The ask was small: three icons for Hub Delivery's Japan website, in the existing Hub icon style, no bigger than 200 pixels.

The Japan team wanted the page to explain the program at a glance and convert more businesses.

Map the copy first

I started with a map: each line of Japanese copy, its English translation, the icon we'd normally use, and what might need to change. Some of our standard icons didn't translate. A bank building doesn't say "income" the way it does in the US, and the door we used for "your business" looked like an American storefront.

The icon mapping.

Check the culture

So I looked at how Japanese homes and shops actually look, and how money shows up in everyday life, and built reference boards for both.

References: Japanese home design.

References: Japanese financial symbols.

Then draw

Two rounds of options followed. One set used a traditional door with a shop curtain. The final set used a modern Japanese door, a wallet holding yen in place of the bank, and a small group of people for "community."

The first round: a traditional entryway.

The final set.

It's three icons. But the process (map the copy, check the culture, then draw) is the same one I'd use for a whole campaign.

Design by me, for Hub Delivery Japan at Amazon's Creative Garage.