Proart has produced for Michael Edwards every guidebook since 2001, the largest featuring over 390 pages of valuable information for fragrance merchants, fragrance houses and fragrance enthusiasts alike listing more than 12,500 fragrances by family, note and sub-note arranged alphabetically by gender. The bilingual English and French guidebook remains perfumery’s most comprehensive and accurate classification reference.
From database to visual simplicity
Converting a database supplied as a very large Excel spreadsheet creates a unique set of challenges when there are more than 12,000 fragrances that need to be sorted by gender alphabetically into their correct fragrance family for the reference pages, and then alphabetically sorted under their fragrance house in chronological order for the index.
Setting up technical elements in Indesign such as GREP, nested style sheets to automatically deal with the multiple font variations on each line, rearranging columns in Excel and pivot table conversions meant there was a lot of back and forth between the two primary programs used to create the conversion of the database into an aesthetically pleasing design. There was no easy solution to make Adobe Indesign and Microsoft Excel – two programs geared for different functions – work smoothly together and multiple step data transfers between the two eventually paid off with amazing results.
The focus was always to make it as easy as possible for the end user to find the fragrance they are after and see what other fragrances are similar. This would help sales by pairing similar fragrances if a retailer did not stock what their client was looking for.
With high quality photography and an annual database growth of around 10% the guidebooks grew in size and reputation as being, “The only comprehensive, historically accurate, factually reliable and artistically consistent database of fragrance in existence.” – Luca Turin.
There have been 19 hardcover volumes produced since 2000 and Proart has had design direction and artwork production on all, plus handled print and delivery on certain years.
Dan says, “With over 30 years design experience, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with every conceivable print media and associated process over the years. For the past 24 years I have been in charge of the creative production of the annually produced Fragrances of the World guidebooks, each issue striving to better the previous. My agency now works in all areas of creative design with a variety of businesses, however my involvement with Michael is a key aspect of my creative growth and adaptability. This book has become my baby – it is something that I dread and love producing at the same time! That being said, I am proud to be a part of this incredible reference tool
