Frequently Asked Questions

LPN is the directory for localization production specialists: the people who make localized content production-ready. Multilingual DTP and layout, localization engineering, accessibility and compliance, media localization, e-learning, QA and testing, terminology, and production operations. Translators and interpreters have ProZ. LPN is the home for the production side of the industry.

Individual freelancers working in localization production. Not agencies, not LSPs as a company: individual specialists only. If you also do translation work, that is completely fine. What defines you here is your production craft.

When you sign up and complete your profile, it sits in a review queue. Every profile is reviewed manually before it appears in the public directory. You will receive an email as soon as your profile is live. This usually takes one to two business days.

Yes, completely. Your full profile, all filter dimensions, your public profile URL, the contact form, the portfolio section, and the referral system are all free. There are no commissions: buyers contact you directly and LPN never takes a cut of any work. Pro membership features (enhanced analytics, featured placement, expanded customization) are planned for a future phase, but the core directory will always be genuinely useful for free members.

Yes. Go to Customisation in your profile settings, click Choose photo, and upload a JPG or PNG from your device. No external hosting or image URL needed. Square photos work best; your image is automatically cropped and resized to fit your chosen avatar shape (circle, square, rounded square, or wide rectangle). Maximum file size is 5MB.

If you prefer not to add a photo, LPN shows your initials or avatar text inside your chosen shape with your accent colour as the background instead.

Circle, Square, Rounded Square, and 16:9 Rectangle. The rectangle works well if you want to display a full name or a wide logo inside the avatar rather than initials.

Background color, accent color (used for buttons, links, and separators), stroke/border style, font pair (9 options), and your avatar shape and text. You can start from one of six preset templates and adjust from there. Colors come from a curated palette of eight warm hue families: no harsh pure white or pure black. See a complete example profile.

Specializations are your production disciplines: what you are known for professionally. You pick one primary specialization, which appears as your headline badge on your profile and in directory cards. You can add up to seven more for a total of eight. The form groups them by category and shows the full list of 43 options.

Beyond specializations, your profile has six more sections that make you findable in directory searches. Fill each one honestly:

• Software tools: the applications you use professionally (InDesign, memoQ, Articulate Storyline, Acrobat Pro, and more)
• Production scripts: the writing systems you can produce content in, regardless of whether you speak the language (Latin, RTL, CJK, Indic, and more)
• File formats: INDD, IDML, PDF/X, XLIFF, SCORM, DOCX, and others you handle regularly
• Compliance standards: WCAG 2.1/2.2, Section 508, PDF/UA, ISO 17100, Netflix Timed Text, and others
• Content types: the kinds of documents or media you work with most
• Availability: whether you work remote only or also on-site, and whether you are open to new clients

Your tagline (up to 150 characters) appears on your directory card: it is the first thing a buyer reads after your name and specialization. Make it specific and factual. Your long bio (up to 1500 characters) appears on your full profile page and is where you can explain your background, working style, and what you bring to a project.

LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Instagram, personal website, Behance, Dribbble, GitHub, Vimeo and YouTube, and ProZ. Only platforms you fill in appear on your profile: no empty placeholder icons.

Up to five cards showing real work. It appears on your public profile between your bio and your contact form. Image and Before/After cards use direct upload; link, video, and PDF cards use a URL. You can mix card types freely across your five slots.

Each card can have up to six labels drawn from your own profile data. You can pick from your specializations (shown in short form), scripts, tools, file formats, compliance standards, and content types: in any combination. Six is the hard limit. Labels help buyers quickly understand what skills a piece of work demonstrates.

Cards linking to trusted platforms (Behance, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, Dropbox, Figma, and others) are approved automatically. Cards linking to unknown domains are reviewed manually before appearing on your public profile. While a card is under review, your previously approved version stays visible: buyers always see the last approved state.

Yes. Use the up and down arrows on each card in the portfolio dashboard to change the display order.

No. Image cards and Before/After cards both support direct upload: choose a JPEG or PNG from your device (up to 5MB) and LPN handles storage. No external image host needed.

Link, video, and PDF cards are URL-based: paste a URL and LPN fetches a preview automatically where the source allows it. PDF cards also accept an optional separate image URL if you want a specific cover image in the card.

Every member gets a unique referral link on their dashboard. Share it with colleagues who do localization production work. When someone signs up using your link and gets approved, they count as your referral. You will receive an email when each referred colleague joins. Your referral count and badge progress appear in the Membership section of your dashboard.

Community badges. The referral badge has five tiers: 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50 approved referrals. Badges appear on your public profile and directory card. There are no monetary rewards: referrals are about building the community.

Small icons earned by contributing to LPN. They appear on your profile, on your directory card, and on your dashboard. They are not paid or purchased: they reflect genuine participation. Six badge categories exist:

• Referral: Earned at 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50 approved referrals from your link.
• Bug report: When you report a bug via the feedback form and it gets confirmed and fixed by the development team.
• Specialization suggestion: When you suggest a missing specialization through the feedback form and it gets added to the platform's taxonomy.
• Tool suggestion: When you suggest a missing software tool and it gets added.
• General feedback: When you submit feedback that gets marked as useful.
• Founding Member (gold): Awarded manually to early members who joined during the platform's first phase. If you are among the first members on LPN, reach out to contact@lpn.network.

Go to your Dashboard. At the bottom of the Membership card, you will find a feedback form. Choose a category: General feedback, Bug report, Suggest a specialization, Suggest a tool, or Other. Then describe what you found or what you would like to see. Every submission is read personally. Suggestions that get adopted earn you a badge.

Use the filter at the top of the directory page. The sentence filter lets you narrow by specialization type, country, and scripts. Expand “Filter by tool” to filter by specific software. All filters combine: for example, you can search for a PDF accessibility specialist in Japan who works with Adobe Acrobat Pro. Browse the directory.

Every approved profile has a contact form. Fill in your name, email, and message and it goes directly to the specialist's inbox. Your email is never shown publicly. The specialist replies to you directly: LPN just makes the introduction.

No. LPN is individual freelancers only. Every profile belongs to a single person. This is a firm rule, not a positioning choice: it means when you hire someone via LPN, you know exactly who you are working with.

Every profile is manually reviewed before appearing in the directory. The review checks that the person is a real localization production professional and that the profile is complete and honest. LPN does not independently verify credentials or past client lists, but profiles that do not meet the standard are rejected or returned for corrections.

It is a flag the freelancer sets on their profile. When it is on, they are actively available for new work. When it is off, they are either fully booked or not taking enquiries. You can filter the directory to show only available members.