A catalogue is a tool used standing up, in a hurry, next to a competitor's.
Most catalogues are designed as objects to admire and used as objects to navigate. That gap is where the sale is lost.
Design for the counter
Index by the way people ask for things. Put the specification where the hand lands. Make the paper survive a year of handling.
If a salesperson has to apologise while turning the page, the catalogue has already failed.
Beauty still matters
None of this is an argument for ugly. It's an argument for usefulness being the brief, and beauty being how you deliver it.
Related work
Collection Catalogue →