3. Listen to your inner client
Tyndale House Publishers used to send the company’s
book catalogs to outside designers. But design
manager C.J. Van Wagner thought the product
coming back from the outside “was a mess,” so he
approached company executives about making a
change. He crunched the numbers and pointed out
that hiring an art director would be much more
cost-effective than tapping outside resources. Plus,
this new staff member could tackle projects in addition
to the catalogs.
Senior art director Barry Smith was hired and
started transforming the look of the catalogs. He
heads up a two-and-a-half person commercial design
team while Van Wagner oversees Smith and a 21-
person department that designs the company’s books.
Tyndale’s Bible catalog, for example, now features
original photography because Smith wanted to show
people—thus giving a face to the company’s customers.
He also made the catalog easier for buyers to
use and worked to give it brand continuity with the
company’s other catalogs.
One of the main goals was to forge a partnership
with bookstores—to let them know that the
publisher understands them and wants to help grow
their business. It’s an idea Smith hit upon after the
sales team told him they wanted more shelf space.
Rather than make the catalog a hard sell, he came
up with the partnership concept to help achieve that
goal. “It’s really a matter of relationships,” Smith says
about the success of the efforts. “We spend a lot of
time with the sales team and try to understand what
they’re saying.”
