Concentrate on determining the finest features of each item of merchandise, and then on focusing the interpretation through the camera lens. Through design of the spread (making sure that nothing gets overpowered or lost,) and through the photographic display, it can be assured that each product gets its fair share of attention from the prospective customer. This does not mean that all of the merchandise must be treated democratically in size allocation. Equal size depictions can be boring to look at, and may lose the potential of impact. Varying
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the size of the subjects is visually more interesting to the reader. For example, focus group studies have provided qualitative research on catalog consumer behavior. When presented with two different spreads to look at (one with 10 equal size photographic depictions, and one with 10 shots that varied in size allocation from small to quite large), the time the consumer spent observing the variable photo size spread was three times longer. The number of items on both spreads was exactly the same, and the merchandise was the same. This technique of
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display is simply favored by catalog readers, and gives the products more of a chance to be fairly seen. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen your authority positioning as experts on the kind of merchandise that you are offering. By allocating some large space depictions on every spread in the book you are implying that products selected for this treatment are important. Customers expect something important on each spread. They may give a spread short attention if that message doesn’t come through.
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