This page is our design guide for healthcare fronts. It covers pharmacies and medical stores, clinics of each main kind, and optical shops, then the things that apply to all of them: which symbols you can use, the lit pharmacy cross, colours and lettering, sizing and placement, what the health regulator expects on the sign, and the signs inside. For the general rules of sign design, see our shop name board designs guide.
What makes a good pharmacy or medical shop sign board design
A good pharmacy or medical shop sign board design is found quickly, understood at once and trusted on sight. It shows the licensed name in Arabic and English, says plainly what the place is, carries one recognised health symbol, and is lit evenly at night. It looks clean, because people read a tidy sign as a sign of careful practice.
What these signs have to do:
- Say what it is. "Pharmacy", "Medical Centre", "Dental Clinic" or "Optics" in plain words. A name alone, such as "Al Noor", could be a bakery.
- Be found by someone in a hurry. A parent looking for a pharmacy at eleven at night isn't browsing. The word and the symbol have to be readable from the car.
- Look calm and clean. White space, one or two colours and even lighting. Clutter and flashing lights read as a discount shop, which is the wrong message for health.
- Match the licence. In healthcare the name on the sign is checked against the licence more closely than in other trades. More on that below.
- Work for everyone. Older people, people with poor sight, and people who read neither Arabic nor English all use pharmacies and clinics. Large letters, strong contrast and a clear symbol serve them all.

Sign styles that suit healthcare
Four sign types cover most pharmacies, clinics and optical shops: front-lit 3D letters on a clean fascia, halo-lit letters for a calmer premium look, a lit panel with a coloured face, and a projecting sign or lit cross for people approaching along the street. Larger medical centres add a high-level building sign and a totem at the entrance.
| Style | Look | Lit? | Suits | Relative cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front-lit 3D letters on ACP fascia | Bright, clear, readable from far away | Yes | Pharmacies, polyclinics, medical centres on main roads | Medium |
| Halo-lit (back-lit) letters | Soft glow behind solid letters | Yes | Dental, skin and aesthetic clinics, premium opticians | Medium to high |
| Lit panel or light box with coloured face | One lit board across the front | Yes | Small pharmacies and medical stores | Low to medium |
| Flat cut acrylic or metal letters | Quiet and precise, lit by spotlights or daylight | Externally | Clinics inside malls and towers | Low to medium |
| Projecting sign or lit cross | Double-sided, seen along the pavement | Yes | Pharmacies, street-level clinics | Low to medium |
| High-level building sign | Large letters at parapet height | Yes | Medical centres and hospitals | High |
| Totem or pylon | Freestanding sign with the name and departments | Yes | Stand-alone medical centres with parking | High |
| Window lettering and frosted film | Name, hours and privacy on the glass | No | Every kind, as a second layer | Low |
- Front-lit letters are the workhorse. They read furthest and suit a business that must be found at night. See channel letters.
- Halo-lit letters look calmer and more expensive, and suit practices selling care and appearance. They read less far, so use them where people arrive on foot or already know the address.
- Light boxes are common on small pharmacies. Use a green, blue or dark face with lit lettering, since a bright white lit background doesn't fit Dubai's current rules. See light box signs.
- ACP fascias give a flat, clean, wipeable background in an exact brand colour. See ACP sign boards.
- Totems help stand-alone centres where patients arrive by car. See pylon and totem signs.
Pharmacy and medical store sign designs
A pharmacy sign should be the easiest sign on the street to recognise: the word "Pharmacy" in Arabic and English, a green or blue scheme, a cross or other health symbol, and bright, even light. Within that, a neighbourhood pharmacy, a chain, a 24-hour branch and a hospital pharmacy each need something a little different.
Neighbourhood pharmacies
The community pharmacy trades on being close and familiar. Front-lit letters or a lit panel in green and white, the name with "Pharmacy" beside it at nearly the same size, and a lit cross projecting from the wall so it's seen along the street. Keep the windows clear enough that people can see the shop is open and staffed. A fascia with only the name, the word and the symbol looks more professional than one listing "Medicines, Cosmetics, Baby Care, Perfumes".
