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We Keep Us Safe: Designing Multilingual Materials for our Communities

As immigration enforcement intensifies, racial profiling rises, and neighbors face the increasing fear of disappearance, what role can designers play in supporting their communities? In-depth know your rights materials are often limited to more common languages like English and Spanish, leaving many vulnerable populations without clear access to critical information. This presentation explores the potential of multilingual design to address these gaps and increase accessibility.

Drawing from the collective work of creating ICE Watch materials in over a dozen languages, the talk examines the collaborative process of translating, typesetting, and adapting content for diverse scripts while maintaining clarity and urgency. It considers how typographic and information design might make instructions more accessible, actionable, and culturally aware.

Attendees will gain insight into the ways design can contribute to social responsibility, with practical strategies for creating multilingual resources that support community safety and inclusion. In a moment where many feel powerless, the session invites reflection on how designers can thoughtfully apply their expertise to help communities stay informed and connected.

Beatriz Lozano
Speaker

Beatriz Lozano

Beatriz is a designer, typographer, and educator exploring how technology can push typography to exist at the intersection of the physical and digital world. She teaches in the Communication Design program at Parsons, leads workshops in the U.S. and Mexico on motion and augmented reality, and works independently as a design/art director.

Originally on the path to becoming a mechanical engineer, Beatriz shifted to graphic design as her involvement in immigrant rights activism exposed her to the power of visual communication. Her clients include TikTok, Apple Music, and NASA. She has been recognized with the Art Directors Club Young Guns Award, TDC Ascenders Award, and the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, given in recognition of a designer who has demonstrated profound early-career contributions to the future of design