Page Layout
Throughout the catalogue the page layout is very similar to one another inside. The page layout inside the catalogue is as follows.
On the first page it has a picture of a woman. At the bottom left corner it is says “Ladieswear pages 3-28”. On the next page are the products being displayed. The products are sort of in a circle shape and in the middle is another product. Underneath it has the description of the product.
The description underneath the products includes the product name, style number, colour and the sizes it is available in. The products on the page are displayed on a white background. They also have the description underneath the products. This makes the products stand out. The people modelling the clothes on some pages are on a creamy background. They do not have a contents page. But the front-pages before that particular section starts there is a picture of a person and the related product that is being sold on the pages ahead. It also says how many pages long the section is next to the picture. This may act as a contents page. The lack of good description about the product may be a good thing because potential customers may not want to read lots of detail; they may want to go straight to the product.
They also do not have an index. I think this is going to make it a bit hard for the customers to find a specific product they want. I think this because when the person is filling out the order form they might forget a tiny detail about the product and they need to find it quick. They cannot do that in this catalogue therefore they would have to go through the catalogue to find the product they need.
I think having an index in the catalogue is very important because it will make it easier for the person to look for a specific product.
Back cover
The back cover is as follows. It just has pictures from the beach. It also has the company in short (FCUK) in pink on the back cover. At the bottom of the page it has in the same style writing as the logos on the inside page it says “MEMORIES OF Fcukiki Beach”. This is also in orange and yellow to make it a summer, warmth and beach feel.
Overall the good points of the catalogue are as follows: -
- Unique layout of pages
- Good use of colour
- The pictures and colours give you a summer feel
- The contents page is unique
The bad points of the catalogue are as follows: -
- The catalogue has no index
- The background should be in a different colour instead of keeping it the same nearly throughout the catalogue.
Overall I did like what the way they have designed the catalogue but I would not adopt any styles from it, as the style of the catalogue did not appeal to me as much as I thought it would.
The next catalogue I am going to analyse is called Habitat. This is a furniture company. The catalogue is in the Spring/Summer 2003, which is good because this is the season for my catalogue.
Front Cover
The front cover is colourful. It gives the feel of spring and summer. It has pictures in the background to do with summer. They have pictures that have been taken out on the beach. They also have pictures of products that are being sold inside.
For the company name they have done that in a white colour. They also have their company logo next to it. The company name is set up the top page in large letters. I think they have done this so that it stands out and the customers can see it clearly. At the bottom right hand corner it says “Spring/Summer 2003 £1”. This indicates is what type of furniture the customer is going to look at for example garden furniture. Apart the pictures from the beach and in gardens they have a piece of spring/summer furniture, which is going to be featured in the catalogue. The front cover spreads out onto the back cover.
It does not have much writing on the front, just the company name and logo and company logo and the season in which the catalogue is.
Contents Page
When you open up the catalogue you have a person sitting on a chair somewhere outside. Looking at the contents it looks unique. They have the types of products they are selling in the catalogue in alphabetical order. I found this interesting; as this is different from the other catalogues I have collected. Beside the type of product is the pages numbers that it is on. The types of products are spread over the catalogue for example it has Dining Tables is on pages 04/22/24/26. By looking at these pages in the catalogue they have put dinning tables spread over the catalogue for the following reasons that I think. Page 4 shows dinning tables for the garden. Page 22 shows dinning tables for the outside also. Page 24 shows dining tables for small spaces as described on the page. Page 26 shows dinning tables for small spaces as described on the page.
Page Layout
As you open up to the first two pages it has a tree overhanging a long table with to chairs at either end. On the left side it has the description of the product. Also it has the description of who designed the products on the page for Habitat. For the product description it has what type of table it is and what features it has. Also for the chairs it says what type of chair it says. Same for the rug and pendent. From these short descriptions it says what pages to go to for a more detailed description.
