A catalogue works alongside a shorter brochure for prospects, a magazine for customers and a website where the orders are placed. We design them from the same product data and templates, so the catalogue, the shop and the sales deck show each product the same way. Print design lists the rest.
Catalogue design
Every product, easy to find.
Product catalogue design starts with sorting the range. We build a grid that holds it and lay out every page so buyers find products fast.
The job
What does a catalogue have to do?
Let a buyer find a product, understand it and order it, in that order. The structure does most of the work: sections that follow how customers think about the range, a contents page, running heads, a code on every product and an index at the back. We organised 2,503 products into categories for Beacon Lighting’s online shop; a printed catalogue is the same thinking on paper.
Then the grid: one page template for a hero product, one for six, one for a specification table, all sharing the same margins, type and colour. Consistency is what lets someone flick through 80 pages without getting lost. Americans spell them catalogs, but the job is the same.
Sizes
Catalogue sizes and binding
Covers are usually 250 to 300 gsm silk with a matt or gloss lamination, and inside pages 115 to 150 gsm. In the USA ask for 100 lb cover and 80 or 100 lb text. Page counts fall in multiples of four because of how the sheets fold.
| Format | Size or page count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A4 upright | 210 × 297 mm | The standard trade catalogue in the UK and South Africa |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | Mail-outs and counter copies; cheaper to post |
| US Letter | 8.5 × 11 in | The US standard; 6 × 9 in for a mailer |
| Saddle-stitched | Up to about 64 pages | Stapled on the spine; pages in multiples of four |
| Perfect bound | About 48 pages and up | A glued square spine that can carry a title |
| Wire-O | Any page count | Lies flat on a counter; suits price lists that change |
A perfect-bound cover needs a spine width worked out from the page count and paper, so we supply the cover as a separate file once the stock is confirmed.
How it runs
How does a catalogue come together?
Gather the data
Product names, codes, prices, specifications and photos, in a spreadsheet and a folder. Gaps show up here, not on the proof.
Plan the structure
Sections, page count and a flat plan that shows every spread, agreed before design starts.
Design the templates
A cover, a section opener and two or three product page types, shown with your real products.
Flow the range
Every product placed and checked against the spreadsheet, with prices on a separate insert if they change often.
Proof and print
A PDF proof for your checks, then print-ready files to your printer’s specification and a screen PDF with live links.
Included
What comes with a catalogue design
- Print-ready PDFSingle pages with 3 mm bleed (0.125 in in the USA), PDF/X, fonts embedded and photos at 300 ppi.
- A separate cover fileFor perfect-bound catalogues, with the spine set to your printer’s width.
- An interactive PDFLighter, with a clickable contents page and links from products to your website. For an ebook-style catalogue, see ePublishing.
- A price insert and the templatesA loose sheet that can be reprinted alone when prices move, and source files set up so next season’s products drop into the same pages.
Print & design
Related services
Questions
Questions about catalogue design
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Ask a questionHow do we start a catalogue design?
Send a note to hello@redfoxbranding.com or use the project form with how many products you have, the format you have in mind and whether the photos exist yet. We quote a fixed price in GBP, USD or ZAR for the whole catalogue, based on the page count, so you know the cost before the first spread is designed.
Do we need product photography first?
It helps, but we can design the templates while the photos are shot. For a catalogue the shots should match: the same angle, the same lighting, cut out on white or set on one plain background. We can brief a photographer on exactly that, and if you only have supplier photos, we tidy them to sit together on the page.
Should prices go in the catalogue?
Only if they hold for the life of the catalogue. Trade catalogues often print product codes and put prices on a separate list, so a price change is a one-sheet reprint and the catalogue lasts a year or more. Retail and gift catalogues usually carry prices, because the reader wants to decide on the spot.
How many pages should a catalogue be?
As many as the range needs and no more. Count the products, decide how many fit a page at a readable size (six to twelve is typical for a product grid), add openers, a contents page and an order form, then round to a multiple of four. A stapled catalogue stays flat to about 64 pages; past that, perfect binding gives you a spine.
One range, several formats?
Get a quote for catalogue design
Tell us how many products you sell, how they group, the size and binding you have in mind, how many copies you plan to print and when it must be ready. You get a fixed quote and a flat plan to react to. Your catalogue design starts from there.