What is your standard turnaround time for DTP projects?

What is your standard turnaround time for DTP projects??

Standard turnaround times vary by file format, page count, number of target languages, and layout complexity. The timelines below assume translated text has been received and is ready for layout — DTP turnaround begins when we receive the translated content, not when the original project is submitted.

Simple projects (1–10 pages, clean source files): 4–8 hours per language for PowerPoint, Word, or straightforward InDesign layouts with minimal graphics. These files have predictable text flow, standard fonts, and limited manual adjustment requirements.

Medium projects (10–50 pages, moderate complexity): 1–2 business days per language for InDesign brochures, Illustrator marketing materials, or FrameMaker chapters. Text expansion, image repositioning, and style sheet adjustments are the primary time drivers at this tier.

Complex projects (50+ pages or technical content): 2–5 business days per language for FrameMaker books, MadCap Flare projects, multi-chapter InDesign documents, or files with heavy use of anchored objects, cross-references, and conditional text. These require systematic processing and thorough QA.

eLearning projects: 2–3 business days per language for Articulate Storyline or Rise courses, depending on slide count, interactive element complexity, and whether audio synchronization is required.

For multilingual projects, we process languages in parallel when operator availability allows. A 30-page InDesign brochure in 8 languages does not take 8 times the single-language turnaround — with parallel processing, it typically takes 1.5 to 2 times the single-language estimate.

These timelines include one round of internal QA. Client review cycles and correction rounds are additional. We recommend building at least one business day of buffer into project plans for the client review and correction cycle.

During quoting, we provide a specific delivery date and time for each language variant based on the actual files, not generic estimates. If the quoted timeline does not meet your needs, ask about our rush options — we can almost always compress the schedule with appropriate rush handling.

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