The Evolution of a Jewelry Catalog and Sundance Career

This Fall Jewelry catalog was a special edition commemorating Sundance's 20 years of selling and showcasing jewelry artists and their products. So, for the 2016 fall season, we chose backgrounds and propping to highlight their craft and celebrate these jewelry artists. The theme was "The [Jewelry] Artist".

I created a mood board filled with tear sheets and inspiring images for the project in order to convey the theme to the executive decision makers.

I designed anniversary icons to celebrate the 20-year milestone as well as explored special fonts for headlines throughout the "The Artist" project.

I created new layouts and design concepts to inspire our merchants to think outside the typical rules. We had a lot of rules. The great news, many of these new layouts worked very well and were used repeatedly in future projects.

A color palette was selected - think jewel tones, autumn leaves, well-worn wood - and the talented stylists started creating backgrounds.

The propping needed to feel brand appropriate, sophisticated and elegant with a slightly weathered, well-worn and well-loved rustic feel. The props could not overpower the small, sometimes dainty product. We sourced jewelry-making tools, gemstones, beads, leather, interesting shapes, containers & fabrics.

The covers set the tone for the project and informs the season, the mood, the spirit and the collection. They are meant to intrigue and inspire the customer to open the catalog and start shopping.

Each of Sundance Jewelry Catalog had a new story and theme. The covers needed to feel, and were, uniquely Sundance. The photography for this book was filled with lovely autumn color, beautiful texture and interesting shapes.

Our goal was always to shoot 8-12 still life shots per day depending on the product(s). A 56-page catalog was generally shot in two weeks, including the on-figure photography. Like this one, some jewelry sets could get very complicated.

This is an example of a finished catalog spread. Two separate shots that needed to sit well together in color and styling and also play well with the remaining 54 or so pages.

The on-figure studio photography followed the still life photography. Sets, props and backgrounds were concepted to mirror the theme of the project. The hair and makeup stylist worked away while the sets were being put into place. There was also a prop stylist working with the crew to style the backgrounds and hand the model props to hold. The set changed for each shot, generally there were between five and eight different sets. We also shot web product details, cover options and editorial shots during the two to three day shoot. I edited the shots at the end of the day to narrow down to the 20 best out of 100s of shots.

On-figure and still life photographs and copy were placed into the layouts and circulated for proofing, reviewing and approval.

Here are a few examples of how the theme and concepts transitioned to the final catalog pages. Concept on the left, final on the right.

”To us, Sundance is and always will be a dream…
What we offer in the form of art & culture,
spirit & service, is homegrown and available to all.”

– Robert Redford

Following the catalog shoot, we photographed each new product to show special details in an easy-to-shop fashion and introduced them on the website just as the catalog launched.

Examples of sundancecatalog.com directory page and product pages.

Each jewelry artist featured in the catalog was given a special profile landing page on the website.

I then translated the project across multiple channels and platforms - desktop to mobile: homepages, landing pages, emails. We created posts for social sites and ads. As well, we designed and created bind-in cards and in-store retail messaging.

The cast for this "The [Jewelry] Artist" Fall Catalog photoshoot was as follows:

On Staff:
Art director, catalog designer/production artist, studio manager, two photography set builders.
Freelance Staff:
Two freelance photo stylists, production assistant, still life photographer, still life photo technician, fashion photographer, fashion photo technician, model, hair & make up stylist, fashion stylist, prop stylist, stylist assistant.

A special thank you to the two amazing photo stylists: Jutta Gellersen and Elizabeth Shaver and master of jewelry photography, Shane Huntsman.

The rest of the cast of characters did a fabulous job as well.

The only constant is change and a lot has changed since the beginning of my career. It's hard to believe you can now shoot an entire catalog or even a movie with your iPhone (maybe not recommended, but it definitely can be done.)

Beginning with cutting and pasting words spit out by a Compugraphic typesetter to everything easily and conveniently designed and proofed right on the screen and on the fly - even from across the country; digital design and photography has definitely improved the process.

Spring 1 Jewelry - Valentine's Day and Beginning of Spring: The theme for this project was "Textured Clay". We purchased a few finished clay pieces but the stylists created and painted a lot of the pieces themselves.

Spring 2 Jewelry - Mother's Day and Late Spring: The theme for this project was "Drawing on Florals". We used live florals to finish different objects that were sketched out in watercolor.

Summer Jewelry - Summer Season: The theme for this project was "Sun Prints". The stylists gathered different plants and objects and created beautiful fabrics using the cyanotype process.

Fall Jewelry - Fall Season: The theme for this project was "The [Jewelry] Artist". We borrowed well-used tools from jewelers and sourced beads, stones, gems, leather, glass jars, jewel-tone fabrics, metal and other interesting objects that reflected items from a jeweler's studio.

Holiday Jewelry - The Holiday Gift Giving Season: The theme for this project was "All That Glitters". We used a lot of gold and gilded objects, ornaments, ribbons, velvet leaves and boxes and glittered objects. What we couldn't find in gold was painted gold or glittered in studio by the stylists.