The Catalog Project: How to Print Your Catalogs for the First Time

There is always the first time to print catalogs. Small business or big businesses alike, printed catalogs are a seemingly worthy investment in advertising, sales and product promotions.

In this article we will teach you how to print catalogs for the first time. This little catalog project will cover the simple aspects of design to the actual printing of the catalogs. So read on below and learn.

1. Gathering materials – The first step into creating your color catalogs is to gather all the necessary materials to make the initial draft or design. There are three major aspects of these, the images, the text content and the miscellaneous design elements. You have to gather all of this at the start so that your design stage starts off without too much trouble.

A. Taking photographs – Of course, catalogs are a very visual medium. You will need good photographs of your products for display to make the catalog look great. Make sure to hire professionals to take your product photographs so that they look the best that they possibly can.

B. Writing content – You must also write and edit your catalog text content early on already. This leaves you more time to design the catalog without worrying too much about typing errors. Write your content for each product and section as concisely as you can and be welcoming and friendly since you will be “talking” to your customers directly.

C. Acquiring design elements – Finally, you will need to acquire other miscellaneous design elements such as font styles, logos and catalog templates. All of this will be important in the initial designing of your catalog. Make sure that you collect all that is needed before starting the design.

2. Designing catalogs – The next step is the design stage. Here you will combine all the raw materials you gathered to create the design of the catalog.

A. Creating a layout – Using the catalog template you got earlier you should slowly add in the different elements that you gathered into it. Start by reserving spaces for the images of the products and then add in the text. Make sure that everything fits okay without any important thing spilling in to different pages. Of course practice good artistic judgment and move your text and images to aesthetic places.

B. Enhancing design elements – After the main layout is finished, you should then just enhance and improve the design. Add in the other important logos, proper margins, font styles and borders. Enhance the images when necessary using design software and of course review your text to make sure there are no errors.

3. Printing catalogs – Finally the last step of course is printing after completing your catalog printing design.

A. Looking for a printer – First you must look for a good catalog printing company. You can find them in the yellow pages, or of course around your neighborhood's business district. It is also possible to search for a printing company online so that you can look for them comfortable in your own computer. B. Choosing good preferences – When you do find a catalog printer, make sure that you choose the good and proper preferences for printing. You will have to tell them your preferred paper type, ink type, catalog dimension and other specifics.

C. Printing – Once everything is set, you can go now to the actual printing. Just pay for your orders and within days your color catalogs should arrive.

Great. These are very simple steps, right? Just make sure to follow them and your very first catalog printing may be a success, without even a hitch.