How to Create a Catalog With Software
Business owners need different sorts of written materials in order to promote their business. Product catalogs count as some of the most important of these documents. They let people know what sorts of products you sell. However, if you're just starting out and can't afford to pay a graphic designer to design a catalog for you, you must design one yourself. Fortunately, software programs like Publisher exist. These often come included with the purchase of your computer and are user-friendly. This allows you to finish your product catalog with very few hours work.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Publisher software
- Drawing pad
- Digital camera and cables
- Printer
Instructions
-
-
1
Write the rough draft for the textual elements you'll include in your catalog in a word processing program. To help you write the product descriptions, keep your products on hand if they're small. This allows you to pick them up and get a tactile sense about them. This will come across in your descriptions.
-
2
Make some preliminary design drawings of your catalog ideas. Include features like company colors, fonts you want to use in the catalog, and special sections. You'll use these as reference materials when you layout the catalog in your software program. You might find it simpler to make these design sketches if you explore Publisher first. This will give you an idea of the design templates the program offers.
-
-
3
Take photographs of your products. Depending upon the type of product you sell, you may want take close ups in addition to photos that show the product in its entirety.
-
4
Plug your digital camera's cable into your computer and upload the photos you've taken onto your computer. Keep these in special file folder dedicated to this project. Store all the materials related to this project in this same folder.
-
5
Open up your Microsoft Publisher software.
-
6
Select the "Catalog" option. You'll find this on the left-hand side of the menu. Choose the one that fits most closely with your design sketches.
-
7
Choose the content information as well as your color scheme and font selection from the menu on the left-hand side of your desktop work area. This sets up your template.
-
8
Bring your photos into Publisher. In order to do this, you need to go to "Insert" at the top of the menu. Click on "Pictures" and select your file folder from the menu.
-
9
Resize any photos that are too large. Click on the photo until the little round knobs appear at the picture's corners. Grab one of these knobs with your mouse, then click on "Control" and drag your mouse in an inward or outward direction until the photo becomes the right size.
-
10
Put the photos in the place holders provided by Publisher. These placeholders are the photos and illustrations that come with the template. (To get rid of the template photos, click on the photo and then hit delete.)
-
11
Replace the template text with your own descriptions. To do this, copy the text from your word processing document, and then highlight the text you want to replace in Publisher. Go to "Edit" at the top of the menu and hit "Paste".
-
12
Continue doing these steps until all you finish your catalog.
-
13
Print out your catalog and pass it out to your customers.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Prospekte image by Carasophie from Fotolia.com
