Welcome to Catalog Printing and Design Tips
Catalog printing tips and the other related printing tips sites will allow you to
maximize the power of your messages to prospects and customers for all your
catalog printing, post card printing, brochure printing, flyer printing, and other
promotional printing needs. Catalogs can be your single most important sales
tool for showcasing your products and service offerings. Catalogs are extremely
versatile in both content and use. The catalog printing format can also be used
for other print communications such as annual report printing, operating or
service manual printing and training workbook printing. Catalog printing tips is the
right place for help in creating great catalogs that will maximize the power of your
message.

About Catalogs - Reports - Pamphlets - Booklets
Catalogs can also be described as Manuals, Booklets, Reports or Pamphlets. Catalogs most frequently are full color (sometimes referred to as 4-color or CMYK) since research shows that full color delivers the most effective reader response. Catalogs can be sent as direct mail pieces or handed out to prospects and customers. Maximize your catalog return on investment by following our design tips and by having them printed by a reliable, quality printer.

Catalog Design Tips
What design choices must be made before getting a printing quote for your catalog project? Let's start off with paper for the cover followed by the inside that is often referred to as body or text pages. There is an old saying about the need to tell what's in a book or catalog by its cover. With that in mind, the cover needs to be your single most important and impact page. Covers are frequently printed on a heavier weight paper called cover stock. Using cover weight stock results in greater durability and a heftier, more upscale feel especially for catalogs with 16 or fewer pages. The body or inside pages are usually printed on text weight stock. Text paper is lighter than cover weight stock. For catalogs of 20 or more pages it often makes economic sense to print what is called a self-cover book. This is where the cover and body are both printed on a relatively heavy text stock, such as 80 lb. gloss text.

Catalog Printing Tips
Catalogs can also have different color combinations on the cover versus the body. If you need your cover to really catch the reader's eye, make it full color and then save money by using 2 colors on the inside or body pages. Catalogs are typically printed in more than one color. Research shows that people respond more positively and remember longer full color images.

Catalog Binding Tips
Binding style is dependant on number of pages within the catalog and the look and feel you are trying to achieve. Most catalogs under 80 pages are saddle stitched with staples in the middle holding it together. A more expensive and upscale binding style is perfect binding. Perfect binding is also used for thicker catalogs, most frequently for those over 80 pages. Perfect binding is the term for gluing the cover to the backbone of the body pages, like the paper back novels sold at retail. For more information regarding finishing options.

Catalog Ordering Tips
Make sure you place your order with an experienced and knowledgeable commercial printer with a reputation for quality, reliability and one that is easy to do business with. As with many important purchases the least expensive is frequently not the best value. Your local area printers may be able to do your job but printers with websites can do even better job with benefits like low prices, instant price quotes and easy online ordering.
 
To find out more about Catalog Printing, www.usaprintingonline.com

More Catalog Printing Tips

Before you break the rules of catalog printing design, you need to understand what they are - and why they work.

Catalog printing design has come a long way from the industry's downscale origins and the days of jam-packed "big books." In recent years we've seen more avant-garde page design, as well as unusual use of typography and color to make catalog printing look different.

But as important as it is that catalog printing stand out in today's ever-crowded mailboxes, remember that "different" does not necessarily translate to greater sales. Catalog printing folks have long followed many of the established design principles for one simple reason: They sell products. So before you embark on an unusual or unconventional catalog printing approach that breaks the rules, make sure you and your designers know what the catalog printing rules are.

Shown below are eight catalog printing creative rules generally accepted by professional catalog managers and designers, rules that typically produce decent, if not always spectacular, results. But with each creative rule, we will show you exceptions that have boosted revenue and profits.

rule #1
Always place a best seller in the upper right corner of each spread.

As a rule, when readers glance at a catalog from front to back, their eyes first fall to the upper right corner of a spread, so it makes sense to put a strong product there. But best sellers are not always the most visually compelling or attention-grabbing products. If that's the case, consider placing in the upper right corner an unusual-looking product or photograph that will impel readers to pause. Then by placing your best seller in another prominent position on the spread, you will encourage readers to view the entire catalog printing spread.

One of our catalog printing clients, vitamins Healthy Directions, had much better results after running a customer testimonial for a weight-loss food supplement in the upper right corner, in lieu of just running a photo of the item. Instead, the actual bottle of the weight loss product was prominently placed near the top of the opposite page.

rule #2
Keep the catalog printing simple, and limit the number of typefaces you use.

No matter how much catalog printing information is necessary to close the sale, the copy has to be legible - that means no reducing the type to 6 points to help you cram in all the text. Still, sometimes some catalog printing elements of the copy need to be presented in type that's bolder or larger than the rest of the text to communicate a special benefit or offer.

For instance, if you are selling men's pants that do not wrinkle, don't bury this catalog printing benefit in body copy. Instead, try a benefit headline with a distinct type treatment to make sure it stands out. Casual apparel cataloger Eddie Bauer, for instance, quickly communicates the catalog printing advantage of its trousers with the "defies wrinkles" head in a prominent location, using bold type.

rule #3
Catalog printing must always have an order form.

When mail was the primary means of submitting orders, it was essential to include a well-designed order form that was easy to fill out and mail, usually with an attached envelope. But as catalog printing, fax, and the Web continue to replace ordering by mail, many catalog printing people are rethinking this creative tenet.

While fewer customers use the catalog printing order form to mail orders, think twice before you drop the form altogether. An order form in catalog printing says "direct selling" and sets it apart from information brochures and magazines. What's more, many customers - both business and consumer - use the catalog printing form as a worksheet to organize their orders before calling or ordering via the Internet.

As the ratio of mail to phone orders decreases, you may consider eliminating the catalog printing reply envelope, which is the most expensive part of the order form. The catalog printing envelope is also the creative element with the longest lead time, often adding up to 15 days to the production cycle. If you're a business mailer, you might replace the elaborate catalog printing order form and preformed envelope with a simple 8-1/2" x 11" one-color "telephone organizer and fax" form.

rule #4
Consistent catalog printing layouts are a mark of excellence.

Developing recognizable catalog printing spreads, typographical elements, and icons is important in creating a brand image. But if every spread looks the same and follows the same rules of eye flow, customers will become bored and probably choose not to peruse your entire book. Mixing up the catalog printing spreads with grids and "surprise" layouts encourages readers to spend more time throughout your entire book. You can also improve pacing by creating "stopper" spreads throughout the catalog printing using a series of planned layout template changes.

For instance, you might use different catalog printing colors, backgrounds, or layout formats to break up the overall design of the catalog printing. The Electric Outlet catalog, a client that sells household electrical items, uses the occasional catalog printing grid layout among mostly asymmetrical layouts to shake things up, grab the readers' attention, and encourage them to stop and read the spread.

rule #5
Standard catalog printing formats are more profitable.

You can gain many economies by working with your catalog printing partner and the Postal Service to determine an efficient trim size, but sometimes a unique format will attract more attention or better enhance your brand than a standard full-size, slim-jim, or digest-size catalog printing, which in turn can boost sales and even the bottom line.

For instance, one of our catalog printing clients, biking and walking travel tours mailer Butterfield and Robinson, uses an oversize, coffee-table format to present its trips and expeditions. Such an oversize format can add as much as 25% to your catalog printing paper and production costs, but some mailers trying to present a certain image find it's worth the expense.