Multilingual DTP services: page layout for translated content

You’ve invested a lot of effort in designing your communication materials. Now, you’d like to translate all of your content into English, French, Chinese, Arabic, Italian or maybe Russian – while maintaining its attractive layout and typographical consistency.

The stakes are high. Your communication materials are your brand’s visual identity. You paid close attention to every last detail and you expect the translated versions to meet the same high standards. Have you used the best font for your intended audience? Will the page layout be suitable for the subsequent binding direction?

Our multilingual DTP services team can answer all of your questions.

• Desktop publishing for foreign language content
• Graphic design of your technical documents
• Managing your project right through to delivery of ready-to-print files

Our experts do not aim to step on the toes of the designers who create and craft visual content. Instead, their job is to identify the creative focus through meeting the client’s need to make it as relevant as possible to the target markets – wherever in the world they may be. We know that words are not always just words. They can also form striking visuals that help get your message across and reinforce your graphic identity.

As well as in-depth knowledge of their software environment, our DTP experts work closely with expert linguists and native translators. For the highest possible quality, we also offer copy editing services. These teams have created a list of orthographic and typographic rules for each language, which cover style and layout guidelines, use of typographic signs and general readability. This ensures your final material will be perfectly adapted to the culture of the country in which you publish it, while remaining consistent with your original content.

Once your documents have been translated, they will need to be reformatted to accommodate the new content. This may involve finding suitable alternative fonts, for instance, or adjusting line and letter spacing so the final effect remains the same as that produced by your source document. In some cases, some of the main features of the source file may have to be changed, such as the page layout, the graphic charter or even the illustrations.

Many attributes vary from one country to another. For example, an English text translated into French or Spanish takes up around 20% more space, while Chinese, Korean, or Japanese usually take up less space. As for Arabic, the language is written and read from right to left.