A rebrand in Dubai costs more in reprints than in design, and the order you replace things in decides how much. Replace customer-facing items first and internal paperwork last, and a mid-size office rebrand lands around AED 4,000–5,000 in print and signage. Replace everything at once — including the 3,000 envelopes you bought last quarter — and you double it for no commercial gain. This is the full checklist of what carries your logo, in the order it should be reprinted, with real store prices in AED.
First: build the inventory before you order anything
Walk the office and the branch with a notebook. Most companies miss four or five items and discover them weeks after the launch, usually when a customer points one out. Count what exists, and note the remaining stock on each:
- Carried by people: business cards, name badges, lanyards, ID cards, uniforms, caps.
- Given to customers: flyers, brochures, menus, loyalty cards, appointment cards, gift vouchers, carrier bags, packaging, stickers, thank-you cards.
- Fixed to the building: fascia signage, reception signage, wall and directional signage, door and window stickers, floor graphics, safety signage.
- Paperwork: letterheads, envelopes, invoice and NCR books, delivery notes, quotation templates, folders, the company stamp.
- Moving and temporary: vehicle livery, roll-up banners, A-boards, exhibition backdrops, pull-up displays.
- Easy to forget: the stamp, the signature block artwork, the receipt roll header, parking permits, the courier's pre-printed labels, the sign on the back door.
Reprint in four waves, not all at once
Wave 1 — Day one, non-negotiable
Anything a customer or a regulator sees on the launch day. If the website and social channels change on Monday, these have to be in hand on Monday:
- Business cards for every customer-facing staff member
- Reception and fascia signage
- Menus, price lists or service cards handed to customers
- The company stamp — an old-logo stamp on a new-logo invoice is the detail clients notice
- Roll-up banner, if you have any event or meeting in the first month
Wave 2 — Within two weeks
Letterheads, envelopes, invoice and NCR books, folders, internal and directional signage, window and floor graphics, name badges. Order these in the same week as Wave 1 so the 5-working-day production overlaps with the launch rather than following it.
Wave 3 — Run down existing stock first
High-volume consumables where you hold months of stock: flyers, brochures, packaging, carrier bags, napkins, receipt rolls. If you hold more than two months' worth, use it — unless the old logo is on the front of a customer-facing item, in which case it moves up to Wave 1. A plain carrier bag is better than an old-logo one; an old-logo brochure in a client meeting is worse than no brochure.
Wave 4 — Scheduled replacement
Uniforms at the next seasonal order, vehicle livery at the next service or lease change, exhibition stands before the next show, outdoor signage at the next permit renewal where possible. These are the expensive items and they rarely need to change on day one.
What each item actually costs
Live store prices in AED, VAT inclusive, for full-colour printing. Use this to build the rebrand budget line by line rather than taking a round-number estimate.
| Item | Spec | Quantity | Price (AED) | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business cards | 350 GSM, matt laminated | 500 | 99 | 1 |
| Business cards | 350 GSM, matt laminated | 1,000 | 170 | 1 |
| Business cards — express | 350 GSM, matt, next day | from 500 | from 149 | 1 |
| Company stamp | 32 × 32 mm | 1 | 210 | 1 |
| Acrylic reception signage | Reception / counter | 1 | 750 | 1 |
| 3D acrylic signage | Fascia / feature wall | 1 | 1,150 | 1 |
| Menus A4 to A5 | 350 GSM, matt laminated | from 500 | from 550 | 1 |
| Roll-up banner | 85 × 200 cm, with stand | 1 | 190 | 1 |
| Letterheads A5 | 100 GSM wood free | 1,000 | 230 | 2 |
| Envelopes DL | 100 GSM wood free | 1,000 | 760 | 2 |
| Office wall signage | Internal / directional | 1 | 425 | 2 |
| Acrylic wall signage | Internal wall panel | 1 | 495 | 2 |
| Floor graphic stickers | Walkway / queue | 1 set | 95 | 2 |
| Presentation folders A4 | 400 GSM, velvet lam, 3D gold foil | 100 | 1,425 | 2 |
| Posters A4 | Single side | 15 | 140 | 2 |
| Flyers A5 | 170 GSM glossy, 2 sides | 1,000 | 270 | 3 |
| Brochures A4 | 170 GSM glossy | 1,000 | 610 | 3 |
| Branded polo shirts | 100% cotton, 220 GSM | per piece | 35 | 4 |
A typical single-office rebrand — 1,000 business cards, a stamp, reception signage, one 3D sign, two internal signs, floor graphics, 1,000 letterheads, 1,000 DL envelopes and a roll-up — comes to roughly AED 4,275 across Waves 1 and 2. Flyers, brochures and uniforms add to that only when existing stock runs out.
