Celebrating Saudi Culture, One Box At A Time
Saudi National Day and the Collector's Box Series
Through years of close collaboration with founder Dr. Yousef Al-Mozaini, we've come to know the NALYA brand and story inside out. That trust opened the door to two standout projects: packaging for Saudi National Day, and a Collector's Box Series.
Saudi National Day Packaging
NALYA was commissioned, together with Flyadeal, to develop limited edition packaging to be handed out to flyers onboard on Saudi National Day.
To start, we studied the National Day guidelines, Our Pride is in Our Nature, by the General Entertainment Authority, so the packaging could speak the visual language of the occasion while still feeling like NALYA.
We began with a simple question: What does Saudi National Day mean to the people who will hold this packaging in their hands? Then we looked at where that feeling already lives in NALYA: the palm tree, the warmth a good date brings, and the trust the brand has built.
Our first design routes went all in on National Day's visual language. It was too much: too celebratory, too cluttered, and did not quite showcase the NALYA brand.
The turning point came when we stepped back and let the palm tree tell the story. It's rooted in both the brand and the land, and it already speaks to the occasion. With hints of rich national green, fine patterns and a touch of gold, the packaging felt festive without being overwhelming.
From there, we refined and tested the design across every packaging size to make sure it held up. The result is packaging that feels made for the moment, and is still unmistakably NALYA.
The end result was a delicate balance between the elegance of the NALYA brand, paired with the intricacy and richness of the Saudi National Day brand guidelines.
Collector's Box Series Packaging
Not every box of dates is meant to be eaten and forgotten. For the Collector's Box series, Nakheel Alya wanted premium gifting boxes people would be proud to give, and reluctant to throw away. The brief was to create a set worth collecting, the challenge was making each box feel distinct, while making sure the collection read as one family.
Every date has an origin, so we wanted each box to feel like a postcard from it. Rather than one look stretched across the whole series, we gave every box its own landmark from the region its dates come from. Open one and you're not just choosing a variety, you're taking a small trip to where it grew.
That idea became the foundation of the whole design process: start with the place, and let the box grow from there.
Up close, that's where the story really lives. Each box carries its own little world. From mudbrick towers with crenellated tops, to arched doorways glowing in the sun and carved wooden windows catching rays of light. Camels rest in tasseled blankets, while an Arabian oryx stands watching over a rocky ledge. The distinguished and resilient palm tree appears throughout all the scenes, as a quiet thread that ties the whole series together.
Each pack features a pattern along the bottom, inspired by the region its dates come from. We drew inspiration from local landmarks and architectural features, and then simplified them into seamless patterns, to embellish each of the boxes.
Khudri
Khudri dates come from Hail, the city of three castles. For the pattern, we took the stepped shurfat that crown traditional Najdi rooftops and turned that skyline into a repeating border.
Ajwa
Ajwa dates come from Madinah, home to the Prophet's Mosque. For the pattern, we looked to the decorative lattice work found in the city's interior architecture and simplified it into a repeating border.
Safawi
Safawi dates come from Madinah, home to the historic Hejaz Railway Station. For the pattern, we took the pointed arches along its facade and repeated them into a continuous border.
Sukkari
Sukkari dates come from Buraydah, an oasis city known as the "city of dates" and home to one of the biggest date festivals in the world. For the pattern, we drew on the rhythm of its date groves and turned it into a repeating border.
Medjool
Medjool dates come from Al-Ghat, home to the Al-Ghat Heritage Village. For the pattern, we took the white scalloped shapes that trim its mud-brick buildings and layered them into a repeating border.
Even the backgrounds are part of the journey. Rolling dunes in warm terracotta and sand give way to sage green hills, and soft gold palm fronds catch the light in the corners. Each region gets its own palette, so you can tell where a box is from before you read a single word.
Two different approaches, yet one thread running through both: a brand with a story worth telling. One captured a national celebration, the other a journey across regions, and both grew from the same place, featuring NALYA dates inside out.
That's the joy of a long-standing partnership. When trust is already there, the ideas get to be braver, and the work gets to be more personal. We're grateful to the NALYA team for letting us tell their story, one box at a time.
Rehla Design: creative partners for brands with a story to tell.
Learn more about our work with Nakheel Alya & NALYA.
