When you’re in the fashion industry, images speak louder than words. A fashion lookbook (or catalog) is an effective branding tool that presents your brand to the world in visuals.
It comprises neatly-arranged images that convey the essence of your brand through weaving stories.
Before you can build your brand or impress your audience, you first need a killer fashion lookbook.
We want you to wow your audience which is why we have compiled five important tips for designing a fashion lookbook brand that will still be amazing when it’s printed. Stay tuned.
1. Use Good Quality Lifestyle Imagery and Graphic Elements
People want to see how your product would look like in a real-life scenario.
The reason you’re creating a lookbook for your visitors is to stir up their interest while introducing a product.
Instead of displaying samples of your work, use good quality lifestyle imagery to portray how your product will be worn or used.
While using lifestyle imagery is effective, try not to use celebrity photos.
You’d want to avoid legal issues so stick with the images captured by your photographer.
Also, for some fashion brands, sometimes using lifestyle imagery may not be effective.
In this case, focus on graphic elements of the product or product shots but ensure that it’s of good quality.
Selecting a method that makes sense could require a combination of both lifestyle imagery and graphic elements – the result could be the difference between a killer lookbook and an ordinary one.
2. Take Note of Layouts and Visuals (Background/Colors)
Most times, less is more.
As much as you want to leave a positive impression, try to keep things simple.
From the layouts for the catalog to the colour combination, try simple things.
A good way to start is to think of how you can represent your brand in a way that’ll attract viewers.
Then you can decide on the layout (whether grid or list) taking into consideration the type of photo you’ll be using.
Mind you, your photos and layout need to speak for them appropriately – and that means you need to choose them carefully.
Second, mind the flow of your lookbook – extra attention to your background can be the turning point.
Choosing a simple background that complements your models or products has the potential to transform the look of your catalog.
Keep in mind that it isn’t a requirement for all pages to have the same layout.
Think of how your lookbook can interact with your customers seamlessly and blend accordingly.
Don’t forget that the appropriate background can add fun to the style.
3. Design for Your Target Market, Not Your Personal Preferences
The essence of designing a fashion lookbook is to communicate what your product has to offer to your TARGET audience.
Don’t forget, target audience!
The design and overall concept to be used for your fashion lookbook should be streamlined for your intended demographic.
This means you need to do a careful survey on what products and services they are interested in, what colour scheme and fonts would look appealing to them, their image tastes and other preferences.
Remember, it’s all about your customers, not you.
Be creative; create a stunning lookbook that will convey excitement to your target audience, one that will trigger positive responses.
You also want to include the right information about your products – very important.
4. Add Social Sharing Buttons
When creating a killer fashion lookbook, the goal should be to increase your reach.
As a business owner, there’s a limit to where your advertisement and marketing strategies can get you.
However, with the help of your clients, your reach becomes limitless.
Where your advertisement ends, your customers can start another trend for your brand.
How?
It is by allowing customers to share your fashion lookbook via social media.
You may have a reach to your target audience but once social sharing buttons are added, your customers can compound that reach, increasing the numbers in turn.
If customers like your catalog, they’ll likely share a page with their friends and loved ones, and this increases the likelihood of you generating more sales through it.
Customers love to be informed on what to do next – we call this a Call to Action (CTA for short).
You want to guide them on what to do; whether to make a purchase or to like the catalog page or to share.
Communicate what you want them to do in the final third and they’ll act on immediately.
5. Get Help from A Professional
You may need the help of a professional if you haven’t designed a lookbook yet.
Getting a professional will help you create a killer fashion lookbook that gets you and your brand noticed.
When catalog printing is done professionally, it can deliver numerous benefits.
Here are some benefits you’ll get from high-quality fashion catalogs.
- A killer fashion catalog expresses the lifestyle of a brand to buyers.
- By creatively storytelling your brand through images, brands tend to engage their audience. Thus, build its brand in the process.
- Fashion lookbooks are a great way to remind your customers about your services and encourage them to visit your shop.
Also Read: Top Advice on Choosing the Best Fashion Designing School