Annual Catalog for SanMar by Creature

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CLIENT

SanMar is a family-owned, award-winning supplier of fourteen retail, private labels, and mill brands founded in 1971, and located in Seattle, WA. They supply apparel and accessories to silkscreen printers, embroiderers, promotional products distributors, athletic dealers, and more.

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BRIEF

An un-glamourous, uninspired world of printed materials end up on the desks of wholesalers every year. Distributors get annual catalogs from several sources, featuring similar items, in overlapping ways. How can we give them the shop-able information they need, but do it in a memorable way?

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APPROACH

Our key objectives were to make their catalog stand out and be talk worthy, make it really easy to shop, and make it stay on your desk. Virtual Shirting Technology is the only way to try on the items in the catalog without actually trying them on. With irony and simplicity, it plays with the idea that, in a world of high technology, a catalog is still the preferred shopping method.

PRODUCTION LESSONSDue to the complexity of this catalog, many physical mock-ups were made throughout the design and production phases. The template and custom die-cut pieces changed numerous times. This required a lot of basic trial and error. A challenge we encountered was color-matching photographed products to their actual products. There were extensive color corrections and many rounds of color proofs. Producing a project that contained multiple pieces further instilled the importance of organized file management, problem solving, and effective team communication.