Plan for localization

Products intended for global audiences require localization planning during wireframing. This process involves more than translation and extends to:

• Layout: If your product targets countries with right-to-left languages like Arabic or Hebrew, display mirrored layouts in wireframes to validate that the design works bidirectionally.
• Space: German and Russian typically require 30% more space than English, while some Asian languages may need less horizontal space but more vertical room.
• Date formats: Americans use MM-DD-YYYY, Europeans prefer DD-MM-YYYY, and many Asian countries use YYYY-MM-DD.
• Other formats: Phone numbers, currencies, addresses, and measurement units all follow regional conventions that affect text length and layout.