Localize design and assets

Per-locale styles

One of the most powerful features of Webflow Localization is the ability to customize styles on a per-locale basis. By default, all styles, including classes, typography, colors, and layout, are inherited from your primary locale. However, when a design needs to shift visually for a specific language or region, you can override those styles directly in the locale.

This enables teams to scale global design systems while remaining flexible enough to handle language-specific readability, script-based layout changes, and cultural visual preferences.

Here's how it works. When you're in a secondary locale view, you can select any element and change its font size, spacing, alignment, color, etc.

These style overrides apply only to that locale and are scoped automatically using :lang() selectors under the hood. For example: .centered-heading:lang(fr-ca) {font-size: 2rem;} This ensures clean style isolation and makes it easy to manage design adjustments without duplicating components or layouts. 

Best practices for managing localized styles

Typography plays a critical role in global design, affecting readability, usability, and even brand perception. As your site expands into new languages, your typographic system must adapt to support a wide range of scripts and cultural conventions.

Layout: RTL support and flexible content length

When designing for a global audience, layout must be responsive not only to screen size but also to language direction and text length. A design that works well in English might break when translated into Arabic, German, or Japanese unless it's built with flexibility in mind.

Color is a powerful design tool, but its interpretation varies significantly across cultures. The same palette may feel vibrant and celebratory in one market and inappropriate or confusing in another. As you adapt your site for different regions, it's important to consider both cultural symbolism and universal accessibility standards.

Research color symbolism by locale

Colors carry different emotional and symbolic meanings depending on the audience. For example:

• Red may signal danger in North America but prosperity and celebration in parts of Asia
• White can symbolize purity in Western cultures, but mourning in others
• Green may imply freshness in some regions but carry religious connotations elsewhere

Before finalizing a palette for a localized site or campaign, understand what your core brand and accent colors communicate in context.

Maintain contrast and accessibility

Even when adapting your palette for cultural or seasonal reasons, your design must remain legible and inclusive.

Check every localized color combination against WCAG 2.1 guidelines:

• Maintain sufficient contrast ratios for text and backgrounds (AA for body text, AAA for smaller text or tighter contexts)
• Add text outlines or shadows when using bright-on-bright palettes (such as red-on-gold or white-on-yellow)\

Visual content carries powerful cultural and emotional weight. Webflow allows you to localize images and media on a per-locale basis, helping you tailor your site to different markets while maintaining a strong visual identity.

By default, secondary locales use the same assets as the primary locale. However, you can override any asset with a locale-specific version when regional relevance, language, or symbolism requires a change.

Use culturally appropriate imagery and symbols

Images, icons, and illustrations must resonate with your audience’s cultural context. Avoid visuals that may be confusing, inappropriate, or misaligned with local norms. Instead, include assets that reinforce cultural familiarity — such as local landmarks, regional events, or holiday-specific themes.

Adapt iconography and content-driven visuals

Localization is not just about avoiding mistakes. It’s also about creating visual resonance. For example:

• Replace product images that include region-specific packaging or when the original text is irrelevant to the locale. 
• Update social proof sections with photos of people who reflect the target audience

Avoid embedding text in images

Text inside images cannot be translated automatically. If you use images with text (like banners or infographics), you’ll need to recreate them for each locale. Instead, use Webflow’s text elements and dynamic content to keep copy editable and translatable.

Localized image overrides

In any secondary locale, you can override the default image, videos or PDFs by selecting the element and uploading a new asset or overriding an asset on a CMS item. This lets you localize:

• Background images
• Product shots
• Product Specs

If you do nothing, the asset from the primary locale will be used as a fallback.

Alt text localization

Accessible and SEO-friendly alt text can also be localized in two ways:

1. Global override (via the Assets panel): Set a single alt text for all uses of an image in a locale. Best for shared icons or product images.
2. Instance-level override: Customize alt text for a specific use of an image. Best for decorative images or varied contextual meanings.

Always update alt text alongside your localized image, especially if the content or messaging of the image has changed.

Asset organization strategies

• Use folders in the Webflow Asset panel to group assets by locale (e.g., /EN/, /FR/, /JA/)
• Adopt a naming convention for clarity (e.g., banner_es.jpg, icon_fr-ca.svg)
• Keep visual dimensions and aspect ratios consistent across locales to prevent layout shifts

Two localization methods

Components are a powerful part of Webflow’s design system, they let you create reusable, modular content that stays consistent across your site. With Localization, you can adapt these components for each locale without rebuilding or duplicating them.

By default, a component’s content and styling are shared across all locales. But when you need to adjust a component for a specific language or region, Webflow gives you two ways to localize it.

Use component props and style variants

This approach gives you fine-grained control over specific parts of a component without affecting the global structure.

Use when:

• You want to change text, icons, images, or internal layout per instance.
• You want to modify the visual styling of a component (e.g., spacing, alignment, typography) for a certain market.
• Your component needs to look or sound different in different regions while preserving structure.

How it works:

• Create props (like title, description, image) from the primary locale that are inherited by the component in the secondary locale.
• Apply style variants to adjust visual appearance by locale (e.g., compact button spacing in Japanese).

Localize the component main

This approach lets you override the component’s base content and settings per locale. All instances of that component will reflect those changes for that locale only.

Use when:

• You’re translating a shared piece of content (e.g., a global banner or CTA).
• The component structure and logic stay the same across locales.
• You want simple translation, not deep adaptation.

How it works:

• Switch to the target locale in Webflow.
• Select the component and override the main content once.
• The changes apply across all instances in that locale.

Best practices for localizing components