The first rule is to use repetition in your catalogs. The reason being is that you want to have a strong theme and image with your brand name. You have to define what your brand is, and to do that you need to repeatedly deal with the theme of your brand.

Maybe this has to do with great prices or a wide selection of items. Each company will have their own unique reason why people should give them business over all the other companies out there. But to get people to understand and accept this you need to repeat your message a lot, until people simply come to associate that message with your company name.

On the completely opposite side of that you need a lot of variety in your catalogs. This is about more than just changing the products you have in the catalog. People want to get something new and interesting. They don't want to feel as if they're reading the same catalog over and over again.

A lot of this will deal with the layout of the catalog along with the types of images you use and other elements of the design. You have to keep things interesting and keep things changing from one catalog to the next.

So what does this mean for those hoping to use catalog printing? How do you manage to keep your brand name strong while also varying up your style over and over again?

The key is to find the right elements to repeat while changing everything else that you can. If you have a core theme or message for your brand, that one thing needs to be the same from one catalog printing order to the next, but everything else that you can change needs to be different.

Go for changes in the colors and format most of all. I find it unlikely that a specific format is vital to your company image. This means you can alter your layout, going beyond multiple box grids, as so many catalogs love to use.

There are a number of other elements in your catalog to consider and vary in any way you can. Often a catalog has a theme of its own. See if you can take your company theme and find ways to incorporate it into your catalog themes. This way you still gain the benefits that repeating your company theme will gain you, while also enjoying the bonus of having each catalog be uniquely different.

It isn't always easy to find the right balance between these two extreme sides. You'll probably go through a number of catalogs before you get it just right, but if you always keep on your mind what you intend to do, you'll be that much better prepared to make the best catalog you can.