Crafting global UX: Your localizability checklist for images and icons
Designing icons, illustrations, and other imagery for a global product? Here are some things to keep in mind to ensure your visuals translate well across cultures…
Let’s talk about creating a seamless global experience with our products. We’re starting with a term that my spell checker insists isn’t real (but it is, promise): localizability.
In short, when we’re talking about the localizability of our visuals when designing products, we mean creating visuals that don’t cause an international incident. Localizability is about how well the meaning we intend to communicate with an image, illustration, or icon, translates across markets and cultures.
We’re all used to considering localization on a text level, but it’s just as important on a visual level too. For example, while I might see a bunch of white chrysanthemum flowers as a symbol of love and loyalty, it might carry rather a different association elsewhere in the world.
Ideally, we’d be able to check with people from different communities and cultures for any unintended meanings. However, if you don’t have access to such a broad group, I want to share a checklist of things that could unintentionally cause a visual to localize poorly, and therefore negatively impact your UX. Let’s go.
