Catalog, booklet and lookbook design, print-ready
We design product catalogs, booklets and lookbooks, and set them up as print-ready PDFs for saddle-stitched or perfect-bound printing. Send your products, prices and photos in whatever form you have them: a spreadsheet, last year’s catalog, a folder of images. You get a consistent layout, a page count that suits the binding, and a fixed price before we start.
What we design
- Product catalogs and price books, with consistent product grids and spec tables
- Lookbooks and collection books where the photography leads
- Multi-page brochures, company profiles and annual reports
- Event programs, guides and instruction booklets
- A new edition of an existing catalog: new season, new prices, same layout
How catalog page counts work
A saddle-stitched booklet is made from sheets folded in half and stapled through the fold, so every sheet adds four pages and the total, cover included, has to be a multiple of four. A 16-page booklet is four sheets. If the cover is on heavier stock (a “plus cover”), it adds four pages of its own: outside front, inside front, inside back and outside back.
Perfect-bound catalogs are glued into a square spine instead, like a paperback. They suit thicker books, need an even page count, and can carry the title on the spine. The cover then becomes its own file, with the spine width worked out from the page count and paper, the same way we set up book covers.
Creep, gutters and safe margins
In a saddle-stitched booklet, the inner sheets sit slightly further out than the outer ones once folded, so after trimming the middle pages lose a little more at the outside edge. This is creep. Most printers compensate for it when they impose the pages, and we keep page numbers, prices and text well inside the safe area so nothing gets clipped.
In a perfect-bound book, part of every page disappears into the glued spine, so the inside margin (the gutter) is made wider, and nothing important runs across a spread.
Product grids, prices and specs
A catalog is read like a reference, not a poster. Every product sits on the same grid, with photo, name, code, price and specs always in the same order, so a buyer can scan forty products without hunting. Prices and spec tables use lining, tabular figures so the numbers line up in columns. Product photos are converted and corrected for CMYK, so colors stay close to the real thing.
Files your printer can run
- Single pages in reading order with 0.125 in (3 mm) bleed, which is how most printers want them for imposition, or spreads if your printer asks for them
- Images at 300 dpi at print size, CMYK, fonts embedded
- A separate cover file for perfect-bound books, with the spine sized to the final page count
- Native files built on master pages and paragraph styles, so the next edition is an update, not a rebuild
Want to check an existing catalog file first? Run it through the print-ready checker.
From $125. Fixed before we start.
Send the file or the idea in the chat and a designer usually answers within minutes with a fixed price. Nothing starts until you say yes. Bigger jobs are quoted in writing first. See all prices.
- Print-ready PDF plus the source file
- Bleed, CMYK, fonts and dielines checked twice
- A short note of what we changed
- Several jobs a month? Plans from $299/month
- Print shop? We work white-label
Questions
- Why does a saddle-stitched booklet need a multiple of 4 pages?
- Because each sheet is folded in half and stapled through the fold, and one folded sheet makes four pages. An 18-page document can’t be bound that way: it has to become 16 or 20, usually by adding a notes page, an order form or an extra product spread, or by tightening the content. We plan the page count before the layout starts.
- What is the difference between saddle-stitched and perfect-bound?
- Saddle stitching staples folded sheets through the spine; it is economical, opens fairly flat and suits thinner catalogs and booklets. Perfect binding glues the pages into a square spine, like a paperback, which suits thicker catalogs and can carry printed text on the spine. Your page count and paper decide which works, and your printer can confirm the limits.
- Can you build a catalog from a spreadsheet of products?
- Yes. Send the product list as a spreadsheet with names, codes, prices and specs, plus a folder of photos named to match. Every product goes on the same grid, so the layout stays consistent from the first page to the last. When prices change, an updated spreadsheet is enough to start the next edition.
- What is creep in booklet printing?
- Creep is the small outward shift of the inner pages of a saddle-stitched booklet, caused by the thickness of the sheets nested inside each other. After trimming, the middle pages lose a little more at their outside edge than the outer pages. It matters most in thick booklets on heavier paper, so we keep text well inside the safe area.
- How long does a catalog take to design?
- It depends on the page count and how ready the content is, so the timing comes with the fixed quote before we start. A full catalog takes longer than our standard 24 to 48 hour design jobs such as a flyer or a menu, and the schedule is agreed up front along with the price.
Standard sizes for this work: calendar sizes, and every print size.
Related services
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Not sure what your file needs?
Ask a question or send the file in the chat. A designer usually answers within minutes with a fixed price, and nothing starts until you say yes.