Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-03-01
d Adoc,tisiing| ! Talks
STYLE IN ADVERTISING
Some Suggestions to Copy Writers on
 a Most Important Advertising Topic.

S'Oo 1AuSOA laSAu6 <16euCy, dAu oA iaee acting as advertising counsel to sev eral firms, was a recent speaker to a New York Y. M c. A. class in adver Using. MT. Cheverton spoke on Style in Advertising" and incidentally on Type"
 5 Tt is very essential" said MT. Che yerton, for the ad man to have a knowledge of type and the laws gov ern1ng the various effects which its arrangement produces. The compost tor may be possessed of rule of thumb knowledge and his observation or ex perience may have fitted him to turn out a piece of work of creditable ap' pearance. The ad man, however, has wider knowledge of the subject of the ad; knows the audience he is ad. dressing, the selling points he wishes to emphasize, and the means by which he can best move the reader to action Consequently, with his wider knoWl is better equipped than. the compost tor to select and arrange the type which is to compose the ad.
 ''In considering type, as in most other details of advertising, 1t is i'm portant to constantly bear in mind the twofold purpose which underiies all successful advertising, namely, to attract attention and to move to ac. tion, or the appeal and the response It is also essential to consider the attitude of the reader. He Is not looking for your ad; on the contrary he is interested in other things, and your ad can receive consideration only after his attention has been di ve1ted. '
 This brings us to the necessity ot display. It is mistake to suppose that display consists merely in the use of large type. While it is true that the latter has greater attention value than small type, 1t Is neverthe- less a fact that clear white space gives prominence to the ad by reason of it's exclusion of counter attractions. the importance of which is easily ap- parent. ss
 White space has the further advan- tage of tying the ad together espe- cially if there is one or more lines ot display type in the body of the ad, as these have a tendency to cut the ad into parts. The advertiser must carefully consider the ratio of white space to printed matter.
 Another element is the attractive ness of the ad, for 1t is apparent that the absence of this feature will exert an unfavorable influence Oh the read. CT, and hence reduce attention value Too many. styles of type produce a lack of unity in appearance and hence should be avoided. In these days Of increasing advertising 1t is not diff cult to- find examples of ads with at. tractive type arrangement. a study oi which is advisable.
 s Having secured the readers at -tention by means of a judicious use ot white space, display type and attrac- tiveness, 1t is now necessary to arouse and hold his Interest. This IS largely the office of the copy writer, but bere again wise type arrangement is i'm. portant. The use of type that Is easily legible, preferably with a bold face and leaning. are two means toward the accomplishment of this end. 1t Is advisable to have copy possessing keen interest, follow the display, ar heading, in order to get the reade, started to reading the ad This much being accomplished, he Is more likely to continue reading if the copy, or the subject treated of, offers sufficient in terest 4
 Many advertisers err in the choice of too large body type. If the reader Is not interested in the sub1ect-mattei of your ad, 60point type will be but little more efflcacious than that meas uring ten points. Rather than waste space with large body type, 1t would be better to increase the white space and thus give greater prominence to the entire ad. 'ss
 ".Short words, sentences and para graphs are other means of holding the attention. because they are more easily read.
 Do not try to have your type ar rangement perform &crobatic feats The average reader is too busy to de cipher matter that is not easily read. Some people seem to think that the merely unusual is good advertising Bear in mind that your aim is not merely to attract attention, but also to move to action. The arrangement of words as spokes radiating from a hub is bad practice. How many busy men would turn their paper in various di. rections in order to read such matter Such display might attract the, atten tion of few readers, but most peo pie would not read it.
 "Another error frequently met witt IS unusual display devoid of interest A recent life insurance ad appeared with the words Ear Trumpets' as it's catch line, the copy finally. switching over to life insurance. Everyone knows that there are comparatively few peo ple interested in ear trumpets. If the writer did not wish to have his suy feet ssuxgestgd in the display ne fAigiis ss ssht least have choSen for , 8fieanins something in which many people take n interest,
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