Back Cover
The back cover is connected with the front cover as I have explained on page 6. It is just pictures that are taken on the beach and also in a garden atmosphere. There is a picture of a red deck chair near the middle. It says what the product is then the price of it. Underneath this short description it says what pages to see maybe if you want to see related products or more products like the deckchair. They may have put the deck chair on the back cover because it stands out. Also there are a couple of snippets of deck chairs dotted over the back cover.
Overall the good points of the catalogue are as follows: -
- Very nice page layout throughout
- The pictures actually give you a feel of spring and summer
- The contents page is very unique as I have never seen a catalogue that has a contents page in alphabetical order
- There are addresses at the near the back of the catalogue where you can contact other habitat stores in the UK.
With this catalogue I did not find any bad points about it because I thought that it was really good. Accept for the fact that it did not have a contents page and index. Otherwise it was all good.
The things that I really liked were the contents page and the way they have done the front and back cover. I also like the page layouts. The page layouts changed a few pages after most of the time.
The styles that I have adopted from this catalogue are first off the contents page. They have put the type of products they have got in alphabetical. That is the kind of thing I am going to do. The categories that I have got in my catalogue are things like trainers, clothes, accessories etc. With these categories I am not going to put them in alphabetical order but I will list the products underneath it in alphabetical order. I think this will be a good idea as the person looking at the catalogue can go to their product they want as well as looking at the index. The second style that I have adopted is the front and back cover. I liked the way they have put the front and back cover meshed in together. As my front and back covers are going to be one colour I think this would be ok. I like the way they have put the logo and the company name in a colour that stands out from the pictures behind. But the company that I am producing a catalogue for I am going to put the company name in a circle shape with the company logo in the middle. I have adopted on the front cover where they have put what season the catalogue is in. I think this is important because then the person looking at the catalogue knows what season the catalogue is in and what right clothes, equipment etc. to get.
I have also adopted one of their page layout styles (Refer to page 30-31 of the Habitat catalogue). They have laid out their products in lines. At the corner of the product they have the product number. I am going to do a similar thing to this. I am going to set the products on the pages in a zigzag shape. I am also going to put the product number in the corner of the product. I am then going to have the product description on the right side of the page.
The next catalogue I am going to analyse is Austin Reed. This company is a clothes company.
Front cover
The front cover is very unique to the others that I have described about. On the top are the company name, the season that the catalogue is in and a title reading in capitals called ‘ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN’. This shows that that the catalogue is aimed at mostly the men. Underneath the company name is a comic strip. This comic strip illustrates the adventures of a gentleman. Hence the title of the catalogue. The cartoon is obviously in black and white.
Contents page
This catalogue does not have a contents page which was a bit peculiar as I haven not seen a catalogue without a contents page. But some catalogues like to be unique. Anyway instead of not having a contents page at the start of the catalogue they have straightaway got some products on the inside of the front cover.
Page layout
On the first page of products it seems to look plain in layout of the products. They have just been put in lines and just looks flat. There is no exciting or unusual layout e.g. where products are spread all over the page but not right next to each other. For the description of the product it is ok. They have numbered their products and put the description of the product at the bottom of the page. The description looks as if it has to be kept to a minimum. It gives some good details like what the name of the product it is, the colour of it, some description have what type of product it is but from looking at the picture it looks self explanatory and the price of product. Sometimes people that maybe looking at this catalogue may want to know where the product is from.
As you go further into the catalogue it shows male models modelling some products. The background looks like they are on a field. The description on these products that are being modelled looks like they have been kept to a minimum. All the description entails is like what is in the suit e.g. shirt, jacket and the price. On the second page as you open up the catalogue it shows a man balancing on a silver car. On the third page it describes the suit.
I think it is a bad idea to put the description of a product that was on the first page to put it on the next page. I think this because the customer may think that page is just for show an that a product is on sale. As you go through the catalogue it shows men modelling in a background where they have been near mountains. They are modelling types of clothes that may suit that type of environment. The descriptions are again kept to a minimum.
