Design IS translation

Where design and translation meet

Have you ever considered this perspective? Designers act as translators by moving and transitioning among different linguistic worlds, different materials, different techniques and technologies, different forms and functions, different media and formats. 

They interpret a need, understand an issue, and translate the results they come up with into an artefact. They give them a shape.

They don’t have a source text, but they still have a “something” to translate into “something” else.

The identity of a company to be translated into visual branding resources.

A set of data to be translated into a visual representation.

A book’s title to be translated into a cover.

A book’s texts and pictures to be translated into a game app.

With their creations, therefore, designers act as mediators to provide access to a world that would otherwise remain unseen. Just like translators do with worlds that would otherwise remain unintelligible.

Chiara Foppa Pedretti © 2025