# Key Art Localization: Titles, Billing and Ratings | Vitra.ai

> Key art carries a title, a billing block and a rating in a fixed layout. What can change per territory, what is contractual, and where it breaks.

**Canonical URL**: https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/key-art-localization
**Source**: This is the Markdown rendering of https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/key-art-localization, generated at build time from that page.

---

4 min read

# Key Art Localization: Titles, Billing and Ratings

Key art carries a title, a billing block and a rating in a fixed layout. What can change per territory, what is contractual, and where it breaks.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager , Vitra.ai
Updated Aug 17, 2026

![Key Art Localization: Titles, Billing and Ratings](https://www.vitra.ai/static/images/blog/key-art-localization.jpg)

Table of contents

[The poster is three documents in a trench coat](#the-poster-is-three-documents-in-a-trench-coat)

[The billing block is not editable copy](#the-billing-block-is-not-editable-copy)

[Where the layout actually breaks](#where-the-layout-actually-breaks)

[Producing the versions](#producing-the-versions)

[FAQ](#faq)

Contributors

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Senior Product Manager

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe

> **Quick answer —** Key art localization changes the title treatment, the rating mark and the billing block for each territory. The billing block is contractual and cannot be edited freely, which is what makes this a legal task as much as a design one.[Vitra.ai Universe](https://www.vitra.ai/platform) handles the dub, the captions and the artwork around them.

## The poster is three documents in a trench coat

There is the image, which sells. There is the title treatment, which is usually custom lettering rather than type. And there is the billing block, which is a contract rendered in six-point condensed. Each behaves differently when the territory changes.

Element

Changes per territory

Governed by

Image

Sometimes

Marketing judgement

Title treatment

Often

Brand and local title decision

Billing block

Order is fixed

Contract

Rating mark

Always

Local classification body

Distributor and platform logos

Always

Whoever is releasing it

Release date format

Always

Local convention

## The billing block is not editable copy

Credit order, relative type size and what each person is called are negotiated in contracts, and getting them wrong has consequences that have nothing to do with design. It can be typeset for a new language and it can be re-set at a new size. What it cannot be is reordered, abbreviated to fit, or trimmed because the poster is now a different shape. If it will not fit, the layout changes.

Treat it as a fixed asset with a legal owner and route changes through them.

## Where the layout actually breaks

Title treatments. A custom-lettered English title becomes a longer word in German or a completely different script in Japanese, and neither is a font substitution — both need lettering that matches the original's character without copying its letterforms.

Then everything below it moves.

Rating marks are the second failure. Each classification body specifies its own mark, often with minimum sizes and clear space, and a layout built around one country's small rating badge has nowhere to put a larger one.

Design the master with room for the biggest mark and the longest title, not the one you have.

## Producing the versions

[Image translation](https://www.vitra.ai/features/image-translation) handles the text layers where the type is live, which covers taglines, dates and the billing block.

Sizes multiply fast — one-sheet, banner, thumbnail, social, in-app tile — and [image personalization](https://www.vitra.ai/features/image-personalization) recomposes rather than scaling, which matters because a thumbnail that shrinks the whole poster makes the title unreadable while a recomposed one keeps it legible.

Keep every territory's approved version in an [asset manager](https://www.vitra.ai/features/asset-manager). Re-releases and platform changes reuse them, and the alternative is rebuilding artwork whose approvals nobody can locate.

The moving equivalent has more text in it than the poster does - see [trailer localization](https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/trailer-localization).

## FAQ

**What is key art localization?** Adapting a poster or title artwork for each territory: the title treatment, rating mark, distributor logos, date format and billing block. The image itself sometimes changes too, though that is a marketing decision.

**Can the billing block be edited to fit a layout?** It can be typeset in a new language or re-set at a different size, but credit order, relative type sizes and job titles are contractual. If it does not fit, the layout changes rather than the block.

**What breaks most often in localized key art?** The title treatment. Custom lettering does not translate as a font substitution, and a longer word or a different script pushes everything beneath it. Rating marks are second, because sizes differ by classification body.

**How should key art be designed for many territories?** With room for the longest title and the largest rating mark rather than the ones in the first version. Retrofitting space into a tight layout means redesigning it for every market that needs more.

Our blog

## Lastest blog posts

Tool and strategies modern teams need to help their companies grow.

Automotive

[Automotive Brochure Localization by Market](https://www.vitra.ai/automotive/automotive-brochure-localization)
A car brochure is a spec grid, a legal footer and a photo library, all market-specific. What actually has to change, and why the layout decides the schedule.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Aug 18, 2026

Automotive

[Automotive Campaign Localization Across Markets](https://www.vitra.ai/automotive/automotive-campaign-localization)
Campaigns run through national companies and dealer networks, so one master becomes hundreds of files. Where the offer text and the disclaimers actually break.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Aug 18, 2026

Automotive

[Car Service Manual Translation for Technicians](https://www.vitra.ai/automotive/automotive-service-manual-translation)
A workshop manual is read mid-repair by someone with the car on a lift. What that demands of procedures, torque figures and fault codes, in every language.

[Samhitha J Bhatt](https://www.vitra.ai/author/samhitha)
Aug 18, 2026

[View all posts](https://www.vitra.ai/blog/page/1)

---

## Structured data

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/key-art-localization"
  },
  "headline": "Key Art Localization: Titles, Billing and Ratings",
  "image": [
    {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://www.vitra.ai/static/images/blog/key-art-localization.jpg"
    }
  ],
  "datePublished": "2026-08-17T00:00:00.000Z",
  "dateModified": "2026-08-17T00:00:00.000Z",
  "author": [
    {
      "@type": "Person",
      "name": "Samhitha J Bhatt"
    }
  ],
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Vitra.ai",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://www.vitra.ai/static/images/vitra-v-logo.png"
    }
  },
  "description": "Key art carries a title, a billing block and a rating in a fixed layout. What can change per territory, what is contractual, and where it breaks."
}
```

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Home",
      "item": "https://www.vitra.ai"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Production-media",
      "item": "https://www.vitra.ai/production-media"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Key Art Localization: Titles, Billing and Ratings",
      "item": "https://www.vitra.ai/production-media/key-art-localization"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is key art localization?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Adapting a poster or title artwork for each territory: the title treatment, rating mark, distributor logos, date format and billing block. The image itself sometimes changes too, though that is a marketing decision."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Can the billing block be edited to fit a layout?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It can be typeset in a new language or re-set at a different size, but credit order, relative type sizes and job titles are contractual. If it does not fit, the layout changes rather than the block."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What breaks most often in localized key art?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "The title treatment. Custom lettering does not translate as a font substitution, and a longer word or a different script pushes everything beneath it. Rating marks are second, because sizes differ by classification body."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How should key art be designed for many territories?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "With room for the longest title and the largest rating mark rather than the ones in the first version. Retrofitting space into a tight layout means redesigning it for every market that needs more."
      }
    }
  ]
}
```