Service
Multilingual & RTL Product Design
Arabic RTL is not an English layout flipped horizontally. Direction changes how a screen is scanned, which way navigation and progress should run, what an icon means, how forms and inputs behave, how numbers and dates are handled, and how typography needs to breathe. Products that treat Arabic as a translation layer end up feeling translated. I design and build both directions from one component system, so an EN/AR product stays one product instead of slowly becoming two.
Who this is for
- Businesses serving Arabic and English audiences across the GCC, Türkiye and Europe
- Products where the Arabic version currently feels like an afterthought
- Software teams adding Arabic to a product that was built LTR-only
- Service platforms and booking flows where forms, dates and numbers are central
- Companies that need Turkish alongside Arabic and English
What genuinely changes in RTL
- Reading and scanning order, which changes what belongs in the visually dominant position
- Navigation, breadcrumbs, steppers and progress indicators, which must run with the language
- Directional icons: arrows, back and next, chevrons, and anything implying forward motion
- Form layout, label alignment, input behaviour, and mixed LTR content such as emails, URLs and phone numbers
- Numbers, currency, dates and times, which do not simply mirror
- Typography: Arabic needs different sizing, line height and weight balance to read comfortably
- Layout density, because the same content rarely occupies the same space in both languages
How it is built, not faked
Direction is set in the HTML and handled with logical CSS properties, so the interface adapts by rule rather than by a mirrored stylesheet that has to be maintained twice. Components are written direction-aware once, which means new screens inherit correct behaviour instead of needing an RTL pass of their own. Content lives in per-language data so the two versions cannot silently drift apart, and per-language URLs are paired with correct hreflang and self-referencing canonicals so search systems understand they are alternates rather than duplicates.
Multilingual SEO structure
- Separate, crawlable URLs per language rather than a client-side language switch
- hreflang pairs between equivalent pages, with a defined x-default
- Self-referencing canonical on every language version
- Per-language metadata, Open Graph and structured data that match the visible content
- A language switch that lands on the equivalent page, not always on the homepage
Verified multilingual work
This is documented in delivered projects, not just described. ONE PASS is a bilingual EN/AR site with full RTL support built for a Saudi event execution company, and Mo Al-Asala is a bilingual AR/EN storefront with RTL throughout. This website itself runs the same structure: EN at the root, Arabic under /ar/, paired one-to-one by hreflang.
How to start
Send the product and say which languages it must serve, and whether Arabic exists today. You get an honest read on whether it needs adapting or rebuilding, and a starting range.
Frequently asked questions
Is Arabic RTL just mirroring the English layout?
No. Mirroring is where RTL projects go wrong. Direction affects scanning order, navigation and progress direction, icon meaning, form and input behaviour, number and date handling, typography sizing and line height, and layout density. A mirrored layout usually reads as a translated product rather than a designed one.
Can Arabic be added to our existing product?
Often yes, if the front-end supports separate language routes and direction-aware styling. If it was built LTR-only with hardcoded left and right values throughout, retrofitting can cost more than rebuilding the front-end properly. An audit answers which case yours is before you commit.
Does a second language double the cost?
No. The product direction, flows, design system and technical structure are shared. The second language adds design attention for direction-specific behaviour, content, and testing, not a second product. It is far cheaper when planned from the start than retrofitted afterwards.
How should multilingual URLs and hreflang be structured?
Each language needs its own crawlable URL, a self-referencing canonical, and hreflang pointing to its equivalent page in the other language, with an x-default defined. A client-side switcher that keeps one URL leaves search systems with one indexable version and effectively hides the other language.
Do you work in Turkish as well?
Yes. I work in English, Arabic and Turkish, and have built products for Turkish and Gulf markets in more than one language.
Need a product that works properly in Arabic and English?
Send the product and the languages it must serve. You get an honest read on adapting versus rebuilding, and a starting range.