My final project in The Visual in Technical Communication was to demonstrate my understanding of basic design concepts. I earned an A for designing print marketing materials for my aunt’s business.
Among the five items I created, I was most proud of the catalog. My aunt was so impressed she created an expanded scrapbook version of it.
Overview
The catalog summarizes the jewelry and crafts my aunt makes for her business, “Anointed Handmade Treasures by Linda Ann.” I intended it to be something she could show to clients during consultations.
I printed one sample catalog through Office Depot’s print center. The final version was an 8.5” x 11” spiral-bound book on “Glossy Elite 100lb” paper. It had a clear front cover and a black spine.
Planning and Design
I was inspired by the little-bit-of-everything showcase JC Penney uses in its 2014 Annual Report, which I critiqued in a separate assignment for the same class. This was the most practical approach given my lack of photos and funds. I couldn’t create the typical in-depth, 100-page catalog.
I designed the catalog in Microsoft Publisher. Sixteen of its 22 pages feature merchandise and descriptions. I organized the merchandise into three major categories—Jewelry, Celebrations, and Miscellany—with three subcategories for each. Each section has at least two pages, with the more important Jewelry and Miscellany sections receiving six and three pages respectively. Later I added a table of contents and copyright page.
I placed vertical price boxes to the left of each photo using the picture caption feature built into Publisher. I liked how they show the price without obscuring or overshadowing the merchandise. I customized the color and the appearance of the text inside.
Lastly, the assignment required detailed stylesheets for the colors, typography, and printing specifications I used.
The color scheme consists of three blue hues: dark blue for H1, light blue for H2, and turquoise for H3. The blues represent the ocean, whose waters change colors depending on the depth. The ocean in turn represents my aunt’s skills. We know most of what she can make (lighter blues = the ocean’s surface). Yet, her creativity constantly surprises us (darker blue = the ocean’s mysterious floor).
For fonts, I used Arial Rounded MT Bold for headings and Cambria Math for basal text. Arial Rounded MT Bold is a large sans serif font, which is easy to read and works well as a heading. Cambria Math, a compact serif, contrasts well with Arial Rounded MT Bold. Had I known about font licensing then, however, I would have used a different combo.
Challenges
My biggest challenge while designing the catalog was working with photos. When I started the project, my aunt had all the merchandise photos with her…in another city. Consequently, I worked without knowing what kind of photos I would have at first.
I solved the photo shortage by creating “placeholder” photos from the jewelry and crafts my aunt had given me over the years. My mom suggested pinning the jewelry with stick pins to paper-covered squares of Styrofoam.
This worked out so well that I wanted to keep the placeholders in the catalog. When my aunt sent her photos (via Facebook Messenger), however, I had to rewrap my Styrofoam squares in black fabric so my photos would match her black velvet displays.
Photo quality was another problem. I had to replace many of the lower resolution phone photos with placeholders I took with my digital camera. In the cases of certain pieces of jewelry and the Wedding and Diaper Cakes sections, I could only edit what I had. Some of my photos weren’t perfect either. The catalog’s cover photo, for example, was originally a blurry reject. I applied Paint.net’s “Ink Sketch” artistic effect to create a usable image.
Resources
- “Choose the Right Paper For Your Catalog” (Print Place)
- “Creating a Successful Catalog Design” and “Image Resolution For Printing” (PrintingForLess.com)
- “What are the Different Types of Printer Paper?” (eBay)
- “How to Make a Product Catalog” (Wikihow)
- “The Complete Guide to Card Stock and Paper Weight.” (Marsha Jones, BusinessCards.org)
- “Print Your Publications Professionally” (Amir Mehrabian, Office Blogs)
- Document Design: A Guide For Technical Communication (Kimball and Hawkins)
- Technical Editing Fifth Edition (Rude and Eaton)