Pharmacy chains and franchises
A chain's strength is that every branch looks the same. The colour, the lettering, the symbol and the layout of the fascia should be fixed in a short sign standard, so the tenth branch matches the first. If you're growing from two branches to five, this is the moment to draw the standard, with rules for short and long fascias, mall units and corner sites. We can build that standard with the first sign.
24-hour pharmacies
A 24-hour pharmacy needs people to know it's open when everything around it is dark. Dubai Health Authority's Pharmacy Guidelines require a round-the-clock pharmacy to have clear signage telling people the facility operates 24 hours (DHA Pharmacy Guidelines). In design terms that means a lit "24 Hours" sign close to the name, readable from the road, plus the hours on the door. Keep it steady. A fixed lit sign does the job without flashing.
Hospital, clinic and mall pharmacies
Inside a hospital or medical centre, the pharmacy is found by wayfinding signs, so its own sign can be quieter: flat or halo-lit letters in the building's sign style, with "Pharmacy" and the symbol. In a mall, the landlord's design guide sets the sign zone and often the letter type. The brand colour and the cross carry the recognition.
Medical stores and medical equipment suppliers
Shops selling mobility aids, home care equipment, braces, monitors and surgical supplies are often called medical stores. Their customers are families, carers and clinic buyers, so the sign should say what's sold: "Medical Equipment", "Home Healthcare", "Surgical Supplies". Blue and white is the usual scheme. Avoid the word "Pharmacy" and the pharmacy cross unless you're licensed as one, because both tell people you dispense medicines.
Health, nutrition and herbal shops
Supplement, sports nutrition and herbal shops sit beside healthcare without being part of it. Greens, earth tones and a leaf symbol say "natural and well-being" without implying a medical service. A cross or the word "medical" on a shop that isn't a licensed health facility invites questions from inspectors and confuses customers.
Clinic sign designs by kind of practice
A clinic sign should tell patients what kind of care is offered and make the practice look competent and calm. The facility name and the type of practice go on the outside. Doctors' names, the list of specialities and the hours belong at the entrance and inside, where people have time to read them.
General clinics, polyclinics and medical centres
The general practice or polyclinic serves families from the surrounding area. Front-lit letters in blue, teal or green on a white or light fascia, the name with "Medical Centre", "Polyclinic" or "Clinic", and a simple symbol. Many polyclinics want every department on the fascia. Resist it. A directory board at the entrance, with each speciality on its own line, is easier to read and easier to update when a doctor joins or leaves.
Dental clinics
Dental signs tend to be the most design-led in healthcare, because dentistry sells appearance as well as treatment. Halo-lit letters, a white, soft blue or mint scheme, and a simple tooth mark or a wordmark with no symbol at all. "Dental Clinic" or "Dental Centre" as the descriptor. Avoid cartoon teeth unless the practice is for children, and avoid photographs of smiles, which date quickly and fade in the sun.
Skin, aesthetic and cosmetic clinics
These clinics sit between healthcare and beauty, and the sign should lean towards quiet luxury: slim halo-lit or metal letters, a neutral palette of white, grey, blush, bronze or black, and plenty of empty space. The word "Clinic" matters here, because it separates a licensed medical practice from a salon. Claims and treatment lists stay off the sign.
Children's clinics
A paediatric practice can be warmer and more playful than any other clinic: rounded lettering, a brighter palette and a friendly symbol. Parents still need to read it as a medical practice, so keep the layout tidy and the word "Clinic" or "Paediatric" clear. The playfulness can go further inside, on walls and door signs.
Physiotherapy, chiropractic and rehabilitation
These practices sell movement and recovery. Blues, greens and oranges, an active figure or a simple abstract mark, and "Physiotherapy" or "Rehabilitation Centre" in plain letters. Many sit on upper floors, so the window lettering and the building directory matter as much as any fascia.
Laboratories and diagnostic centres
Labs and imaging centres are chosen for accuracy and speed. A precise, technical look suits them: clean sans-serif letters, blue or teal, and "Medical Laboratory", "Diagnostics" or "Radiology". Patients often come with a referral and an address, so the entrance sign, the parking sign and the directions from the lift matter most.
