The Art of Science

Ward’s publishes three annual catalogs: a 1,300-page biology and chemistry catalog; a 500-page geology catalog; and a 500-page middle school science catalog. It also produces flyers and smaller catalogs (16 to 64 pages).

Kommeth says that maintaining data accuracy for all products was virtually unmanageable with the old patchwork system. In addition to database updates, product information also had to be changed on all QuarkXPress documents for each catalog. And since designers didn’t have database access, they were forced to work from hard copies.