Catalogues Through the Years || L&S Engineers

Haliena 1464 days ago

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With the digital release of our 2018 Plant Spares & Workshop Catalogues this week, we’re reflecting on some of the earliest L&S catalogues.

You may recall that the first marketing material for L&S was created at Middlemore Lane, when Alan was still with Tube Investments. A creative employee took photographs of two water pump strainers and printed them on headed paper.

The initial promotional images, as shown above, were simple sketches hand-drawn by Alan. Before the advent of cameras or graphic design software, this was how the business advertised its manufactured parts. All sketches were easily identifiable, and you can still see a resemblance to this style in our current exploded diagrams.

The first catalogues were produced at Hazel Lane in Great Wyrley back in 1980. They were straightforward but featured the most popular products of the time. The drawings included a mix of hand sketches and digital illustrations. This catalogue was the first of its kind for L&S and became instantly recognisable and useful for users. Below is an image of the pump strainer featured on the front cover, a very popular part manufactured by Alan and Wyn.

As the product range expanded, a new catalogue layout was necessary, similar to the design you see today. This format has largely remained consistent over the years, with more products added annually and gradual design improvements. The design is now instantly recognisable as the L&S Catalogue. The 1994 catalogue, shown below, was bound, making it easier for customers to use and locate what they needed. You can also see that the parts diagrams became more detailed. With the growing range of products, part numbers were introduced to help identify the correct part when ordering.

Below is a familiar product featured in the 1994 catalogue, GT85, which we still sell today. The larger catalogue allowed for more products to be highlighted, and part descriptions became longer to provide more information for customers. As you can see from the front cover, the design has evolved significantly over the years.

Fast forward to 2018, and the catalogues have progressed (now there are two!). As you can see, there have been substantial changes. The images are all high quality, and the parts are organised by machine or type. You may notice that there is still a resemblance to the original catalogues, with line drawings and clear lists of part numbers.

Now, you can even search through the catalogues online, making it easier to find everything you need. Click to view our new Plant Spares Catalogue or our Workshop Catalogue

Catalogues Through the Years || L&S Engineers

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Catalogues Through the Years || L&S Engineers

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