Graphic design companies engaged to create attractive and readable texts for various company reports are becoming ever more colourful and inventive with their layouts. However, they rarely take into consideration how the design will fit with other languages. For example, to contain a portion of text within a framed box may not allow sufficient space to accommodate a different language where the wordage of the translation extends beyond that of the original.
PDFs, which are the usual form of such graphically designed reports, are normally quite easy to convert either to Word or PowerPoint. Unfortunately, such conversions can be quite unstable. Managing them in the translation process can often triple the time factor alone. This is especially the case where texts are produced in columns across double page spreads, within complicated graphics and in restricted spaces.
We always strive to provide a translation that not only matches the style and sense of the original text, but also represents the ethos of the specific client. In that respect our focus should be on the words themselves and not diverted to struggling with complex layouts.
It must be the case that the graphics department, or outside graphic designers receive the original text in plain type. From that they create their works of art. It would be so much more practical if we could receive the text in that original form. This would then provide the designers with the opportunity to work the translated text into their designs. It would also cut down both the time factor and inevitably the cost of the translation.