Change to another language.

Illustration is translation (ideas, forms, and objects translated into a new form). Typography is translation (language translated into form). And language itself is translation (ideas translated to spoken, written, and typographic form). Needless to say (though I’ll say it anyway), translation as a design trick is a very broad term. Actually it’s a category of tricks in which the designer says to the viewer, “I’m going to turn this into something else to help you understand it better.”

The queen of all translation designs has to be the Rosetta Stone. Before its discovery by Napoleon’s forces in 1799 (and translation, 23 years later), Egyptian hieroglyphics were an impenetrable code. The Stone (now in the collection of the British Museum) shows three versions of the same text: one in Greek, one in Demotic, and one in hieroglyphics. With this translation key in hand, scholars were able to figure out that hieroglyphic symbols functioned phonetically, thus cracking the code. (For an step-by-step explanation of the Rosetta Stone’s translation, click here.)

The Rosetta Stone. 196 BC.

Another amazing moment in translation design is Christopher Plantin’s Biblia Polyglotta (1568–73). Its spreads feature six translations simultaneously (Hebrew, Hebrew-to-Latin, Greek, Greek-to-Latin, Aramaic, and Aramaic-to-Latin). No, it’s not a mult-culti party bible. It is, however, a valuable scholarly tool for comparing and understanding changes introduced by translations. Plantin’s feat of balancing six translations of varying length also makes it one of the most skillful displays of layout in letterpress printing ever.

Spread from Biblia Polyglotta. Christopher Plantin, 1568–73.

But these are obvious examples of translation in design—language-to-language translation. The translation playground for design minds is in the less obvious: language-to-form, form-to-language, form-to-form, style-to-form, and form-to-style.

Consider these translations of typographic style to forms of transportation from Adrian Frutiger’s Type Sign Symbol:

From Type Sign Symbol. Adrian Frutiger, 1980.

Or this translation between typographic form and historical/architectural style from Clayton Whitehill’s odd little book, The Moods of Type:

From Moods of Type. Clayton Whitehill, 1947.

And here, another typographic translation—this one from Bradbury Thompson’s design for a 1958 issue of Westvaco’s Inspirations for Printers:

From Westvaco Inspirations for Printers. Bradbury Thompson, 1958.

Of course, type nerd that I am, I’ve provided only typographic examples. Fear not, this is but a brief introduction to the vast Translate category. Many, many more to come…

Substitute a description for an object or concept.

In this trick, the designer uses text describing the design concept as the design itself. The trick’s recursive nature makes it the ultimate conceptual ploy. And the example below is a classic version of a classic trick. Created by the group Hipgnosis (also responsible for Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and T.Rex’s Electric Warrior), it cleverly describes exactly what a record cover is supposed to do (while doing it). The album being sold is XTC’s Go 2—a post-punk collection of short, smart, frenetic songs perfectly suited to the design.

Cover design for XTC’s Go 2. Hipgnosis, 1978

Highlight from cover design for XTC’s Go 2. Hipgnosis, 1978

Here’s a more recent example of literalizing—Paul Sahre’s design for the call for entries for the Type Directors Club TDC56 typography competition. The designer has substituted text describing “typical” winning entries in place of images.

Detail from TDC Call for Entries. Paul Sahre, 2009.