Catalog designing is fun and creative until one makes the final prints, and the results come out to be different. At the same time, catalog designing is quite a tedious task as well. The samples are required to be made user-friendly and attractive to get the desired results.
It becomes pretty embarrassing when the clients complain about the multiple issues they found after printing the catalog.
The designer may have paid minute attention to every detail. But the printed document might still show the text cut out near the edges, the colors not as vibrant as they looked while designing, or the pictures have turned out blurry.
These are some amateur design and printing mistakes every beginner makes. Such errors are quite common and can be easily fixed by following some simple rules.
What Are Catalogs Used For?
Before a designer proceeds with designing a catalog, he/she needs to know its sole purpose. A good understanding of what the person is working on, the objective, expected results, and target audiences help the designers better understand what has to be made.
To start with, a catalog is a kind of magazine containing pictures and other details of a company’s product. Catalogs provide customers with all the information they need to know about the product before they purchase it.
Catalog printing service experts at dazzleprinting.com suggest some basic graphic designing mistakes to avoid when working on a catalog.
1. Hiding The Logo
A brand gets its recognition from its logo. Therefore, the designer needs to make the company logo prominent, easy to read, and slightly larger.
2. Using Confusing Layouts
This is a crucial part of the design process. The designer needs to make distinctive layouts for each product in the catalog. A similar layout for every product might confuse the customers.
3. Loud/Busy Background
The background of a catalog should be simple. Pictures and information need to be visible and readable to the customer.
Common Design And Printing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
Graphics too close to the edge, texts coming out of the margin, blurred images, faded colors, and misalignment are some of the most common mistakes that are made while printing a catalog. Here are some simple rules that one can follow to avoid such mistakes. Please check this website and find more information.
1. Bleed Margin
The bleed margin is the area to be trimmed once the document has been printed. Often clients complain that the designs were cut off from the page. This happens because the elements got closer to the bleed margin. To avoid this, the designers must ensure to keep the elements within a box or a margin. This helps prevent the elements from coming too close to the edges.
2. Low Resolution
Blurred images and texts are other common complaints when printing a catalog. This happens due to a low resolution. Resolution can be defined as the little dots of color that build the image. It is measured in pixels or PPI (Pixel Per Inch). However, when printing an image, the DPI (Dots Per Inch) determines the image quality.
If the printed pictures are turning out blurry, it is probably because of low DPI. A higher DPI ensures sharper images after printing. A DPI of 300 is standard for printing purposes. However, one should also keep in mind the appropriate image size.
Catalog designers should avoid sourcing images from random sites. Such websites often keep poor-quality images, and there might also be copyright issues resulting in a lowered resolution.
3. Wrong Color Profile
Picking colors from the right color profile is important while designing a catalog. For that, the designer needs to know how the catalog or design will be viewed. If the design is supposed to be viewed on a screen, the colors should be picked from RGB color mode. For printed designs, one should always go for CMYK color mode.
Choosing the right color profile is necessary to avoid the dramatic differences between the on-screen and printed designs.
4. Crowding With Fonts
Sometimes, printed designs look shabby, and viewers find it difficult to read the catalog. This happens due to overcrowding with fonts and texts. Using too many font styles might make the document illegible. Therefore, it is suggested not to use more than two font styles. This helps the designers maintain overall neatness throughout the work.
Embedding the fonts is also a good idea to maintain clarity. Font embedding simply means using an outline for the texts. The designers can create two samples for their clients – one with the outline and the other without just to be on the safer side.
4. Saving In A Wrong Format
Before saving a design, one needs to know which format he/she needs to use for that particular work. Designs and images can be saved in Rastar or Vector formats.
In Rastar format, the images are saved as pixels. Therefore, upon zooming in, the images tend to get pixelated or become zigzag lines near the edges. The Vector images are made up of geometric lines or curves. These images do not get pixelated and keep their shapes intact when zoomed in.
he designers should always make their designs slightly larger than needed. Upon requirement, one can always reduce the resolution but can never increase it.
5. Not Proofreading
Before any final handover, every creator should thoroughly proofread the catalog at least once or twice. Even the slightest grammatical or spelling mistake can risk the overall sales of a product. Therefore, one has to be foolproof with it.
For the texts, one can go with spell checkers and scan the texts on grammar-checking sites. However, these sites may not always be correct. So, to be on the safer side, designers should manually check all the texts, punctuations, image placements, colors, etc., once.
It is good for the designers to print a single proof of the work as a sample to show to their clients before printing multiple copies. This way, even if modifications are required, they can save a lot of time and money.
By following these simple tricks, a designer can always get the results they want in their work. Being in the catalog designing and printing industry, it is error-free work that will keep the clients returning
