Catalog Production in the Digital Age

Initially, what the industry saw unfold was a modest concession among the print supply-chain partners. Catalogers largely agreed to supply content digitally (and adopt things such as digital proofing), but usually in native application file formats, such as QuarkXPress.

As the digital relationship continued to evolve between catalog publisher and manufacturer, responsibilities began to shift, as well. The onus began to swing back to the content creator — that is, the cataloger — to supply the printer with properly created digital files that would more seamlessly integrate with the manufacturers’ CTP workflow systems.