Kcymaerxthaere
Kcymaerxthaere is one of the world's most ambitious parallel-world storytelling and public art projects — an alternative universe made physical through plaques, installations, and publications placed at real locations across the globe.
Industry
Arts and Culture / Public Art
Company Size
Under 10
Timeline
Ongoing since 2021
How Kcymaerxthaere brought a parallel world to life across 26 languages and 500+ pages of design.
The situation
A world that spans continents and languages needed design that could hold it together across all of them.
Kcymaerxthaere's storytelling lives in physical publications placed at real-world locations — booklets, covers, and companion materials that must work in any language, any reading direction, and any cultural context. Since 2021, Noran Design has been the design partner responsible for producing those publications across more than 26 languages. The challenge is not translation — it is design: rebuilding each edition so that the spatial logic, typography, and visual hierarchy work correctly for the specific language and reading direction.
What we did
Editorial design and production across 26+ languages — rebuilt from the layout up for each one.
For each new language edition, we rebuilt the layout from scratch rather than adapting the English version. Right-to-left languages require a complete spatial rethinking of the page — text flow, image placement, pull-quote positioning, and visual hierarchy all change. We designed and produced each edition to preserve the narrative integrity and visual quality of the project, regardless of language. Our work was exhibited at Hard to Put Into Words at 2413 Hyperion in Los Angeles, where the booklets were displayed alongside the installation artwork.
The results
Designing across 26 languages is not a production challenge — it is a design challenge. Every edition requires its own spatial logic, its own typographic decisions, and its own cultural sensitivity. We have been doing this for Kcymaerxthaere since 2021, and the world keeps expanding.
500+ pages of multilingual publications designed and produced since 2021
26+ languages, including Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Hindi, and Traditional Chinese
Work exhibited at Hard to Put Into Words, 2413 Hyperion, Los Angeles
Each edition rebuilt from the layout up — not translated, but redesigned
An ongoing creative partnership that has expanded in scope every year since 2021
Nicole and the team impressed us with their speed, precision, and creativity. Their attention to both visual and linguistic detail was critical for a complex, multilingual project spanning over twenty languages. They delivered with clarity, charm, and incredible efficiency a rare and powerful combination. Highest possible marks.
Eames Demetrios
Director, Kcymaerxthaere
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