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7 Commandments Of Catalog Design
1. Thou shall print your catalogs in color: It is always highly recommended that you print your catalogs in full color. People will always respond to full color pictures of products. This is of course especially crucial for products that do in fact need to be judged by color. Clothes and Accessories for example are better judged with color. No one will really take a black and white catalog seriously if they can't judge the products within it correctly. So printing in less than full colors amounts to a sin in catalog printing. Heed the commandment and print in full color. You'll have better looking catalogs that way. 2. Thou shall place the best products on the top right: People have the tendency to look at the top right of most printed material. Color catalogs are no exception. People will usually look at the top right of your catalog first. So it pays to place one of your best products on this area. Be it be the cover, or any of the inside pages, one of your best products should be located there. This should net these products with greater attention, giving you an increased opportunity for sales. 3. Thou shall use easily understandable fonts: Some color catalog designers make the serious error of printing catalogs with wild and stylistic text. They use elegant script fonts, or they go wild and use unusual wacky letters. Font styles are interesting to play with, but in terms of catalog printing one must also consider function. People must always understand what they are looking at in the catalog, as well as know its details like the price and material. If your font style in the catalog is a little less than understandable, they will easily get bored and put down the catalog. That is why you need to use a simple and functional font in your catalogs. This promotes some ease in understanding the catalogs making people read about it more. 4. Thou shall show products in action: Also, don't forget to display your products in action. Especially for products like toys, gadgets and others that have moving parts, people want to see how it works in real life even if it is just a photograph. People get more engaged and acquainted with the products if they see how it works. You can have a model displaying the action, or you can have a montage of different pictures with the item shown in action through several pictures. 5. Thou shall include order forms: Catalogs are never complete without order forms. Since color catalogs are about selling different products, it makes sense to make the sales process easier as well for the consumer by providing actual order forms already inside your catalogs. Once your potential consumers decide on what they want, they can already tag them and see how it costs if you have order forms attached. Your potential consumers will appreciate this effort since they will be able to fill out their orders instantly without the delay of having to try and contact your firm. 6. Thou shall not include too many feature articles: Other pioneering designers think that you can turn a catalog into a newsletter or magazine. This is not recommended. A catalog is about pictures, descriptions and orders. It has nothing to do with feature articles and magazine “how-tos”. If you put such blocks of text in your catalogs, most people will just be confuses as to the true nature of your catalog print. They might even throw away your catalog since they can't see their favorite products easier. 7. Thou shall match design to the lifestyle of your audience: Finally, and probably most importantly, you need to know if your target market can relate to your products. Products have a kind of lifestyle that they portray. Expensive luxury items of course portray a luxury lifestyle. Gadgets appeal to the more technological audience. Clothes and accessories have a greater female following. You need to match the design of your color catalogs to match those lifestyles. This is so that people can relate to them in a personal level. This eventually can lead to sales on your end. So those are the 7 commandments in catalog printing design. Remember them when you are creating your own color catalogs. These commandment may not be written and stone, but it is crucial for your catalog's survival. So write them in your mind and remember. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Visit this site for more information on print catalogs and catalog printing |
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