Functional Designing in Translation

Design in typesetting has undergone a vast change due to the pressures of localization and translation.       

While talking with an old friend about the recent films we had seen, concept of the international market cropped up. Hollywood-based American film industry used to produce films with a complete flair of American to them.

Soon the studios in HOLLYWOOD realized, they were not catering large potential foreign audiences as their films were endowed with the American flair. So, they start thinking from the point of view of international audiences; films that would result best in the domestic market and foreign market with less tinkering. With this ongoing trends, we have more films with less dialogues, more special effects, and more international actors rather than 100% American casts. There is nothing wrong with that, of course – in fact, it mirrors a movement in typesetting and design that seeks to be more easily ‘international’ when it comes to translation work.

The Format of Translation

Typesetting is an artistic form. Most of the work is automatically done and no one has to calculate the leading and kerning themselves any more – but the functional design is still a prerequisite for any print or even electronic product, and more importantly designs are functional that can be easily translated. In the past, when a book was published in America for example, would simply be published in English and if translation is to be done in other dialects than they would have to do so completely from scratch. In the digital age, however, many content creators and publishers are ensuing to have their texts and other products out in all possible markets at the same time. Text specific languages often result in often results in bag layouts as text adapts differently, and moreover, doesn’t fit in the given space. The result? Some new rules for designers, and layouts that are a bit more comprehensive and are adaptable into different cultures and languages.

New Rules of Design

The new approach to design has a similar philosophy to the movies: keeping it simple and with a more room for adaptability:

White Space: Exclusion of White space as it made pages look empty and bare. However, now another point is followed, white space renders translation professionals more room to expand text boxes if required, to fit the translated text.

Keep Design Elements Light: There was a time when textbooks were heavily designed. They were endowed with multiple elements like different text boxes for different types of information. This resulted in beautifully compiled products but are difficult to translate. The new thinking is KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Avoid Columns: The situation becomes more complicated when there are more columns on a page,  and a less room to work with, specifically if your short English word is replaced with a twenty-four letter German term.

These just point changes that have swept design in typesetting- there are many other subtle changes that are beyond your notice.(TRANSLATION SERVICES IN NEW YORK)