In order to solve the design problem of mismatch between the modernization of regional culture and traditional design methods, the work aims to propose a design method of translating regional culture to modern visual symbols based on extenics to solve the problems of strong subjectivity of translation, lack of cultural locality and ambiguity of design process in the modernized design of visual symbols in regional culture. The Three Gorges Families Scenic Area was taken as the research object and then the expandable semantic analysis of its regional culture and modern visual symbols was conducted. The typical features of regional culture and visual symbols were designed by expandable correlation transformation, and applied to innovative derivative design to complete the design practice. The introduction of extenics into the translation design of regional culture to modern visual symbols expand the objectivity in the translation of cultural symbols while preserving the designer's instincts and intuition to highlight the modernity of regional culture in design.