Mistakes and mishaps happen every day. This usually happens when you are a beginner. There are a lot of common mistakes in manga typesetting and most of the time, for manga typesetting, a beginner is easily spotted through their rookie mishaps and mistakes.

Manga typesetting is the art of cleaning and processing the original manga and replacing the text into a different language. The typesetters’ role is to add or remove SFX as necessary based on the target language.

As a typesetter, you must be meticulous and mindful of every single detail in the original work. It is part of your responsibility to add to the readers’ immersion through non-distracting typesetting. It may be a very small thing for some but, the effects of proper typesetting have, disputed this claim.

To grow your typesetting craft, here are 5 of the common mistakes in Manga typesetting that every beginner should avoid.

Manga Typesetting Mistake #1: Filling in the Entire Bubble.

Give it space. You don’t want to crowd the bubble with words. Never be afraid to keep the font small and compact. In this case, bigger is not always better. This means that you have to have negative space inside the bubbles.

In manga, bubbles are used to indicate a thought or speech, however the text should not overwhelm and take up the whole space. Say for example, the photo below. You can see that the texts do not eat up the entire bubble space but still have negative space.

Manga Typesetting Mistake #2: Don’t Forget your Punctuation!

Every language highly values punctuation marks. It’s no different for Japanese manga. When translating and typesetting into a new language, punctuation marks are easily overlooked. However, this is a key point in creating a great manga. Our brains are trained to apply punctuation marks so much so that we do not notice it anymore in day-to-day activities. However, for avid manga readers it is easy to spot a beginner typesetter ignoring punctuation marks. 

Zooming in to the photo earlier, you can see that punctuation marks were used as necessary. On the other hand, you must keep in mind not to overdo using punctuation marks. Using a lot can turn off a lot of readers, and it takes away the immersion once readers spot it. 

Mistake #3: Distracting Fonts.

Do not use distracting fonts that you know don’t fit the manga. Fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman should be used for other things but not manga. It doesn’t help the reader’s immersion. It feels like they are reading an article more than a manga if you use typical common fonts.

Manga Typesetting Mistake #4: Not Matching the Art Style.

It’s good to have signature fonts for manga typesetting. However, it doesn’t mean that you should use it for everything. Despite having a go-to font to use, you must take into consideration the manga’s setting, situation, and art style. Looking at the example below, you can tell which you should follow and which you should avoid. 

Mistake #5: Always Keep it Centered.

It’s a bubble for a reason, text should be aligned at the center of the bubble. When the text is off center, it creates disorientation and can leave a bad taste in the reader’s mouth. Usually, manga texts are kept short, thus, it is easy to spot whenever the text is not centered. Make sure that every bubble you typeset is centered and balanced.

The Art of Manga Typesetting

Manga typesetting is a difficult and meticulous craft to master. You have to have the eye for design and logic. Not only that, you have to work with multiple people to create the desired translated manga outcome. Thus in manga translation and typesetting, you must choose the best and most professional for the job.

Here at Create Connections & Commons Inc, in order to bridge languages and discover the gems among them, we offer high quality manga typesetting,  translations, game localizations, subtitles, and so on. We have 10 years of experience under our belt and have the most professional experts on our team. Don’t be afraid to contact us!