The first Arab print-on-demand platform

The situation

Creators in the Arab world design in English tools, sell on English platforms, and translate everything back. Arabify is the first Arab print-on-demand platform, built by Cliqom, and it is built the other way round: Arabic is the default language, the design tools work right to left, and the English edition is the second one.

The constraint

A design studio in the browser is a different kind of build from a store. It has to feel like a native app while running on a phone in Doha, handle Arabic text on a canvas where most libraries assume Latin, and save work without a creator noticing. Around it sits everything a store needs: products, orders, a wallet, payouts, onboarding, and a premium tier. All of it in two languages with Arabic first.

What we built

A web platform with the design studio at its centre. The studio runs on a canvas where a creator places text, shapes and images, in Arabic or English, and exports a product. The dashboard covers products, orders, wallet, store settings, onboarding and premium features. Sign-in by email link or a social account, with the language carried in the address so an Arabic creator never sees an English screen by accident.

How we handled the hard part

Arabic on a canvas. Text shaping and direction are handled by the browser in ordinary page content, but on a drawing canvas the application has to do the work: measure right-to-left text correctly, place it, and keep it editable. We tested with real Arabic strings and real fonts from the first day rather than adding Arabic at the end, which is where most platforms lose it.

What changed

Creators who work in Arabic get a tool that does not make them translate themselves first.

What we would tell the next client

If your users write in Arabic, build in Arabic and add English second. Every platform that does it the other way round ships with an Arabic edition that reads like a translation, because it is one.