The Herff Jones scholastic catalogs are an annual project, and 2019 was the second year it was my responsibility to update them. There were two significant high-level changes for the year: the inclusion of models in addition to product photography, and centering Chronicle Display as our hero typeface.
The first of these changes was a marked success, and we continue to prominently feature model photography in all our marketing to the present day (2025). The second was a bit of a mixed result, primarily because the catalogs set the general design style for all our marketing to high school students for that year. And what we discovered was that Chronicle, while beautiful, really struggles in a digital context. It's difficult to use on social graphics with anything other than the simplest backgrounds, difficult to keep legible on email banners, and simply doesn't jump out at the reader. We stuck with it for another year (the Class of 2021), but afterward switched to Benton Sans as our primary typeface.
One catalog is entirely focused on class rings, while the other is focused on products for seniors and has two variants: one with apparel included, and one without. Some sales partners have varying apparel offerings, and prefer to use a catalog that excludes these items to avoid customer confusion.
The covers for these catalogs each made use of a UV plate to add gloss. On the ring catalog, the models were excluded from this plate to pull attention toward the rings themselves, while on others the UV highlighted everything except the subhead and '20.
Unfortunately, only the Senior Catalog (without Apparel) is available for online viewing via Issuu at this time.
Note: The catalogs were for the Class of 2020, but in order to market to that class throughout the school year, they were designed and printed in the first half of 2019.
