Design and Layout

Design and layout are not the same thing. The design of the catalog is the overall visual and aesthetic concept underlying the material presented. The design develops reader flow and gives your catalog sales impact just from its appearance and 'feel.' The layout is the arrangement of words and illustrations within the overall design. The design is analogous to an architect's sketch for a building, with the layout the later detailed blueprints for the construction crew.

Design Sources and Costs

The creation of design concepts is often assigned to an outside source. For important projects, such as producing a catalog, several sources may be commissioned, with the understanding that just one will be selected to complete the project. Each of these designers is paid an agreed-on amount for his or her work!

When assigning this or any other project to a designer, be clear about what the designer is to achieve. Get agreement in advance from concerned in-house man agers about the goals for the catalog. Because debate inevitably occurs on questions of design,1 agree on a final arbiter for both the design goals and the results achieved.

When there is more than a single designer, give exactly the same guidelines to each. If, as often happens in discussing a project with a designer, you modify your instructions or add to them, inform your other designers of these changes. Keep the playing field level, but remember who could help you think, as well as do.

Whatever the final instructions, you will want to see at least the following:

• The front and back covers or the cover "wraparound" where the front and back are one

• The inside front cover and page 1—the first thing the recipient is likely to turn to

• The typical treatment of a single item on a page or facing pages "spread"

• The typical treatment of multiple items on a page or spread

• A one-of-a-kind page, such as the page containing the ordering information, an index, or a table of contents

• The order form or other reply device

These items should be presented in fairly detailed renderings, with major headlines shown in their suggested typefaces and colors clearly indicated. Have your more important projects evaluated by one or more focus groups of typical recipients. This is generally done by a professional focus group research organization. For a less costly and quite effective approach, bring together 10 to 12 typical catalog recipients or users for a social event and have the competing catalog designs simply lying around. Observe your guests' reactions. If you have an obvious winner—and you usually do—you've saved yourself thousands of dollars and rewarded all concerned with a grand party!

The other pages may be presented in rough "thumbnail" sketches, usually one-quarter of the final page size, to show that the designer has resolved the major visual problems without any obvious oversights. To return to the analogy with an architect, you want to be sure that there are windows and bathrooms in your house, as well as a stairway to the second floor.

Bidding the complete job. Most designers will want to bid on the complete job, from original concept through supervision of proofing and printing. Let them do so, but get their bid to specify each of the following, even when the "package" is bid as a whole. You want the cost of each component for your own information and for future comparative shopping.

Costs included in the designer's bid

1. Original designs.

2. Page-by-page layouts, including type specifications and necessary instructions to artists and photographers.

3. Art and photography.

1Such as debates between authors and publishers about book covers, which authors always lose.

4. Supervision of art and photography.

5. Typesetting.

6. All art, including digitized production or instructions for disk or film preparation.

7. Supervision of film and proofing.

8. Printing supervision.

9. Hourly or a full project rate for revisions and client meetings.

A note about profits. Outside sources cannot work for you unless they earn a profit on your projects. It is important for them to know that you understand this. If their billing structure is such that they make a small profit on each aspect of the total job—from initial concept through printing supervision—and you want less than this from them, be certain that they know this before they accept the job. They can then adjust their cost structure to permit a profit. Otherwise, they will adjust their level of commitment to give you "what you paid for."

Continue reading here: Yellow Pages As A Mirror Of A Market

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