Catalog Publishing
The digital catalog – Lighter Presentation,
Heavier Impact
The biggest demands:
- How do I go from classic product communication to process-driven publishing?
- How do I automate recurring, complicated, and time-consuming processes?
- How do I obtain greater creative freedom for digital and personalized editions?
Putting together a catalog is one of the most elaborate publishing tasks because it involves so many people with so many different skill sets and agendas. Editors have to contend with agencies, designers, product managers, purchasers, printers and who knows how many other service providers. They must proof different versions and languages, and deal with last-minute approvals and corrections. Imagine the difficulty of ensuring that all prices, pictures and technical data are up to date. Modern-day catalog publishing can't do without efficient means of controlling processes and communicating.
In the end, the question of publishing contents online or in the form of a printed catalog is merely a matter of design. And anyone who believes a simple PDF is going to provide all the stimulus it takes to inspire people to buy has not fully understood the possibilities of content that can be personalized and enriched with multimedia. A product description can be compelling, but how much more persuasive is a vivid demonstration in a realistic motion picture or animated graphics? The latter is far more likely to prompt an immediate order.
