The biggest bottleneck in internationalization strategies isn’t usually the code, but the handoff. You create a beautiful Figma design in English, developers build it out, and translation comes after the fact. Suddenly, Finnish text is breaking the navigation bar, and the layout is flipped in RTL languages.
The result? Additional engineering hours and maybe even a panicked redesign.
If you use Figma for UI design, you already have the tool to fix this. Figma localization moves the translation process into the design stage, so designers and developers can catch internationalization issues before a single line of code is written.
When Figma Localization Makes Sense
Historically, standard processes treated localization as an afterthought to development. This is a mistake given the current toolset. The Figma buzz around new feature rollouts and its robust ecosystem of plugins demonstrates that text handling has shifted left and is now a core design function. Figma designs are localized to validate the UI layout against real content constraints rather than relying on assumptions.
A dedicated localization workflow inside your Figma file gives you the control to:
- Automate string exports.
- Preview designs with translated text instead of just dummy placeholders.
- Maintain consistency across multiple languages.
How to Streamline the Workflow
To manage this process, you need to bridge the gap between your canvas and your translators. Here’s one practical approach to localize designs:
1. Prepare Your Figma Design
File structure takes priority over installing a localization plugin. Create a robust template by applying Auto Layout to every frame and text layer. Static elements inevitably break when that Finnish translation expands the text width by 30%. Figma supports responsive components that adapt automatically to the specific language length.
2. Choose the Right Figma Integration
Manual data entry fails at scale, so you don’t want to be messing around with passing around translations in a spreadsheet. The efficient method is to connect the design to a Translation Management System (TMS) via an API. Platforms like Lokalise, Phrase, or Crowdin provide a dedicated Figma localization plugin to upload source strings to the TMS without leaving the interface. This setup pushes content back to Figma seamlessly and handles updates automatically.
3. Sync and Translate
Translators can start working immediately after the export. The TMS displays the text alongside visual context, such as screenshots generated by the Figma plugin. Once translations are ready, they can be directly imported to populate the localized variants.
Localization with Figma: Best Practices
To really empower your team and create localized products with less friction, keep these technical details in mind:
- Key Names: Establish a naming convention for your translation keys early on. If the designer names a key
button_1and the developer expectshome_cta_login, synchronization will fail. - Fonts: Make sure the selected font supports all of your different target languages. I’ve seen some gorgeous designs fall apart simply because the typeface didn’t support Thai or Japanese characters!
- Designers and developers alignment: Treat the localization setup as the source of truth. The repository of strings should match what’s in the design.
Localize Your Figma Designs
Treating Figma localization as a core operational requirement prevents technical debt, because integrating translation into design catches layout breaks immediately. Using this approach lets you both localize designs and streamline the handoff. The developer gets a verified UI rather than a botched mockup. The product is actually built for a multilingual user base from day one.
