Catalog Doctor: Good Readability Makes a Healthy Catalog
If, for some reason, you must use a sans-serif font for body copy, try to use one that has shape — that is, where all letter parts aren't exactly the same thickness — to help your customers' subconscious brains better recognize differences between letters at scanning speed.
Rules for Big Copy
The bigger the copy, the fewer the rules. A big headline that runs across a two-page spread, like "Gifts under $25" in 72 point can be in any font, including a swirly initial-cap script on the "G," and it can be in a color, even pastel.
- Companies:
- McIntyre Direct
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
