Putting a catalogue together - how to

di11on

Hey folks,

I'm considering having a catalogue put together for our shop. We have around 400 products. What software would be best to use for such a project?

If I were to have a decent job of it done - how much would it cost me? (Not advertising this as a job - would just like a ball park figure).

I have all the images and text - I imagine it's just a matter of getting a decent template and laying it all out properly.

Thoughts?

Hank_Scorpio

Best software is InDesign. But you'd need to do courses on that.

Other software would be Quark, which is like Indesign but a little less flexible.

I'm fully qualified in Quark and InDesign and I know for a fact that InDesign is the better program, so I don't need anyone coming on and saying it's not. If you've used both and are proficient in both you'll agree that InDesign is better.

Ok other free programs for page layout would Scribus or Microsoft publisher.


Your best bet is, because I'm not an estimator or even quote for jobs, so my numbers aren't exact or possible not accurate, is to go to a printing company and ask them how much it is to design and print this catalogue.

But can you really design a 400 page catalogue? Do you know the difference between RGB/CMYK/Trucolour/Lab/Pantones etc? Do you know what ppi to use? What bleed is? What registration is? Why use black over registration colour? What's overprint, knockout, spreads, tints, transparency etc?

Can you do this, are you being ambitous?

Setting up template 100 - 150 quid

For a 400 page catalogue you're looking at roughly 15 - 20 minutes per page.

Most designers charge about 50 quid per hour.

So about 4 pages per hour.

100 hours work

5,000 euro to design and layout.

Then you have to add in photo editing, meetings with the designer, how many proofs you get and how many times you make changes to the catalogue and there are other costs, like couriers etc. that you would have to pay for.

To get it printed, 400 page catalogue, you need to produce about 2,000 to make it viable.

You could get 500 printed, but the cost between getting 500 and 2,000 done is not that much, all your paying for is printing machine time which is about 500 quid an hour. Printing 400 pages at 500 quid an hour would take about 15minutes for one copy to be printed.

Then it has to be folded, glued, and cover drawn on which all cost extra too.

Then of course the type of paper to be bought, the weight, the finish of the paper, etc. all cost.

di11on

Thanks for all the info Hank - that's greatly appreciated - gives me something to go on.

It's actually 400 products I was talking about. I rekon you'd fit an average of maybe 8 to 10 products per page... so I guess we're talking about between 40 to 50 pages.

If someone put a gun to your head and said quote me for the design of a print ready catalogue, 50 pages, 400 products... what would you tell them?

:-)

Hank_Scorpio

I'd say 50 isn't divisible by 4.

Your catalogue will have to be divisible by 4, in page numbers, not including cover.

To solely design it, 52 pages, or 48 pages, not much difference.

Template 100 euro

50 euro an hour x 4 pages an hour = 650 euro

Including drafts , meetings, changes (max of 3 for free, depending on complexity), couriers etc.

750 - 800 euro for design.

Printing would be a separate quote. I could get you a quote on that but I wouldn't charge.

Because you're a first time client I'd give you a 15% discount.


Again, I'm not a quoter or anything like that, and I've never priced a job before, but that would be my thoughts on it.

di11on

Thanks again Hank - just wanted to get an idea of the orders of magnitude we're talking about.

Food for thought!

di11on

What are the chances of a printer accepting files created in PagePlus SE?

Same question for MS Publisher?

Would they have to be converted to pdf first?

Thanks in advance.

Deliverance

I'm using publisher at the moment to put together a similar catalogue to the one you are talking about. Now I'm not an expert or anything but I can add this advice: Publisher is doing the job for me quite well but as it stands it doesn't publish to pdf which is a format from my ltd experience which the printers that I am working with have advised me to give to them so it seems that pdf is the way to go.

Publisher will save to pdf once you download this plug in: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F1FC413C-6D89-4F15-991B-63B07BA5F2E5&displaylang=en

TiM_rEAPeR

Hank_Scorpio wrote: »

Best software is InDesign. But you'd need to do courses on that.

EH no. Youtube - tutorial - hours of practice and determination. Courses my ass.





Www.flickr.com/phelander

DeBeere

TiM_rEAPeR wrote: »

EH no. Youtube - tutorial - hours of practice and determination. Courses my ass.

Or try out every single feature in the program till you understand them all.

I suppose each to their own...;)

Deliverance

That works as well. Probably the best option really.

Hank_Scorpio

TiM_rEAPeR wrote: »

EH no. Youtube - tutorial - hours of practice and determination. Courses my ass.





Www.flickr.com/phelander

However you do it, you still need practice and need to learn it, I didn't suggest you pay for courses, but do some level. It would be very hard for a beginner to sit down and use Indesign, perhaps someone with a background in other page layout programs like, Pagemaker, Framemaker, Quark et al programs would get around ok.

Thing is, if you never used anything like it before you probably will find it difficult to use, and use properly.

Good luck with the youtube videos though.

I am completely self-taught in InDesign and all I had to go on was one book and a few years experience with Quark.