Catalog Creative: How to Make it Work

While product uniqueness and quality are keys to moving merchandise, product presentation can make or break you and your catalog. Creativity in catalogs also is crucial to driving sales, but brand awareness is as well. Stuart Cumming, CEO of Cumming Agency & Studios, offered several tips for store-driver catalogs in a session during last week’s DM Days New York Conference & Expo. Below are some of his top tips on planning, designing and producing a creative and effective catalog.

1. Simple icons/messages to get your message through quickly. Keep your pages cleanly organized with strict categorization. Make it easy for consumers to pick up what is being sold to them without having to search for it. “Use enough space to put the emphasis on the product,” Cumming advised.

2. Incorporate lifestyle shots. Make the catalog relatable to consumers, Cumming said. Ways to do this include photos of the product being put to use in everyday life as well as testimonials from consumers who purchased the product. The objective is to have a people-focused, lifestyle-driven catalog.

3. Mix up your artwork. Several techniques that Cumming said have proven to be effective include before/after shots; consistent mix of black and white vs. color throughout; combination of archival shots and contributing shots from the present time and third party partnering.

4. Take your customers on a journey. Go to different and exciting areas for your photo shoots to make use of atmospheric photography. Cumming showed attendees his company’s catalogs for the David Jones retail clothier in Australia that was shot in Rome and Dublin in consecutive years, as an example.

5. Challenge your design team to create the right balance of product vs. atmospheric photography on a page.

For more information, go to www.catalogues.com.au .