Of the poor advertisements that mar newspapers and periodicals, fifty per cent of the ineffectiveness should be blamed on those who write them and fifty per cent on those who set them.
EXAMPLE 379
Newspaper advertisement arranged without thought. See [380]
In this chapter we are interested not in writing the advertisement, but in properly treating it typographically after it has been written.
Some day advertising typography may become so standardized that a compositor can be told in a few words just how he shall arrange it. Meanwhile as there is more than one way to set type for advertisements, we must for the present depend on the study of good type work, the advice of those who have theories, and our own judgment.
EXAMPLE 380
Easier to read and more pleasing to look at than 379
It is possible, however, to learn something about advertising typography by giving thought to the ways of the orator, who swayed human beings long before printing was invented. We have all listened to oratory in the church pulpit, the public square and the Chautauqua tents, and in halls on the occasion of political gatherings and organization conventions. Our most agreeable recollections are of those moments when we were so pleased and impressed with what the speaker was saying that we did not think of his manner of saying it. Probably the most successful printed matter is that which pleases and impresses without one’s being immediately aware of the cause.
A good speaker will enunciate clearly and speak in a moderate tone that can be heard.
A good typographic advertisement will be set in a legible type-face and in a size that can be easily read.