A model for communicating with care
Mistranslations
2021
- Brand identity
- Strategy
- Digital product
- Website
- Campaign
- Packaging
- Motion
- Editorial
- Spatial & retail
- Service design
How does communication behave with genuine care — when the system fails the people who need it most?
During COVID, some official Australian health messaging was run through Google Translate instead of accredited translators, producing nonsense for non-English-speaking communities and disempowering already vulnerable people. With 39% of Australians culturally and linguistically diverse — and more likely to miss critical health information — this wasn't a translation glitch. It was a behaviour problem: a communications system that excluded the people it was meant to protect.
““It was disappointing to see Assyrian missing from official translated instructional information. Assyrians may not have a country, but we have each other, and that strong sense of community helped spread COVID safety information to those who needed it most.””
““Last Friday was one of my best moments in life.””
