SKS Advocates
A 50-year-old firm needed to speak today's language
Model
B2B
Services
Brand Refresh
Logo Refinement
Website
Location
Sudan
Year
2026
Industry
Legal Services
The Brief
Overview
Shami, Khalil & Siddig Advocates is a Sudanese law firm founded in 1976, working across transactional, advisory and litigation services, including local counsel on cross-border matters. The firm wanted a contemporary identity that felt familiar to its Sudanese clients and helped international companies understand who SKS is and how it can support them in Sudan. I led the brand identity and art direction, refined the logo with Fares Osama, and extended the system to social graphics, newsletters, the company profile and the guidelines.
The Challenge
The existing logo was central to the firm’s identity, so it stayed. The challenge was to improve how it worked across formats and build a system around it, so a website, a social graphic and a company profile read as one firm, whatever the scale of the logo or the amount of content. Law firms also can’t advertise like other businesses, because the professional code limits overt promotion. The brand had to do its work through clarity and tone, not volume.
Solution
Authority with restraint: a protected logo, a quiet system of type, space and pattern, and a tone that lets a legal practice sound like one.
Narrative & Strategy
I started with the firm’s existing materials and compared how regional and international law firms present themselves. I focused on how typography, spacing and hierarchy communicate expertise, especially on websites, where a prospective client may meet a firm for the first time. That shaped a restrained art direction: clear layouts and deliberate spacing that make the firm’s experience and capabilities easy to grasp, in a tone that suits a legal practice. For an international reader meeting the firm cold, the layout does the explaining.
Visual Identity
We refined the logo. The primary lockup keeps the three square SKS letter tiles and the Arabic calligraphy, with the English firm name and a bilingual descriptor beneath. We clarified the hierarchy so the initials, the firm name and the professional designation each have a distinct place. The guidelines define a primary lockup, a secondary variant and a web icon for compact digital placements, plus color and reversed versions for different backgrounds. Around the logo I built the rest of the system. Deep navy anchors the identity, Baltic blue adds a brighter accent for digital layouts and gold adds warmth. Labor Union handles English display and Neue Montreal handles body copy. Jali Arabic Variable covers Arabic display and body, so each language is typeset on its own terms. Patterns carry the identity through layouts without needing a prominent logo in every composition.
Same firm at every scale
Website, social graphics, newsletters and a company profile share one palette and one set of patterns, so the firm stays recognizable whether the logo is large, small or absent.
Outcome & Impact
Outcome
SKS received a refined bilingual logo system, the 2026 company profile and brand guidelines covering logo variants, palette, Arabic and English typography, tone of voice and art direction. Fares led the website, applying the new identity to the firm’s online presence, and I extended the brand to social graphics and newsletter layouts that carry both short announcements and longer legal updates. The profile introduces the firm and its history, then organizes the material into practice areas, industries, team, and experience and clients, with section labels and clear headings that let a reader go straight to what matters to them.
Impact
The firm kept the logo its clients trust and gained a system around it. The guidelines give SKS a reference for producing future communications, from the website to publications to everyday materials, in the same restrained voice. Credits: Brand identity and art direction by Awab Elamin. Logo refinement by Awab Elamin. Website by Fares Osama.