A product catalogue is the document buyers use when they are close to ordering. It has to be complete, easy to search and accurate on every page. Most of the work that decides whether it succeeds happens before any design starts: choosing the structure, counting the pages, preparing the data and planning photography and print. This guide takes you through that planning in order.
1. Decide who the catalogue is for
A catalogue for engineers specifying parts looks different from one for retail distributors or end customers. Start by naming the main reader and how they search — by application, by product family, by size or by code. That decision shapes the structure, the page layout and how much technical data each page carries.
- Main reader: engineers, procurement, distributors, dealers or end users
- How they search: by application, product family, size range or product code
- Where they use it: on a desk in print, on a laptop, on a phone, at an exhibition
- What they do next: request a quote, place an order, contact a dealer
2. Build the structure
Group products into sections that match how readers search, and fix the order of sections and products within them. Then decide what goes before and after the product pages.
- Cover and inside cover
- Short company introduction (one or two pages — the full story belongs in your company profile)
- Contents, and a quick guide to how to read the product pages
- Section openers for each product family
- Product pages or spreads
- Technical reference pages — standards, conversion tables, tolerances
- Index by product code and by name
- Ordering information, terms and contact details
3. Count the pages
A page count is built from the product list, not guessed. Decide how many products sit on a page in each section — one hero product per page, two to four related products, or a dense table for accessories — then multiply. Add the opening, section-opener, reference, index and contact pages.
For offset printing, the final count usually needs to be a multiple of four (and often eight or sixteen, depending on the binding and press). Leave a little room for products added late. A realistic page count lets the designer and printer quote accurately from the start.
4. Prepare the product data
The single biggest cause of delays is product data that is incomplete, inconsistent or still changing. Collect everything in one master spreadsheet — one row per product or variant, one column per attribute, units in the column headers — before layout begins. Our guide to preparing catalogue product data lists the columns and checks.
5. Plan the photography
Buyers use photographs to confirm they have found the right product. Decide which shots each product needs — usually a clean hero image, key angles, a detail of connections or markings, and a sense of scale — and fix consistent rules for background, lighting and angle across the whole range. Mixed photography is one of the quickest ways to make a catalogue look unplanned. See the catalogue photography shot list for a full checklist.
6. Design the template
A good catalogue is a system, not a collection of individually designed pages. The designer sets a grid, a type scale and a small number of page templates — for example a hero product page, a multi-product page and a table page — and applies them across the whole range. This keeps the catalogue consistent and makes later editions much faster to produce.
- Fixed positions for product name, code, image, key features and specification table
- A consistent table style for specifications, with units in headers
- Clear section colours or tabs so readers know where they are
- Running heads and page numbers on every page
- Space for icons or symbols used across the range, explained once at the front
7. Decide the print specifications
Talk to the printer before artwork is final. The main decisions are:
- Size and orientation — A4 portrait is common; square or landscape formats stand out but can cost more and fit less neatly in folders
- Binding — saddle stitching for thinner catalogues; perfect binding for thicker ones; wire binding for catalogues that must lie flat
- Paper — a heavier stock for the cover, and a text stock that holds images well without showing through
- Finishes — lamination, spot UV or foil on the cover, if they suit the brand
- Quantity — print runs affect unit cost; a smaller run plus a PDF may be better than a large stock that goes out of date
Ask the printer for their colour profile, bleed and file requirements, and get a printed proof before the full run.
8. Plan the digital version
A screen PDF needs different settings from the print file: RGB colour, compressed images, clickable contents and bookmarks, and a file size small enough to email. Plan it alongside the print version rather than converting at the end. The differences are covered in print catalogue vs digital PDF.
9. Set up approvals and updates
Decide who approves technical data, wording and layout before the first proof, and route all comments through one person. Put an edition date on the cover and in the file name. After launch, keep the master spreadsheet as the single source of truth so the next edition starts from accurate data. See catalogue version control for a simple process.
Catalogue planning checklist
- Main reader and search method agreed
- Section structure and product order fixed
- Page count calculated from the product list
- Master product spreadsheet complete and owned by one person
- Photography plan and shot list ready
- Template pages agreed before full layout
- Print size, binding, paper and quantity confirmed with the printer
- Digital PDF requirements defined
- Approvers and edition dating agreed
Frequently asked questions
Enough to show every product clearly and no more. Count the products, decide how many products fit on one page or spread in each section, then add the opening pages, section openers, index and contact pages. Offset-printed catalogues are usually planned in multiples of four or eight pages.
It depends mainly on how ready the product data and photographs are. With final data and images, layout moves quickly; when data is still being collected or photography has not been shot, those steps usually take longer than the design itself.
Many B2B companies do both: a PDF for email and the website, and a printed edition for exhibitions, distributors and sales visits. Plan both outputs at the start so the layout works in print and on screen.
Yes, if it is built on a consistent grid and template, and the product data lives in a master spreadsheet. Updates then mean editing data and re-flowing pages rather than starting again.
Send us the product list. We will show you the structure.
Corpfolio plans and designs product catalogues as systems that stay consistent across hundreds of products, in print and PDF. See our product catalogue design service, or contact the studio.