Catalog Doctor: Analyze Digests and Slim Jims

Designing Differences

Design instincts trained on full-size catalogs won’t translate well to small trim sizes. Slim jims are particularly difficult to design. Catalog designers are accustomed to horizontal, two-page spread formats. Whereas full-size and digest catalogs both open up to a nicely balanced horizontal, slim jims open up to a near square, and cataloging’s science of eye flow and placement is hard to translate into a square format.