Veterinary clinics
Vet clinics are friendlier than human clinics and can show it: a paw or animal outline, warm colours and rounded letters, with "Veterinary Clinic" stated in full. Vets are licensed separately from human healthcare, and their signs shouldn't borrow the pharmacy cross in a way that suggests a human pharmacy.
Optical shop sign designs
An optical sign board has two jobs, because an optician is both a health service and a fashion shop. The name and "Optics" or "Opticians" should be clear and well lit, and the shopfront should look like a place to choose something you'll wear on your face every day. That calls for a cleaner, more fashion-led design than a pharmacy.
- Lettering. Slim, well-spaced sans-serif capitals or a refined wordmark. Halo-lit letters or front-lit letters with slim returns suit the trade.
- Colours. Black and white, navy and white, or a neutral with one accent. Budget and family opticians can go brighter, with blue or orange.
- Symbol. A pair of spectacles is the oldest shop symbol in the trade and still the clearest. An eye is the alternative. Either works as a projecting sign.
- Descriptor. "Optics", "Opticians", "Optical" or "Eyewear", in Arabic and English. If you offer eye tests, say so on the window, where it prompts people who are passing.
- Windows. The window is the main display. Keep the glass clear, light the frames well, and keep vinyl to a narrow band for the hours, the eye test message and one current offer. See window graphics.
- Eyewear brand logos. Opticians used to line their fascias and windows with frame brand logos. Under Dubai's 2026 rules the fascia carries one trade name, so brand names move inside, onto display units and small, tidy marks on the glass.
- Lighting inside. Bright, neutral white light makes frames and lenses look their best and makes the shop glow from the street, which does more for an optician than a larger sign.
- Eye clinics. An ophthalmology clinic is a medical practice and should look like one: "Eye Clinic" or "Eye Centre", a calmer design, and no retail offers on the front.
Symbols: the green cross, the red cross, the crescent and the snake
The safe symbols for a pharmacy or clinic sign are the green cross, the rod of Asclepius, the bowl of Hygieia and the mortar and pestle. The red cross and the red crescent are protected emblems that belong to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and to military medical services, and a business shouldn't put either on its sign.
Why the red cross and red crescent are off limits
Many people assume a red cross simply means "medical". It doesn't. It's an emblem protected under the Geneva Conventions, and the International Committee of the Red Cross lists "a pharmacy displays a red cross or a red crescent on a shopfront sign" and "a health practitioner displays an emblem at their clinic" as examples of improper use (ICRC).
In the UAE, Federal Law No. 9 of 2002 on the Red Crescent Authority sets penalties for using the Red Crescent sign or name without authorisation, including on commercial materials (Federal Law No. 9 of 2002). We're sign makers and this isn't legal advice, but our practice is simple: we don't put a red crescent or a red cross on a white ground on any commercial sign, and we steer clients to one of the symbols below.
The symbols you can use
- The green cross. The standard pharmacy symbol across much of the world. It replaced the red cross as the pharmacy symbol in continental Europe in the early twentieth century, and Britain's Royal Pharmaceutical Society adopted it as the standard symbol for pharmacy in 1984 (Wellcome Collection). It's the clearest choice for a pharmacy in Dubai.
- The blue or teal cross. Used by clinics and medical centres that want a cross without the pharmacy association. Keep it clearly blue, well away from red.
- The rod of Asclepius. A staff with one snake, a symbol of medicine since about the fifth century BCE. It suits clinics and doctors' practices.
- The caduceus. A winged staff with two snakes. It's the staff of Hermes, the messenger god, and came to medicine by a later mix-up. It's widely recognised, but the single-snake rod is the correct medical symbol.
- The bowl of Hygieia. A cup with a snake coiled around it, a pharmacy symbol in many countries.
- The mortar and pestle. The pharmacist's tool, used on shop signs for centuries. It suits traditional, compounding and herbal pharmacies.
