Generating Exhibition Catalogs | Exhibitions

A catalog turns the artworks already in your exhibition into a formatted PDF you can hand to a printer, email to a mailing list, or keep as the show's record. It is built from the exhibition itself, so the titles, artists, dimensions, prices and images are whatever is on the works right now. You will find it on the exhibition's Tools tab, in the Generate Catalog card.

Catalogs are available at every stage of an exhibition except a cancelled one, and on every plan. You need owner or admin access to generate one.

Generating a catalog

Open the exhibition from Admin → Exhibitions.
Go to the Tools tab and choose Generate Catalog, under Publish & Share.
Pick a layout, choose what to include, and check the branding settings.
Click Generate Catalog. The PDF builds while the dialog stays open, usually in well under a minute. On a large show you may see Taking longer than expected. Still working...
When it says Catalog ready!, click Download.

A catalog covers up to 500 artworks. If your show is larger the catalog still builds, and it tells you how many pieces were left out.

Choosing a layout

Three layouts are offered, and each one shows an estimated page count before you commit:

Single Page puts one artwork per page with a large image and full details. This is the most generous option and the usual choice for a show you are printing properly.
Double Page puts two artworks per page with medium detail. A good balance for a mid-sized show.
Grid Layout puts four artworks per page in a two-by-two grid with minimal text, so the images carry the book. Best for large exhibitions.

Choosing what appears

Each of these is a switch you can turn on or off:

Include prices
Include dimensions
Include medium
Include artist bios
Include artist statements
Include curatorial statement
Include table of contents

Prices, dimensions, medium, the curatorial statement and the table of contents are on by default. Artist bios and artist statements are off, because they make the book considerably longer.

There is no separate price list document. If you want prices in the catalog, leave Include prices on.

Photo book pages

Under Book pages, you can choose a featured photograph cover with a square crop and an italic serif show title. Choose any illustrated work in the exhibition, or use the first one. A missing cover photograph stops generation so you can choose another.

Include title and credits pages adds a blank inside cover, a title page with the juror and dates, and copyright/contact credits. Small centered captions prints only the artist and title under each photograph in the single-artwork layout; the other content switches do not add details in this mode. Double and grid layouts keep their normal captions.

With a featured cover or title and credits pages, a selected curatorial statement prints in full on its own pages.

Optional Juror biography and Organization description pages start with existing profile text when available. You can edit it for this catalog. Long text continues on additional pages. Pair text pages with a blank left page places each of these text pages on the right of an open spread. Contact details and logo on back cover uses your organization profile, with an optional book price.

These choices are optional and apply to the catalog you generate. Layout and paper size are separate: choose Square 8 × 8 in for an eight-inch square book.

Your colours and typeface

Under Branding, the catalog picks up your organization's brand theme automatically: your Primary color, your Secondary color, your Font, and your logo on the cover. You can override any of them for a single catalog without changing the organization's settings.

One thing to check if your brand typeface does not appear: only fonts the catalog can embed will print. That means the bundled font families and the three standard PDF faces, Helvetica, Times and Courier. Any other brand face falls back to a readable substitute rather than failing the build. Set the organization defaults under Organization Branding.

What the warnings mean

When the catalog is ready, it may list problems it worked around. These are worth reading before you send the file to a printer:

Images that could not be loaded are named, up to five of them, with a count of the rest. Those pieces print without a picture. Usually this means the image was replaced or removed after the exhibition was built.
A cover logo that could not be loaded means the cover printed without your logo.
Images below 300 DPI are counted. They will look acceptable on screen and soft in print at the size the layout uses them.
Artworks left out appears only when the show is over the 500-piece cap.

If none of the images can be loaded at all, the catalog is not generated. Rather than hand you a text-only book, it tells you which pieces failed so you can fix the artwork images and try again.

These warnings describe the run you just did. They are not stored, so they do not reappear when you download an older catalog from Saved Catalogs.

Print quality and paper size

Quality has two settings. Print Quality embeds higher-resolution images for a commercial printer and produces a much larger file. The web setting produces a smaller file suited to email and your website.

Page size has two choices. Standard Page takes your organization's Paper size setting, so a gallery in the United States gets US Letter and a gallery in Australia or New Zealand gets A4. You set that once under Localization & Currency.

Square 8 × 8 in prints every page at 8 × 8 inches, the trim most photo-book printers offer for a square softcover. It works with all three layouts. With detailed captions, the title, artist, year, medium, dimensions and price print in full. On the single-artwork layout a picture shrinks when its caption is long, and a long artist statement or catalog entry is shortened, ending in "…", or left out when there is no room for it, so nothing runs off the page. A long curatorial statement on the cover is shortened the same way. Use Standard Page if you need every statement printed in full. Nothing prints to the page edge, so the file needs no bleed. If your printer asks for one, tell them the file is at trim size.

When you brief a print vendor, confirm the trim size that matches your paper setting, the binding, and the stock. United States printers quote paper by basis weight, for example 80 lb cover and 100 lb text. Printers in Australia and New Zealand quote gsm for the same stocks, roughly 216 gsm and 148 gsm.

Finding an earlier catalog

Every catalog you generate is kept. Open Saved Catalogs at the bottom of the dialog to download an earlier one. This is useful when prices or sold status have changed since the opening and you need the version you actually printed.

Troubleshooting

A piece has no image in the catalog. The warning list names it. Re-upload the artwork image on the work, then generate again.

The catalog looks soft in print. Set Quality to Print Quality and check the low-resolution warning. An image that is small to begin with cannot be improved by the setting.

My brand font did not print. Only embeddable faces are used. Pick one of the offered fonts for the catalog, or change the organization's brand typeface to one of them.

The download link stopped working. Download links expire. Open Saved Catalogs and download again.

Next steps

For more help, contact support@craftedcall.com.