Shreya Arora

Google:

International Mother Language Day

How do you advertise a product as iconic as Google Translate on International Mother Language Day?

You don't.

Instead of highlighting technical features, we decided to focus on the 'untranslatable' words in regional Indian languages - the ones that can't be fully expressed in any other language.

RESULTS:

627k conversations generated online,

up from ~14k in 2023

99% positive sentiment recorded online

12 illustrations for 12 Indian languages, executed in 5 days

DESIGN DECISIONS:

We chose 12 unique words with a heavy dose of emotion and cultural significance, like the Telugu word "haayi" or the Punjabi word "gedi" among others. We got their regional scripts using Gboard and illustrated their meanings within the letters, making this an exercise in visual thinking. To make sure that the characters etched are not seen as caricatures, they weren’t skewed towards any particular skin colour, age or gender. This helped us celebrate cultural nuances, instead of appropriating them.

STEP 1: HOW IT STARTED

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4: HOW IT ENDED

Even though this was a very illustration heavy project, the execution was completed over a period of five days, with some artworks going through 5-7 rounds of client feedback. I had the rare opportunity to art direct and illustrate a commercial project of this scale by myself, and with my love for typography and vectors, I could not have enjoyed the process more.