- Rx. From the Latin for "take", written at the head of a prescription. It's understood in some markets more than others, so treat it as a secondary mark.
- Speciality marks. A tooth, an eye, spectacles, a heart, a paw. Keep them simple and in one colour.
One symbol is enough. A fascia with a cross, a snake, a heartbeat line and a stethoscope looks like clip art.
The lit pharmacy cross
A lit pharmacy cross is a double-sided green LED sign that projects from the wall at right angles, so people walking or driving along the street see it before they reach the shop. In Dubai it should be a steady, static light at a controlled brightness, because the 2026 shopfront rules don't allow flashing or animated signs.
We make and install lit crosses. What to decide:
- Static or animated. The animated crosses common in Europe cycle through patterns, the time and the temperature. Dubai's shopfront framework calls for static content, so we supply a steady lit cross. It's also calmer for neighbours living above the shop.
- Size. Common sizes run from about 50 cm to 100 cm across. On a pedestrian street 50 to 60 cm is plenty. On a wide road, go larger.
- Height. High enough to clear heads and vehicles, low enough to stay within your shopfront zone. We'd aim for a clear height of about 2.5 metres or more beneath it, and check the landlord's and the permit's limits.
- One side of the shopfront. The rules allow a projecting sign on one side only. Put it on the side facing the main flow of people.
- Brightness. Bright enough to be seen in daylight, dimmable at night. A photocell that lowers the output after dark keeps it within the rules and stops it glaring into flats opposite.
- Build. A sealed aluminium case, an acrylic face or exposed sealed LEDs, a bracket fixed to structure, and a driver that can be reached for service.
- Symbol and word. A plain green cross is enough. Some carry the word "Pharmacy" in Arabic and English on the face.
- Permit. A projecting sign is part of the sign permit. We include it on the drawings.
Clinics can use the same format with their own mark: a tooth, an eye or a logo on a small lit projecting sign.
Colours and lettering
Healthcare signs use a narrow, calm palette, mostly greens, blues and white, with plain lettering in a medium to bold weight. The colours tell people what kind of place it is before they read a word, so it pays to follow the convention and stand out through quality and spacing.
| Colour | What it signals | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Green and white | Pharmacy, health, natural care | Pharmacies, herbal and wellness shops |
| Blue and white | Trust, cleanliness, clinical skill | Clinics, medical centres, labs, medical stores |
| Teal or turquoise | Modern, fresh, a little softer than blue | Dental, polyclinics, physiotherapy |
| White with grey or silver | Precision, premium, calm | Dental, aesthetic, opticians |
| Black and white, or navy | Fashion and confidence | Opticians, aesthetic clinics |
| Warm accents: orange, coral, yellow | Friendly, energetic | Children's clinics, physiotherapy, vets |
| Red | Emergency and urgency | Use sparingly, and never as a red cross or crescent |
- Lit letters on a coloured or light fascia fit Dubai's framework. A bright white lit panel behind the letters doesn't.
- Contrast first. White letters on green or blue, or dark letters on a light ground. Pale green letters on white disappear in sunlight.
- Look at the street. If the pharmacy two doors down is green, a deeper green with a distinctive layout, or blue, will separate you.
- Two colours. One main colour and white, with perhaps one accent.
Lettering
- Clean sans-serif letters, medium to bold, with generous spacing. Rounded forms feel friendlier, and squarer ones feel more clinical.
- Capitals and lower case together are easier to read than long words in capitals. "Pharmacy" reads faster than "PHARMACY" at the same width.
- Avoid thin, script and novelty fonts. They fail for older eyes and at distance.
- The descriptor at a readable size. "Pharmacy", "Dental Clinic" or "Optics" should be at least half the height of the name, and for a pharmacy, close to equal.
- Arabic in a matching weight, above the English, at the same visual size. Arabic for "pharmacy" is صيدلية, and "clinic" is عيادة.
Size, placement and being found
A healthcare sign should be sized for the furthest point people need to read it from, and placed where it marks the door. For a street-level pharmacy that's the road. For a clinic on the third floor of a tower, the outside sign is only the first step, and the directory, the lift lobby and the door do the rest.