The five mistakes that cost the most
- Reprinting from the old file with the logo swapped. A new logo usually has different proportions and clear-space requirements. Dropping it into the old layout produces cards and letterheads that look subtly wrong. Re-lay the key items.
- Ordering before the logo is final. Wait for the signed-off vector files. A "final" logo that gets one more tweak after you have printed 1,000 cards is the single most common rebrand write-off.
- Forgetting the trade licence details. If the rebrand includes a legal name change, the licence number, trade name and VAT registration number on letterheads, invoices and NCR books all change too. Confirm the registered details with your licensing authority before artwork, not after.
- Keeping the old colour on one item. One sign ordered from a different supplier in a slightly different red undoes the whole exercise. Specify a named colour reference and order all signage together.
- No hard proof on the signage. A logo that reads well on a business card can lose legibility at 2 metres on a wall. Ask for a proof and view it at the real distance before production.
How to order a rebrand print set
Send the final logo as a vector file (AI, EPS or PDF) plus the colour references, and the approved artwork for each item as print-ready PDFs with fonts outlined, 3 mm bleed and built in CMYK. If your logo file came from a web designer it may be in RGB, which will shift when printed — our notes on CMYK vs RGB explain what to check before you approve.
Timeline to plan against: offset items such as letterheads, envelopes, flyers and brochures take 5 working days after final artwork approval. Business cards, posters and stamps are faster, and express next-day business cards are available from AED 149 if the launch date moved on you. Signage needs a site measurement and, depending on the emirate and the landlord, a permit — that is the long pole in any rebrand, so start it first even though it lands last. Delivery is free within Dubai on most orders, with next-day schedules to Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates. All store prices are VAT inclusive.
Working backwards from a launch date: place Wave 1 and Wave 2 orders at least 10 working days out, and start the signage permit conversation 6–8 weeks out. For finish choices on the items people will handle most, see our guide to matte, glossy and soft-touch lamination.
FAQ
How much does a rebrand reprint cost in Dubai?
For a single-office company, budget around AED 4,000–5,000 for the essential print and signage: 1,000 business cards at AED 170, a company stamp at AED 210, acrylic reception signage at AED 750, a 3D acrylic sign at AED 1,150, internal signage at AED 425–495 each, 1,000 letterheads at AED 230, 1,000 DL envelopes at AED 760 and a roll-up banner at AED 190. Multi-branch operations scale from there, and outdoor signage and vehicle livery sit outside that range.
Do we have to throw away the old stock?
Not all of it. Internal paperwork — blank envelopes, internal forms, stock you use behind the counter — can be run down. Anything a customer receives or reads should be replaced on day one, because handing over old-logo material tells the customer the rebrand is not real yet. Dispose of anything carrying the old trade name and licence number once the name change is registered.
What is the longest lead item in a rebrand?
Signage, and not because of production. Site measurement, landlord approval and permit requirements vary by emirate and by building, and that process runs on someone else's schedule. Start the signage conversation 6–8 weeks before launch even though the sign is installed last.
Can we change the logo without reprinting the invoice books?
If only the logo changed and the registered trade name, licence number and VAT number are the same, existing NCR and invoice books remain valid documents — they just look out of date. Most companies run the current book down and reprint at the next reorder. If the legal name or VAT registration changed, reprint immediately and confirm the required details with your licensing authority.
Should the Arabic version of the logo be redone too?
Yes, and it needs its own approval. An Arabic logotype is not a translation of the Latin one — the proportions, weight and clear space all differ, and a bilingual lockup that was balanced with the old logo rarely balances with the new one. Get the Arabic lockup signed off by a native Arabic reader before it goes onto signage, where it is expensive to fix.
How many business cards should we order after a rebrand?
Less than you did last time. 500 cards at AED 99 per person is usually enough for a first run, because contact details, titles and sometimes the design itself get adjusted in the first few months after a rebrand. Order the larger 1,000-card quantity at AED 170 only once the details have settled.
Get your rebrand quoted item by item
Send your new logo files and your inventory list on WhatsApp +971 52 210 0909 or call 0522100909, and we will come back with a priced wave-by-wave plan and the production dates to work backwards from. Start with Business Cards and the Signage range.
