Anyone who has been in any kind of fiction writing class has probably already heard the phrase show, done tell enough for a lifetime.
This phrase has become so permeated in our society I’d imagine that most people have heard it once or twice, if not more, and I think the fact that it gets repeated so often means people pay a lot less attention to it.
If you plan on any catalog printing I think you should take this idea to heart in a number of different ways.
No matter how well you describe a product, it still can’t really make up for actually seeing an image of it. The photograph should always be the centerpiece of your product every chance you get.
Yes, you need details, sure, but don’t forget to make the picture large enough for a person to get a good feel for exactly what it’s going to be like. The more obscure your image is the less people can understand what it is that they would be buying.
Most people are more visual than anything else. Reading a description just doesn’t do much to get my mind going, but seeing an image of what the product looks like, especially if it has a very interesting look, will do a lot more.
But here’s the real reason to emphasize images: it varies up what’s in your catalog. Words are always going to look the same when you glance over them. It doesn’t matter if some of those words are describing clothing while others are describing a car. The words themselves still look the same.
Each image brings with it something a lot more unique, and something that will catch a person’s eye and their interest. The image is what gets people reading the words. You can have the best product description in history, but a person glancing over the page won’t know that, because they won’t bother to read it.
The more words you use the more each page of your catalog just looks like more of the same. I want to see something new and interesting each time I turn the page to another plethora of products. Give me something bright, something colorful, something eye-grabbing, and I’ll take the time to read about the product.
Catalog printing is a very visual medium. It will often rise and fall based on the images and layouts you choose to use. A lot of people just casually grab a catalog and flip through it. You need to gain their interest during that casual flip through. Images are what are able to achieve that very thing.
Take a glance through any successful catalog and you’ll see a lot of wonderful looking images. It shouldn’t be very surprising. The reason the catalogs are great is because they know how to gain a person’s interest.
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