Letter height
| Situation | Approximate reading distance | Minimum letter height | What we'd design for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking past on the pavement | 10 m | 3 cm | 10 to 15 cm |
| Across a street or small car park | 30 m | 8 cm | 25 to 30 cm |
| From a main road | 50 to 70 m | 14 to 19 cm | 35 to 45 cm |
| Medical centre seen from a distance | 100 m or more | 28 cm | 60 cm or more |
The minimums use the United States Sign Council Foundation's legibility standard of about 3.6 metres of reading distance per centimetre of letter height (USSC Foundation). We design well above them for healthcare, because many readers are older, and someone looking for a pharmacy at night has little patience.
Street-level pharmacies and clinics
- The name over the door, with the projecting cross or sign on the approach side.
- Both faces of a corner unit.
- Clear of trees, awnings and neighbouring signs. Check the view from 30 metres in each direction.
- Lit from dusk until closing, or all night for a 24-hour branch, on a photocell or timer.
Clinics on upper floors and inside buildings
Many Dubai clinics are in towers and office buildings with no fascia of their own. The patient's route then needs a chain of signs:
- Outside the building: the clinic's name on the building's tenant sign, totem or podium, if the landlord allows it.
- The lobby directory: name, floor and suite number.
- The lift lobby on your floor: a direction sign.
- The door: the name and logo, with the hours and licence details beside it.
- The windows: lettering or frosted film with the clinic's name, readable from the street, where the building permits it.
Ask the landlord what's allowed before you sign the lease. A clinic with no presence outside the building depends entirely on patients who already have the address.
Parking and entrances
Stand-alone centres need a sign at the road, patient parking and accessible bays marked, a drop-off point, and the entrance marked so it can't be confused with a staff or delivery door. An emergency or urgent care entrance needs its own clear sign.
What goes on the sign, and what the health regulator expects
A healthcare sign in Dubai answers to two authorities: the shopfront rules that apply to every business, and the health regulator that licenses the facility. The health side is mostly about accuracy. The name must match the licence, hours must be shown, and titles and claims must be ones the licence supports.
Pharmacies
Dubai Health Authority's Pharmacy Guidelines set out several points that affect signs (DHA Pharmacy Guidelines):
- The display board matches the licence. The pharmacy's display board must match the pharmacy name on its DHA and DED licences. Send us both licences before we design, and tell us before any change of name.
- Working hours on display. The pharmacy must provide a display board with its working hours and, where it applies, its shift schedules.
- 24-hour signage. A round-the-clock pharmacy needs clear signage saying so.
- Walk-in clinic signage. A pharmacy that includes a walk-in clinic service needs clear signage that it does.
- No smoking. The guidelines require a strict no-smoking policy on the premises, which a sign at the door makes plain.
Guidelines are updated, so check the current version with your licensing consultant. Pharmacies in Dubai Healthcare City and in other emirates answer to different regulators.
Clinics
- Facility name as licensed, in Arabic and English.
- The type of facility, as the licence describes it. "Medical Centre", "Polyclinic", "Dental Clinic" and "Specialised Clinic" are licence categories, and the sign shouldn't promote the facility to something larger, such as "Hospital".
- Doctors' names and titles, where shown, exactly as on their professional licences. A general practitioner isn't a "specialist", and a specialist isn't a "consultant", unless the licence says so. Door plates and directories are the right place for names, since doctors change and fascias are costly to alter.
- No claims or superlatives. Health advertising in the UAE is regulated and needs approval. As an example of the standard, Dubai Healthcare City's advertisement policy prohibits terms such as "The Best", "The Only", "Guaranteed to Cure", "Expert" and "Latest" (DHCR Advertisement Policy). Keep the sign to the name and the type of practice, and get advice before adding anything that reads as an advertisement, including offers on window graphics and screens.
- Licence and hours at the entrance. Facilities normally display their licence inside and their hours at the door.
What to leave off
- Lists of treatments and departments on the fascia.
