Translating the untranslatable for Faze

October 7, 2024 |

Faze is a clinical trial recruitment agency launched by healthcare communications giant, Havas Health, in 2018. Their mission: to put patients at the heart of recruitment and retention, by designing trial journeys which support them every step of the way. By embedding cutting-edge technology and creative solutions, they transform the traditional recruitment process into an engaging, patient-centric experience. Their innovative approach leverages digital tools to streamline communication, personalize outreach, and provide ongoing support, ensuring patients feel valued and informed throughout their clinical trial journey.

THE CHALLENGE – A STACK OF BEAUTIFUL, UNTRANSLATABLE FILES

In July 2020, Faze came to us to translate some recruitment advertisements they were developing for a client. This is the kind of work we do every day, and work that we particularly enjoy, so we eagerly agreed and got started with our usual processing and file preparation stages. At this point, we realized we had a bit of a problem – the files had been produced in an application called Figma, a tool we had not worked with up to that point. For those of you who are not familiar, Figma is a collaborative design tool beloved of creative teams. It allows multiple individuals to work on a design at the same time, can be used to create interactive prototypes, and is hugely expandable. So, it’s not hard to see why the team at Faze had chosen this tool to complete their design work. The problem for us was that Figma did not export any formats that were suitable for translation – not a single one!

WHAT WE DID NEXT (AND HOW IT WENT)

As time was of the essence, we set about looking for existing solutions. Surely, we thought, someone else has had this issue before now! This is how we discovered Figma Community, and the many plugins others have created to customize their use of the design tool. In amongst the HTML, image, and wireframe tools, we found a handful of translation plugins, ready for us to use. Following all relevant due diligence, testing, and communication with the client, we got to work using these tools and managed to deliver our usual excellent quality.  However, the path to successful delivery proved challenging. The primary obstacle was the lack of existing plugins capable of exporting content in a format suitable for effective translation. Available tools consistently failed to preserve formatting during export and import processes, with crucial information lost in the transfer. Some even exported content alphabetically rather than maintaining the original source file order. These limitations resulted in a significant increase in desktop publishing (DTP) work and required manual referencing by our linguists, who were left working with files that lacked essential context. Our review and quality assurance (QA) phases also had to be amped up to check and correct any resulting human error. Whilst the project was delivered on time and to our usual high standard, it was clear that any future projects using Figma would require careful consideration to ensure they were compatible with The Conversis Way.

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE RIGHT…

It was the start of the following year when Faze brought us another Figma project – this time much larger in scale. That’s when our CTO, Ian Barrow, got on the case. Having seen how many plugins had been developed for Figma, Ian decided to look into how he could go about creating one himself. He found that Figma has an API interface that allows plugins to be made in JavaScript and integrated into the application. So, in true Conversis style, he went ahead and made one. Having never worked in JavaScript before, Ian worked out the logic of how text content is stored and structured in Figma, decided on xml as the most appropriate format, and – within a couple of weeks – he had created a plugin that allowed content to be imported and exported complete with formatting for quick, efficient translation.

THE RESULT

We successfully translated the content with full context and formatting, eliminating the additional DTP and QA burdens experienced in our initial project. This improvement led to reduced costs and timelines for the client, benefiting not only this project but also all their future Figma-based projects.

THE STORY CONTINUES…

The Conversis Translation XML Text Export & Import plugin has been enhanced and improved over the intervening years, with more options for import and export, added instances, hidden text filters, and more. And because of how Figma operates, the plugin has been made available to other users too. At our last count, 5.6k people were using the tool for their translation needs. The tool has been integrated into Crowdin, Translate5, and memoQ translation platforms, and we have been using it regularly at Conversis since V1.

 

“I love this plugin! It’s simple to use and it allows us to easily export content for translation and import translated text while retaining all formatting. Especially incredible considering it’s a free plugin!”

Conversis Translation XML Text Export & Import user

AND AS IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH

In 2023, at a GALA presentation on CAT tool accessibility, Ian learned from one of the presenters – a designer with low vision – that screen readers could not be used with Figma files. In order to work with the application, she was obliged to record content to a dictaphone and play it back, a time-consuming (and pretty frustrating) process! Familiar as he was with Figma, Ian figured he should be able to help. By the end of the conference, he had a working prototype based on a variation of the existing Conversis plugin. The tool pulled text as dialog that could – in turn – be read via screen reader. The TextToHTM4ScreenReader plugin was born, and now has over 100 users! Not bad for a throwaway comment and a few days’ work!

If you or your team work with Figma and need guidance on the translation process, get in touch. If you are a developer interested in creating your own plugins, Ian is a font of information and always happy to share his wealth of knowledge!