Producing a Catalog

Producing a CatalogBefore you can produce a catalog, you must undergo first theplanning stage. In the planning stage, you envision your objective.What do you want to communicate? What tone or ambiance is necessary tomake the objective apparent? Another thing that you should consider isthe audience. Knowing the potential readers may help you create andcommunicate the message, tone and identity that you want. The nextthing to ask is who will be the designer? Looking for a designer ishard because only few designers of design companies specialize incatalog. A good designer will give you the style you are looking forbut an unskilled catalog designer will create technical difficultiesresulting in cost overruns and delays. If you have already chosen adesigner, do not forget to choose an expert photographer in connectionto catalog. The last thing to consider in the planning stage is thebudget. Seek help from catalog designers or producers so that yourcatalog will fit within your budget.

After planning, decide onthe initial design considerations. This includes the kind of catalogyou want to create, the number of products you want to appear per page,the number of pieces you want to be printed and other details such asenvelope, index, table of contents, sales terms and the likes.

Nowyou can set the schedule. Producing a catalog is like taking a longroad trip. Efficient planning will keep you on track, on time andwithin budget. Usually, the creation of a new catalog takes about twomonths for design and photography. Revised catalogs can take less timedepending on the degree of modification.

After setting theschedule, you can now formulate product information and have somecreative copy. This will include data such as item name, item numbers,prices, descriptions and groupings. Most native data lack comprehensiveproduct name and description copy. Decide whether you or your designcompany will write the additional copy essential for the catalog. Youmust keep the data to save your time and expense in case it will beneeded again in the future.

The next step is product photographyand catalog imagery. To prepare for photography collect and categorizesamples of all your products. Then label them in a distinct locationwith their product code. That way the photographer can match theproduct code with the image filename for quick addition by thedesigners.

The last step is the selection of a printer andmail house. Printing catalogs is a fairly specialized printing process.You need to hand over to a printer at least 4 weeks prior to printingto warrant paper delivery. The printing, bindery and mailing will takeabout 2 weeks. Prepare your mailing data in advance of your print date.Your printer, mail house or catalog design company can assist you withdata formats and schedule.

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