- Insurance company logos, which change every year. A neat panel inside or on the door is easier to update.
- Phone numbers on the main sign, unless you're an emergency or home-visit service.
- Photographs of doctors, smiles, pills or equipment.
- Price offers on medicines or treatments.
Inside the pharmacy: counters, categories and queues
Inside a pharmacy, signs separate the dispensary from the shop floor and help customers find what they need without asking. The same colours and lettering as the outside sign, used on a small set of clear signs, make the shop look organised and make the pharmacist easy to find.
We make pharmacy interior signs as a set to match the name board:
- Prescription counter. The most important sign inside. "Prescriptions" in Arabic and English, large, above or behind the counter, visible from the door. Some pharmacies split it into "Drop off" and "Collect".
- Consultation area. A sign for the private consultation point or room, so customers know they can ask to talk in private.
- Category signs. Above each bay or on the wall: Pain Relief, Cough and Cold, Vitamins, Skin Care, Baby, Oral Care, First Aid, Medical Devices. Use the words customers use.
- Pharmacy-only and behind-the-counter items. A sign telling customers to ask the pharmacist.
- Queue and waiting. "Please wait here", a ticket point or a floor marker that keeps a private distance at the counter.
- Hours and pharmacist on duty. The working hours board the guidelines call for, at the entrance. Many pharmacies also show the name of the pharmacist on duty in a changeable holder.
- Services. Blood pressure checks, vaccinations where licensed, home delivery, a walk-in clinic if you have one.
- Shelf strips and price labels in one consistent style.
- Safety signs. Exit, fire equipment, no smoking, staff only on the dispensary door. See safety signs.
- Screens. A screen behind the counter can show queue numbers and health messages. Anything promotional on it falls under the health advertising rules. See digital signage.
Inside the clinic: reception, doors and privacy
Inside a clinic, signs have three jobs: to show patients where to go, to identify each room and the person in it, and to protect privacy. A complete, matching set makes a small clinic feel properly run, and it's noticed by inspectors as well as patients.
We make clinic interior sets, from the reception logo to the last door plate:
Reception
- A logo sign behind the reception desk. Raised letters in acrylic or metal, often halo-lit. It's the backdrop to every patient's first minute and to most of the clinic's photographs.
- A doctors' directory with names, titles and specialities, in changeable strips.
- Licence and patient information. Frames or holders for the facility licence, patient rights and responsibilities, the complaints procedure, and price lists where they're required.
- Check-in and waiting signs: "Reception", "Please take a number", "Waiting Area", Wi-Fi, payment and insurance notices.
Doors and rooms
- Room signs for consultation rooms, treatment rooms, the laboratory, X-ray, sterilisation, the pharmacy and stores, with a room number and name.
- Doctor name plates in slide-in holders, so a change of doctor is a new insert, not a new sign.
- "In consultation" or "Engaged" sliders on consultation doors.
- Toilets, prayer room, baby change and accessible facilities, with standard symbols.
- Staff only, clean and dirty utility, medical waste and medical gas signs.
- Radiation and laser warning signs on X-ray and laser rooms, to the standard your regulator and equipment supplier specify.
- Hand hygiene points and infection control notices.
Privacy film
Frosted film on consultation room glass and street-facing windows gives privacy while letting light through. A band from about 1 metre to 1.8 metres above the floor hides a seated or standing person from view and leaves clear glass above and below. The film can carry the logo, a pattern or the room name, cut out or printed. On shopfront glass, it has to stay within the rules for window coverage. See window graphics.
Wayfinding and accessibility
- Direction signs at each decision point: the lift lobby, corridor junctions and the waiting area. See wayfinding signs.
- Letter size. Dubai's Universal Design Code gives 70 mm as the minimum and 140 mm as the recommended letter height for signs read from 5 metres.
- Tactile and braille signs on room doors, beside the handle at a reachable height. We make these in-house.
- High contrast and matt finishes, which are easier for people with low vision and don't glare under ceiling lights.
- Symbols with the words, for patients who read neither Arabic nor English.
- Fire exit and evacuation signs, which follow Civil Defence requirements.
