Creative Cut: The Organized Bird Gets the Customer

Design — Customers rely on visual cues. Duncraft makes the mistake of placing a product where it also has editorial content. The Woodland Lodge, in the far left upper corner, is placed in the editorial strip, where it loses strength as a product shot.

Another common catalog problem occurs when an editorial shot meant to
create mood draws attention away from product. The Christmas tree in the opening spread becomes the focus; it commandeers the reader’s eyes. The result is a confusing depiction with an inset shot that contains a product shot that’s virtually the same size as the product in the editorial shot. It’s an eyeflow no-no, and it’s hard to get back to product. (The product, by the way, is double exposed on pg. 40. With all this allocated space, they’d better sell a lot of it!)