Does your catalog need a ‘pretty’ prescription? Maybe not.

By Susan McIntyre

If you were to take that same image with some copy on it, most people would say the copy detracts from the beauty. But you can’t buy the “max beauty” candle holder without copy telling you how and why to buy it.

So now look at the same image on the right. It has two copy blocks: a big “30% OFF” circle and a corner violator that designers would complain “ruins the graphic integrity.” You’d be hard-pressed to find this image framed on anyone’s wall, so it loses points for artistic merit. But who cares? It gains points for salesmanship.