Artist catalogues

Planning guide

Tips

Don’t be afraid of white space
Don’t try to cram too much on to a page
Leave enough room for your texts

It’s worth spending a little time planning how many pages you will need for your images and text – your content. Working with a physical mock-up is a good way of getting the ‘feel’ of your catalogue, and helping you to make sure you take everything into account.

We have put together a few tips below to help you to plan your catalogue. Once you have worked out how many pages you need you can go to the next stage. We’ll look forward to hearing from you!

  • Outside cover – title etc.
  • Inside front cover – leave blank? Gallery image?
  • Introduction / critical text
  • Biography
  • Images
  • Captions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Logos (ace, gallery logo etc.)
  • Website, how to contact you?
Fold some sheets of paper in half. Use as many as you need to give the number of pages you want.
Your mock-up doesn’t have to be actual size, but you may find it helps you to plan more easily.
If most of your images are landscape format they will probably look best if your catalogue is also landscape.
Starting with the front, mark up your outside cover…
… then work your way through the contents…
… noting where you want your text and images to appear.
Don’t try to cram too much on to a page. Less is more when you are aiming to present your work at its best.
If it helps you to visualise, print and cut out your images and stick them in place.
You can easily add or remove pages until you have included all of your content.
A plan sketched out on paper can help too.

Don’t worry about getting your page count exact at this stage. Once we’re working with you and have reviewed your content we will advise if any adjustments are necessary.