Tolmach 2000 — case study · Vladislav Chumachenko

Company

Sber, internal document translation service

Role

Product Designer, design and coded prototype

Year

2026

Platform

Web, desktop and phone

Audience

The company’s translators

Status

Corporate version in production, Y2K concept not released

The Y2K concept on a laptop and a phone

TLDR

Designed a document translation service for an internal client at Sber, now in production: a translator uploads a file, picks the languages and takes the translation.

I built the Y2K concept in 54 minutes on the same flow: React, stickers, a checkerboard, a pixel font, two themes and a phone layout. Nobody ordered it: it is my own version of the same service.

54 minutes

from the first references to the Y2K version in React · Git log and file times: first reference at 11:57:13, Y2K commit at 12:50:46, 53 minutes 33 seconds in total

Git log and file times: first reference at 11:57:13, Y2K commit at 12:50:46, 53 minutes 33 seconds in total

13 references

merged into one system: a sticker, a checkerboard, a pixel font

The corporate version

The whole flow fits on one screen: a language bar, an upload zone, progress and “Download”. Documents marked K-1 must not be translated, and the warning sits under the zone before a file is chosen.

Corporate version: empty screen — The empty screen and the swap tooltip with its shortcut

Corporate version: the switch-direction tooltip — The empty screen and the swap tooltip with its shortcut

Corporate version: a file over the upload zone — A file over the zone and the language picker

Corporate version: language picker with search — A file over the zone and the language picker

Corporate version: translation in progress — Translation in progress and translation ready

Corporate version: translation ready — Translation in progress and translation ready

How 7 other services translate documents

I took apart seven services where a document is uploaded whole and comes back translated: DeepL, Google, Yandex and platforms for translators. I asked each the same questions and put them in one table, 33 screens.

Six of seven write about data, but in pricing and help pages. A ban right on the upload screen I found nowhere.

The whole study: 7 services, each with captioned screens

What I looked for

Who has it, of 7

What I did

What happens to the file

Six write about data, three about the file’s fate directly. All in pricing and help, none on the upload screen

A ban on translating documents marked K-1 sits under the upload field, before a file is picked

Limits before upload

Formats on screen at three, size only at Yandex: 15 MB on screen and 5 MB in help

Four formats, up to 20 MB, one file

Why the file was rejected

Rejection texts at Yandex and PROMT, only Yandex suggests a next step

In the concept the reason shows right above the upload field

Swapping the languages

A button at every service checked, a hotkey at Google

A hint with a hotkey

How long to wait

Nobody names a time on screen, DeepL gives “1–2 minutes” only in its docs

Progress on the same screen as the upload and “Download”

PDF

All seven accept it

Four formats as the product requires, PDF not among them

“In the concept” is my Y2K version of the service, the corporate one runs in production.

Y2K concept

The same task in Y2K

The flow and the states stay the same; the shell changes: stickers instead of grey lines, a checkerboard, a tile timer, a pixel font.

Y2K concept: Empty screen — Empty screen: in production and in the concept

Corporate version: Language picker — Language picker: in production and in the concept

Y2K concept: Language picker — Language picker: in production and in the concept

Y2K concept: Translation in progress — Translation in progress: in production and in the concept

Y2K concept: Translation ready — Translation ready: in production and in the concept

The concept in full

Y2K concept, dark theme: language picker — Dark theme: recent languages on top, the alphabet in columns

Y2K concept, dark theme: translation in progress — Translation in progress: a tile timer and 24 segments

Y2K concept: a sticker with the refusal reason above the zone and a K-1 sticker below it — Refusal: the reason on a red sticker, K-1 on an orange one

Y2K concept: the “Swap · ⌥S” tooltip — The swap tooltip and a file over the zone

Y2K concept: a file over the zone, “Let go” — The swap tooltip and a file over the zone

Phone: choosing a file — Phone: a close button instead of Esc, a file picker instead of drag and drop

Phone: language search with a close button — Phone: a close button instead of Esc, a file picker instead of drag and drop

Feedback has three layers: a sound, a haptic tap and motion on screen. All three land on the same frame.

The sound is synthesised in the browser, there are no audio files. On an iPhone the tap comes from a system switch under the finger. Apple closed the scripted path in iOS 26.5, so events without a touch keep the sound and the motion.

Press one: the sound and tap of the concept, as in the prototype

Result

What came out

The corporate version is in production with the company’s translators.
The Y2K concept works in the browser. The whole flow can be clicked through: upload a file, swap languages, wait for the translation and download it.

The shell apart from the logic

The concept stands on the working flow: upload, file checks and language choice are the same as in the corporate version.

Changing the shell leaves the product logic alone, so it can move over screen by screen.