Creative Cut

A beautiful front cover shot beckons the recipient of Fancy Flours’ Holiday 2007 catalog to open up and browse. Most bakers would be drawn to these cookies, frosted and decorated in the holiday spirit. It has a Martha Stewart feeling, with the soft photography and the celadon coloration.

Unfortunately, after the photography, it’s all downhill. First of all, where’s the name of the catalog? Oh, there it is, on the bottom of the cover, in small, hard-to-read script type. Logos belong front and center. A cataloger’s name should be the first thing customers see, hopefully peaking out on the top. In the glut of catalogs that so many customers receive, a catalog’s name should be treated like a masthead and should be the biggest element on the page — not an afterthought.