Charcoal Basalt01
MH-M02
Polished · sawn
Silver Granite02
MH-M03
Honed · matte
Graphite Granite03
MH-M04
High polish
Midnight Galaxy Granite04
MH-M05
Polished · float
Obsidian Glass05
MH-M06
Brushed · anodized
Anthracite Aluminum06
MH-M07
Brushed · anodized
Champagne Aluminum07

The brand is built from the same seven materials the building is built from.

10
Applications

Identity in use

Three working artefacts · the card you exchange, the letter you write, the banner you raise on a site. The system holds across all three with no decoration added.

MASHHAD
Studio · Riyadh
studio@mashhad.sa
Business card01
55 × 85 mm · Paper #F5F3EE · Ink #1A1A1A
MASHHAD2025 / 001
Letterhead02
A4 · 50 pt outer margin · 12-column grid
MH-02 / AQIQ VALLEY
A scene in progress.
Riyadh · 2025 –
Site banner03
3 × 2 m · matte vinyl · single-axis layout
Appendix

The ten chapters above are also bound into a single eight-page PDF · ready to share with partners, press and collaborators.

Brand Kit · PDF8 pages · A4 · 2.4 MB
Edition

MASHHAD / Visual Identity / 2025 / 001

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