Back cover
The back cover just carries on from the front cover. Let’s say the second part of the story. It just shows as mentioned before adventures of a gentleman.
I do not think that there was not any good points about this catalogue other than the fact that the front and back cover were unique as I have never seen a catalogue that has a front and back cover starts and ends in an comic strip. Another good point was that it had phone numbers of other parts of UK that had an Austin Reed store in it. Where it has the M’s next to it that means that it only have menswear there. Same with the W’s next to the other parts of UK that means that they only have womenswear there. The ones without any symbol are where they have clothes for both sexes.
The bad points of the catalogue are as follows: -
- It was too plain
- Did not like the page layouts at all
- I thought it did not have enough description to the product.
I would not adopt any style from this catalogue because it did not appeal to me at all.
Strengths and Weaknesses of my sketched designs
Here I am going to do a SWOT analysis on my sketched designs I did before I put them on Microsoft PowerPoint to see what it would like before I did the camera-ready copy. First I am going to do a SWOT analysis on my front and back covers.
Front and Back cover draft design 1
Strengths
- Has the relevant information for a catalogue.
- Has different text styles.
- The chosen colours for the word art to stand out so the customers can see it clearly.
- Has all the contact information the back in a range of text styles.
- I have also put what season the catalogue is in underneath the company logo.
Weaknesses
- The front cover looks plain.
- Most catalogues do not have a barcode on the back cover.
- The logo looks a small size.
Opportunities
- Brings out new fresh ideas for the company.
- The GNVQ Sports Catalogue Group may take me on to design more catalogues for next seasons.
Threats
- Competition from other catalogue design companies that are competing to have their design to be used.
Front and Back cover draft design 2
Strengths
- It is a unique front cover because I have not seen a company’s name in a square shape.
- The front and back cover has a range of text styles.
- I have put two line boarders of a different size in different types of thickness to enhance the page to show that information is there.
- I have put what season the catalogue is in on the bottom right hand corner.
Weaknesses
- The address is too far down the back cover and it is all crammed into a box.
- As commented on before the address is crammed into one box and therefore it maybe small for the customer to read.
- Also the season of the catalogue is at the bottom of the right hand corner which maybe also too small for the customer to read.
- Also with the small box being at the bottom of the page in the middle, there is a lot of space that is left that is not being used. This may affect costs of the printing because you can put something else in that space.
Opportunities
- Customers will be maybe delighted to see a new design for the catalogue instead of the same layout maybe but with the different pictures on it.
Threats
- Competition from other catalogue design companies that are competing to have their design to be used.
Front and Back cover draft design 3
Strengths
- New fresh design for the company.
- On the back cover I have put a map of where to find the company. This will benefit the customers that do not their way to the store.
- I have also put the contact details. This time it will spread out.
- I have put a big title on the back cover saying where to find us. This will be in word art in a bright colour so the customer can see it.
Weaknesses
I have not found any weaknesses with this draft design.
Opportunities
- The customers will be grateful that the map is on the back and the address so this will help them find their way and how to contact the company.
Threats
- Competition from other catalogue design companies that are competing to have their design to be used.
Page Layout Draft Design 1
Strengths
- It has all the details on the page about the product.
- You can see the product clearly.
- The product description beside the product so it easy for the customer to see what product it is describing.
Weaknesses
- The descriptions may be longer than others therefore it go beside the next product as the one before is longer.
- It just looks simple and plain.
- The pictures of the products look small.
Opportunities
- I feel that my page layout is unique as I have a wordart on it. I have not seen a catalogue use wordart in their catalogue.
Threats
- The page layout looks like other catalogues page layouts hat I have seen before.
Page layout draft design 2
Strengths
- I felt that this was a unique page layout
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Order form draft design 1
Strengths
- Has all the information needed in an order form.
- Have not seen a design of an order form the way I have designed.
Weaknesses
- All the details looks like that it is to close together.
- Most of the order from is in the same font style.
Opportunities
Threats
