Pentagram's Samar Maakaroun Unveils Twin Identities for Doha Design District's Mada and Sada

Pentagram has designed two sub-brand identities for the Doha Design District (DDD) in Msheireb Downtown Doha, Qatar. The project was led by Samar Maakaroun, who was approached by DDD director Dana Kazic to introduce two distinct spaces—a maker's space and an event space—while strengthening the parent brand. The maker's space was named Mada, meaning range, reach or possibility, and the event space was named Sada, meaning echo. The two spaces are positioned physically opposite each other. The naming process explored letter repetitions and Arabic words with spatial dimensions. The visual solution uses almost identical letterforms, mirrored and rearranged, so that each name appears as an echo of the other. Both names incorporate the letter D from the existing DDD symbol, and other letterforms are inspired by the architecture of Msheireb. The project emphasizes brand architecture built on discipline rather than decoration, ensuring equity moves in all directions—from DDD to the sub-brands, between the sub-brands, between languages, and back into the wider district. The work follows Maakaroun's identity for The Mosaic Rooms in London, covered in April. The result is a harmonious system where the connection between Sada and Mada is immediately obvious without explanation.