Designing scalable creative assets: 6 practical tips

Designing a scalable creative concept that works across various touchpoints, markets, and audiences requires a different mindset than a traditional approach.

Typically, you would produce a small, fixed set of deliverables, but when there are dozens of versions to create for different channels and languages, there are several creative and technical factors you need to think about before you begin.

Here are 6 quick considerations to ensure the next creative assets you design will work no matter the channel or language:

1. Plan for various sizes and durations

When creating a film or visual for multiple channels, you need to consider different sizes and durations. Aspect ratios like 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, 4:3, and 4:5 are common, but safe zones (the fully visible area that isn’t blocked by UI elements like buttons and comments) may differ between platforms and formats. Additionally, videos can vary from 6 seconds to 60 seconds in length. While you can’t account for every format, it’s best to know early which ones your creative will need to work in to maintain consistency. This could impact text, orientation, sizing, composition, narrative structure and more.

2. Follow best practices for each format

To make your creative truly effective across channels, it’s essential to consider the audience and format for each medium. For example, a YouTube pre-roll ad needs to grab attention within the first five seconds to avoid being skipped, while TV allows for more room for a story to develop. On TikTok, content that features people, incorporates overlay text and doesn’t look too polished works best. Assess whether your creative fits the channel you’re targeting (or maybe it is better served by another creative?), and if so, make sure it aligns with the best practices for that platform.

3. Consider the way text adapts in different languages

For multilingual campaigns, your design must adapt to the specific properties of the languages you want to support. Various scripts, such as Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Hindi, require different fonts. Reading directions differ too, with Arabic and Hebrew being read right-to-left, meaning layouts may need to be flipped. The number of characters required to say something can also vary dramatically — compare the German Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung with the much shorter Chinese 机动车责任保险 — so make sure to allow enough space or adjust the text size if needed. So if you want to keep text readable and integrate it into the design, make sure to plan ahead.

4. Allow space for disclaimer text

Advertising regulations vary by country, and in some cases, you may need to superimpose disclaimer text onto an ad to expand on a claim, clarify details, or list terms and conditions. This text is usually placed at the bottom of the creative, so it's important to allocate enough space in your design.

5. Be mindful of copy that doesn’t translate well

Metaphors, cultural references, idioms, jokes, and wordplay can make for engaging, smart copy, but it may not carry over well in other languages. Translators will work their way around this by either finding similar references or rephrasing the text to retain the tone, intent or humour. So to keep your concept scalable across languages, don’t build your entire concept on something that could get lost in translation.

6. Visually represent your audience authentically

Your creative assets should resonate with your audience by accurately portraying people and their environment. It’s not just about how people look or dress, but also their beliefs, how they greet each other, what they eat and drink, how they spend their free time, and how they celebrate holidays. Consider the differences not only between ethnicities and countries but also among subcultures and age groups. Physical spaces matter too: how buildings look, what the weather is like, common plants and animals, and which side of the road people drive on. Research and plan carefully to produce photos and videos that reflect your audience.

With these guidelines in hand, you can protect brand and creative consistency across all versions and avoid the time, costs, and effort of fixing issues down the line. But designing a scalable concept is only the first step. You’ll also need a solid Creative Automation setup to produce these versions efficiently at scale — discover how Cube can help your brand do that.