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

By Susan McIntyre

Benefits and brand won’t sell well without clarity.

Clarity trumps benefits and beauty. So when you’re trying to balance all three, sometimes you have to sacrifice gorgeous for clear. And that’s OK.

Beauty or Beast?
Three catalogs I really admire that are very different from each other, but very on-target for their respective audiences, are Levenger, Vermont Country Store and Duluth Trading. All have great copy and wonderfully unique products. Each has a very different look and feel. I could make a case for each being beautiful in its own way, but for hang-on-your-wall beauty, only Levenger’s gorgeously lit and photographed images of “tools for serious readers” come close.