Arabic and English, and Dubai's shopfront rules
A pharmacy or clinic sign in Dubai shows the trade name in Arabic and English, with Arabic above English, and follows the 2026 shopfront framework set by the Department of Economy and Tourism: one trade name per shopfront, a horizontal layout, static content, controlled brightness and no bright white lit backgrounds.
For healthcare:
- One name. The licensed trade name, with the type of facility. Department lists, insurance logos and product brands stay off the fascia.
- Static light. No flashing or animated crosses and no scrolling text on the shopfront.
- No white light box. The traditional white lit pharmacy panel with green letters should become a green or dark face with lit letters, or individual letters on a fascia.
- Projection from one side only, which is where the cross goes.
- Equal weight for Arabic and English, checked by a native reader. Medical terms need care in translation: use the wording on your licence.
- Window coverage within limits. Frosted film and graphics on shopfront glass are part of the design the permit considers.
- Malls, hospitals and free zones set their own sign standards. Dubai Healthcare City has its own regulator.
- Permit. We prepare the drawings and apply. See our shop signs guide.
Materials and cleaning
Healthcare signs should be made from smooth, sealed materials that stay clean and can be wiped down. Outside, that means coated aluminium or ACP, acrylic faces and sealed LEDs. Inside, it means acrylic, aluminium and laminated panels with no open edges or fabric surfaces that hold dust.
- Outside: PVDF-coated ACP or aluminium fascia, aluminium or stainless letter returns, UV-stable acrylic faces, sealed LED modules, stainless fixings, and drivers reachable for service.
- Inside: acrylic, anodised or powder-coated aluminium, and rigid panels with a wipeable laminate. Slide-in inserts behind a clear cover for anything that changes.
- Avoid unsealed timber, fabric, foam board and paper notices taped to doors in clinical areas.
- Cleaning: wash the outside sign every month or two. Inside, check with us which cleaning agents suit each finish, since strong alcohol and solvent cleaners can craze acrylic and lift printed vinyl.
- Whites that match. Ask for the same LED colour temperature across every letter, the cross and the window signs. A neutral white around 4,000 to 5,000 K looks clean without turning blue.
Mistakes to avoid
Most weak healthcare signs fail in the same few ways.
- A red cross or red crescent on a commercial sign.
- A name that doesn't match the licence.
- A name with no descriptor, so nobody knows it's a pharmacy or a clinic.
- A flashing or animated cross.
- A white light box, which no longer meets the rules.
- A fascia listing every department, service and insurer.
- Doctors' names on the main sign, out of date within a year.
- Claims such as "Best" or "No. 1".
- Thin or pale lettering that older patients can't read.
- Dead letters, which look worse on a health business than on any other.
- An upper-floor clinic with no sign at street level or in the lobby.
- Paper notices on clinic doors in place of proper room signs.
Cost and how to brief us
The cost of a pharmacy or clinic sign depends on the width of the front, the size and number of letters, the type of lighting and whether a projecting cross is included. Interior sets are priced by the number of rooms and signs, and cost less per sign when ordered together.
- Front-lit letters on an ACP fascia are the usual mid-range choice.
- A lit panel costs less on a wide front.
- Halo-lit letters cost more than front-lit ones of the same size.
- A lit cross is a small addition to a new sign and a separate visit if added later.
- A clinic interior set with a reception sign, door signs, a directory and privacy film is quoted as one package.
Design and a true-scale mockup are free with our quote. For price ranges by sign type, see our shop signs page.
To brief us, send:
- The trade name in Arabic and English, exactly as on your DHA and DED licences, and the type of facility.
- Your logo and colours, if you have them.
- Photos of the front from straight on, both directions along the street and across the road, by day and at night.
- The width and height of the sign zone, or the landlord's or mall's design guide.
- For an upper-floor clinic: photos of the building entrance, the lobby directory, your floor's lift lobby and your door.
- A floor plan, with room names, if you want interior signs.
- Your opening or inspection date and budget range.
We'll send a mockup on your photo with two or three options, a lit view, and prices.

