Meet Marie, Our Catalog Designer

Hustling To Make Top Notch and Impeccable Catalogs

Marie’s driving motivation is that she really cares about the finished product. She has an incredible eye for detail and is a perfectionist when it comes to “what goes out the door.”

By Kelly Braden
on December 17th, 2015

Because we are in the display and large print format business, DisplayStar’s visual exposure and communications can’t be anything short of top notch and impeccable.

As our Catalog Manager, Marie is responsible for creating our product catalogs that showcase not only our displays, but also our brilliantly colored, stunning graphic design.

This position relies on all her skills and experience: 38 years in the Trade / Commercial Printing Industry along with fluency in 3D, Flash, HTML/CSS, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.

Her duties span from composition and layout, editing, creating/re-creating images, proofing, proofing, proofing, and prepping files for printing, including preflighting.

Originating from the term preflight checklists used by pilots, preflighting in printing is the process of confirming that the digital files required for the printing process are all present, valid, correctly formatted, and of the desired type.

Catalog Page 2016 — Marie’s latest challenge has been re-visioning our catalog for the 2016 version. Inspired to produce a more spacious catalog with larger, bolder images and less text, she changed to a landscape format. The 2016 catalog will also feature new display applications such as corporate and retail.

Every Component Is Checked and Double Checked

Are all the fonts included with the print files?
Is every link connected to the right image/artwork?
Is the resolution sufficient?
Is the type safely away from folds, trims, etc.?
Margins correct?
Does the artwork have artifacts (things that shouldn’t be there—graphics hiding behind graphics)?
Is the document in the correct color mode, for example CMYK for offset printing?
Does all the color match?
Is the same Pantone color for red, for example, used throughout the document?
Skin tones too red?
Will it meet the specifications of the printers?

Display Accessories — Marie also creates the art for DisplayStar’s weekly eblast which highlights the benefits of an existing product or introduces a new product or special promotion.

Piecing Together a Complex Puzzle

Marie’s driving motivation is that she really cares about the finished product. She has an incredible eye for detail and is a perfectionist when it comes to what goes out the door.

I love the challenge. My job is like piecing together a complex puzzle—beginning at the micro level and finishing with an overall quality product.
I also love our slim, stylist products; and the fact that I work with equally experience, focused, and quality-driven people.
At breaks, I love to stretch my legs and check out what’s happening—the buzz—in production. It’s fascinating to watch as they check dimensions and put together the large, 20 by 20 foot booths.
Just as interesting are the sewing machine operators as they run hundreds of yards of knit fabric and zippers under the foot pedal of their machine. And let’s not forget the innovative content.
Typically it features a company’s latest product or a new product made by a start-up company.
Marie

Winter Sports Display — Bright lights and bright images have always captured Marie’s attention. Naturally, her favorites displays are part Igniter Light Box. Ultra-bright LEDs combined with high resolution dye-sub fabric, create deep density colors and blacks that brighten for stunning memorable impact.