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Designing Calm Bilingual UI/UX Systems: Arabic RTL & English LTR Rules

How we craft Swiss-inspired design systems that feel native in both Arabic and English—balancing typographic scale, logical spacing tokens, and 18.5:1 WCAG AAA contrast.

Arssan Team
Arssan Team
Digital Architecture & Web Engineering
•4 min read
Bilingual RTL and LTR UI Design System

True bilingual design goes far beyond flipping dir='rtl'. Arabic script has distinct vertical metrics, cursive connections, and reading cadence that must be honored alongside geometric Latin typography.

1. Typographic Pairing & Zero Letter-Spacing in RTL

While Latin display headings benefit from tight negative tracking (-0.03em), negative or positive letter-spacing breaks connected Arabic glyphs. Our CSS architecture enforces zero letter-spacing across all RTL contexts and pairs Plus Jakarta Sans with Readex Pro.

globals.css
html[dir="rtl"],
html[dir="rtl"] * {
  font-family: var(--font-readex-pro), sans-serif !important;
  letter-spacing: 0 !important;
}

2. Calm Competence & 18.5:1 Contrast

By reserving #0d0d0d on pure #ffffff canvas (18.5:1 WCAG AAA contrast) and using #f3f3f3 surfaces for secondary containers, long-form reading and high-intent commercial flows remain effortless across devices.

#UI/UX#RTL#Design Systems#Accessibility
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Arssan Team
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Arssan Team

Specialized engineering team crafting calm UI/UX systems, high-speed web platforms, and headless workflows for ambitious brands in Kuwait and the GCC.

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