Catalog Layout & Design Checklist Tips

Whether you're designing a consumer or business-to-business catalog, keep all of these factors in mind to improve the results of your catalog.

• The catalog should be the appropriate number of pages for the number of products offered.
• Space allocation for the products should be based on importance of the product, and how much space is required to properly present it.
• The catalog should use devices such ideas, letters, cooking instructions, history lessons, receipts and quotes to keep the reader engaged.
• The catalog pagination needs to be well organized and it needs to make sense to the customer as she looks at it.
• There should be a hero product presentation or several in the book to add drama and break up the monotony.
• High impulse products that can fill out the customer purchase should be featured surrounding the order form.
• The back cover of the catalog should feature new products.
• The merchandise needs to be the star of the spreads, the catalog.
• The products need to be well organized, and for a catalog with a lot of product categories and / or a large number of pages, the use of a table of contents will make the catalog easier to shop.
• Page 2 when possible should include important customer information.
• The strongest products should be on the inside front spread and the products should be representative of the rest of the products offered.
• If items are paginated along a theme, they need to be consistent to that theme.
• Unique merchandise should be chosen for feature slots.