How to Have an Effective Design for Cheap Catalogs

For your benefit, here is a list of the best design strategies you can adopt so that you will always have effective and attractive designs even if you do produce just cheap ones. Let us begin with the basics, the “z” rule.

• Follow the “Z” rule – How do you usually read a magazine, a newspaper or even a website? You usually go from left to right while going from the top to the bottom right? This action can be loosely named the “z” rule. This is the most natural thing for most people to do when reading. This is applicable to all printed material including most crucially your color catalogs.

If you place important headlines, images and objects in a Z pattern in a page, I can guarantee you that those things will immediately get read. Even if you printed using lousy paper materials and images, as long as the important stuff is in the Z pattern, your readers will have a good chance of glancing at those elements. So always keep to the pattern and you will not fail.

• At least always print color images – Now, this is a crucial point. If you are printing, it is important that you at least print color images. Your product images are important since they sell your product visually to readers. That is why it is important that they be printed in color. You can sacrifice the glossy paper and the special inks to make things cheaper, but do not sacrifice the color images. This will sell those products.

• Be precise and concise with your information – Most readers do not read color catalogs “for the articles”. They read them because they need information. Therefore, in printing, it pays to always be precise and concise with the product information. Do not dawdle with fancy literary embellishments. Be straight to the point and display your facts well. List down your information well. Believe me, readers like these kinds more and usually buy from them more as well.

• Always add a “call to action” – You should also make it a point to add “call to action” phrases and images. What it may lack in printing quality can be made up for in convincing power. Call to action elements are those things that encourage the reader to do something. Graphics and text that encourage the reader to “Buy now”, “Learn more” or “See more” are just some examples. Integrate these within your pages and you will eventually excite your readers enough to really do these actions.

• Make finding products easier – Finally, always try to make your catalogs reader friendly in terms of product searches. Place a table of contents in your catalogs so that people can spot what they need quickly. People should appreciate this ease of use that they will hardly notice the quality.

So go ahead with your cheap catalog printing. As long as you integrate the tips above in your design and printing practices, they will still be effective.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in cheap catalog printing or catalog printing industry that help businesses in their marketing and advertising campaigns.