Skyscanner is used by a whopping 100 million global users every month. Our website and app are available in 37 different languages across 70 markets, with over 70% of our users coming from markets where English isn’t their first language.

Because of this, our Localisation experts sit in the Product Design team as we know how important it is to include them throughout the end-to-end product development flow. We want each user to feel as though the product was developed for them.

Visual considerations

Consider cultural nuances with photography

It’s important to use imagery that’s both inclusive and culturally appropriate for different regions. The Localisation team can help check if the images you want to use suit the different markets.

Be mindful when using country flags

Be sensitive when using flags to refer to languages, countries or territories. Flags can carry strong political connotations and evoke historical, social, or political sensitivities.

To ensure cultural sensitivity and inclusivity, it’s best to avoid using flags. Use universally understood elements such as language codes and the name of the country or language.

Content considerations

Localisation issues can happen at any part of the product development flow. Collaborate with other practices to identify pain points to optimise processes and improve quality.

Design with translation in mind

Localising content for different markets involves more than just language changes. The interfaces must accommodate changes to the length of the content, size of the letters and writing direction.

Use auto layout in designs

Translated copy can expand by up to 30% on average more than English. Use auto layout so designs can expand or contract based on the length of the copy.

Watch out for hyphenation

Some languages such as German or Finnish have long compound words that have to be divided into two lines. If you notice something that doesn’t look right during quality testing, talk to the Localisation team who can help shorten or hyphenate the word correctly.

Be mindful of right-to-left languages

Our product is available in Arabic and Hebrew, which are right-to-left languages. The written content and elements are swapped around to be shown in the other direction. Check interfaces are designed with this in mind.

Don’t concatenate strings

Concatenation is when separate strings are joined together to form a sentence. The word order and sentence structure may vary in different languages meaning the strings read in an unnatural or illegible manner.

Here you can see the structural difference between English and Chinese for “From {price} per day”. If the 3 strings later merge in the design, the order of the strings won’t be correct in all languages.

Translate strings as full sentences. For example “From {price} per day”

Don’t translate strings individually. For example:

String 1: From

String 2: {price}

String 3: per day

Send content for translation when it’s finalised

Check copy in the designs is the final version and approved by Content Design before submitting the strings for translation. Engineers should provide the Localisation team with the final design as a reference.

Got a question?

Drop the team a message in #localisation and they'll be happy to help.