BASIC CATALOG DESIGN RULES
In this page, you will find out about time-proven rules of good catalog design. Catalog design has transformed in many ways over time. And to cut through the clutter, your catalog or brochure must stand out and grab your potentail clients' attention. But you also must understand that different catalog design does not mean better sales. That is why it's usually a good idea to keep these basic rules of catalog design even if you're looking to try a 'out of this world' catalog design and layout. Here are the basic catalog design rules.

1. Good Catalog Design Rule 1.
   “PLACE YOUR IMPORTANT OBJECTS / ITEMS IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER.”

Readers eyes first fall to the upper right corner of your catalog. This is natural since they read the catalog from front to back. So it make sense to place your strongest items in the upper right corner of the catalog. As you begin to layout your catalog design, placement should be the first thing you should take of. You also may experiment a little bit. If you are confident about your already strong item, place a weaker item in the upper right, thus forcing clients to read the whole page of your catalog. Instead of placing an item, try placing interesting article in the upper right corner of catalog. This also forces them to linger a bit longer on the page.
This is the most basic and simple rule of catalog design (brochure design), but it can have a big impact in your sales.

2. Good Catalog Design Rule 2
   “LIMIT THE NUMBER OF FONTS.”

Having too many fonts confuses the readers. Limit the number of fonts of your catalog design and try to set a patter for each fonts. You can achieve a great catalog design using 2 to 3 fonts. Many start up designers tend to associate good catalog design with number of fonts they use. This is simply not true. Also, using bold and italic fonts in right places helps the overall catalog design to flow more easily.

3. Good Catalog Design Rule 3
   “INSERT EASY TO UNDERSTAND ORDER FOAM.”

Design your order form with easy to read fonts and try to keep it as simple as possible. Catalog design doesn't end in product pages. Order form is also a part of catalog design.

4. Good Catalog Design Rule 4
   “CONSISTENT LAYOUT”

Keep a common theme through the catalog design. Using consistent colors, fonts and designs, help the readers recognize your catalog no matter which page they are on. And developing consistent catalog design theme helps the readers to remember your company or brand name. Eventually, your goal is tome help the customers to recognize your company by using only colors and fonts. This takes planning and researching before going into actual catalog design process.

5. Good Catalog Design Rule 5
  “STANDARD CATALOG SIZE IS MORE COST-EFFECTIVE”

Find out from the printer what their standard trim size. Many times, printers already have templates and papers to print catalog more efficiently and faster. Of course unique format will attract more attention, but you have to calculate which option will be more helpful to your business.

6. Good Catalog Design Rule 6
   “UNIQUE CATALOG SIZE ATTRACTS MORE INTEREST”

Unique catalog design, size and trim attracts more interest. In today’s crowded mailing market, sending bigger or odd shaped catalog will attract your clients’ attention. But you must remember that price increases as your catalog design becomes more unique. Still, it does note hurt to find out with your printer to see if they already have pre-made die-cut to accommodate your unique catalog design.

7. Good Catalog Design Rule 7
   “A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.”

But a GOOD PICTURE is worth a MILLION words. Instead of explaining on and on about how good your product is, spend a extra money to obtain a good product photography. Product image is a direct reflection of the quality of your product. You can’t afford not to look good. There are many types of product photography. Fashion photography, jewelry photography, electronics photography, scenery photography and/or interior photography. It all depends on what you’re selling. But make sure you find a photographer who is capable of performing photography you require. Many times, one photographer is not experienced enough to perform different photography.

To find out more, good product photography or jewelry photography.