Watermelon Pictures

Published October 14, 2026

Watermelon Pictures is a film production and distribution company founded by two Chicago-based Palestinian brothers, focused on elevating underrepresented voices in cinema.

One Design Company and Field of Practice partnered to develop a culturally rooted, bilingual identity system that treats Arabic and English as equal carriers of meaning, rather than translating one into the other, while embedding symbolic storytelling directly into the brand’s visual language.

Our teams focused on rethinking how bilingual brands function.

Rather than create a single Arabic adaptation of the English wordmark, we developed a suite of variable Arabic marks, each inspired by lived experiences expressed through stamps, travel documents, and paper trails accumulated while crossing borders. This decision anchored the system in a visual vernacular that feels authentic to the spirit of Watermelon Pictures. Paired with a complementary English wordmark, the system establishes true linguistic parity—ensuring Arabic is not subordinate, but central to the brand’s voice. It also offered the brand a flexible typographic toolkit that could express various voices with consistency and cohesion.

Choosing Zaatar as the primary Arabic typeface was equally intentional. Za’atar holds a bold sharpness that echoes the tone of the English wordmark type, Farmacia. Its structure allowed us to honor cultural memory while still presenting a contemporary, cinematic voice. In practice, it created a bilingual system where Arabic does not act as a translation layered on top of English, but as a primary storytelling mark in its own right.

To complement Za’atar, we introduced 29LT Ada Flat as a secondary typeface for moments that needed tonal contrast. Ada Ruqaa brings a refined, contemporary take on the traditionally quick-hand Ruqaa script, adding a calligraphic flavor that can signal urgency or documentary voice.

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