Best Practices in Cover Design 2011

Everyone agrees, the most important catalog page is the front cover. The most fascinating aspect of the front cover is that although it is the most important page in the catalog, the customer spends the least amount of time with it. It usually takes just seconds for the recipient to decide whether to keep the catalog or toss it.

This means a lot has to happen in the customer's mind in a very short period of time. To have a reasonable chance of being kept, the catalog, has to be attention-grabbing, relevant and inviting enough to make the recipient decide immediately to keep it and look through it.

THE IMPORTANCE OF POSITIONING AND BRAND

The strongest covers reflect positioning and desired brand. To accomplish this, your creative team must understand how strategic and functional their work needs to be — that it's more than just the aesthetics. And this means they need to be informed in a strategic fashion.

When I brief creative talent, I tell them the following:

Positioning is our promise to the customer. Creative should reflect what the catalog promises to deliver, and it should be relevant and meaningful to the target audience. It should also be unique and differentiated from other catalogs. Examples of great “promises” include Williams-Sonoma (become an almost-professional cook), FrontGate (create an atmosphere of luxury in your home) and Victoria's Secret (you will look sexy).

Brand is like your personality. Creative elements should work in tandem to create a strong sense of individuality and character. Examples of strongly branded catalogs include J. Crew (confident, reserved, stylish and hip), Patagonia (an adventurous spirit), Lands' End (witty, smart and casual).

YOUR STRATEGIC CHECKLIST: MAKE THEM SEE REDD!

This is where REDD comes in. It's the acronym I've long used to remind myself of the things that need to be accomplished on a front cover. They are the strategic considerations that help in planning creative execution.

• Relevance

  Customers want to know that you understand them — not only how they live, but how they want to live: their aspirational self. That's why it's so important to know your customer, not only demographics but psychographics. A cover is going to be a lot less effective if the recipient can't relate to it or, worse, is turned off by it. So your customer may be cooking with 20-year-old pots and pans for the most part, but she buys new serving plates regularly and sees herself as a gourmet chef in the kitchen.

• Emotion

  Probably the most difficult strategy to execute, creating emotion can come from careful planning or spontaneity. Puppies, kittens and babies may be the easiest way to create a little tug on the heartstrings. Since they don't always have to do with merchandise, they're not used frequently, but you'll always get a smile from a dog lover when that Orvis catalog shows up with man's best friend on the cover.

  Humor is tough, and you can't pull it off unless you really understand your customers and what makes them laugh. Lands' End knows how to put a smile on people's faces with illustrations of dancing reindeer or an oversized Santa trying to get down a chimney.

• Drama

  There's nothing like grabbing a customer right out of the mailbox. Nothing can do this better than presenting an image that bursts off the page or seizes the reader. The harder it is to do, the more probable the drama quotient increase. FrontGate's locations are luxurious and eye-popping, Williams-Sonoma food shots are mouth watering, and Patagonia covers are virtually breathtaking.

• Differentiation

  Creating a differentiated cover really refers to reflecting your unique positioning. It's the thread that ties the other elements together, because your cover should be done in a style that reflects both what you stand for and your promise to the customer. Competitors who copy others aren't doing themselves any favors. The goal is to figure out how your company would present the outfit, the plate, the mosquito killer or the chaise lounge.

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