Several clients came to us with a familiar but costly problem.
Their content had been carefully written, approved, and carefully transcreated for overseas markets—yet once it reached publication stage, things began to unravel. Text overflowed. Line breaks felt awkward. Headings dominated where they shouldn’t. Footnotes crept onto new pages. Carefully designed hierarchies collapsed.
The issue wasn’t the foreign copy itself. It was the assumption that layouts designed for English would work just as well for other languages and reluctance to use budget for appropriate redesigns.
English is a comparatively compact language. While other languages expand, contract, and structure meaning differently. When non foreign copy is simply “shoehorned” into an English-optimised layout, the result is visual noise, compromised readability, and subtle damage to credibility—especially in regulated, technical, or brand-sensitive material.
What sat beneath the surface
This wasn’t a design problem alone. It was a communication risk.
Meaning was being distorted by inappropriate layout design for the language used
Emphasis shifted unintentionally because typographic hierarchy no longer worked
Brand presence weakened as layouts felt cramped or inconsistent
Local audiences noticed—because they always do
In some cases, teams attempted quick fixes: smaller fonts, tighter leading, reduced margins. These shortcuts solved nothing. They simply traded visual clarity for cosmetic compliance.
What was missing was an approach to layout design that respected how language actually behaves.
We stepped in to take full responsibility for layout and typesetting, working alongside existing brand guidelines rather than against them.
Instead of forcing foreign copy into fixed structures, we:
Crucially, this work happened—not as an afterthought, but as a deliberate stage in the communication process.
The goal was to let the content breathe—without the brand losing its shape.
The difference was immediately visible—and measurable.
Most importantly, the message landed as intended—because the layout was finally doing its job.
This project reinforced something we see repeatedly:
Good communication doesn’t end with the right words.
Layout, hierarchy, and structure all influence how meaning is received. When these elements are ignored, even the best content struggles. When they’re handled with care, communication gains authority, trust, and ease.