International studio (48.1913)

The Principles of Advertising Arrangement

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T

HE PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTIS-
ING ARRANGEMENT”
BY FRANK ALVAH PARSONS
REVIEWED BY EARNEST ELMO

CALKINS

The lectures of Mr. Frank Alvah Parsons, the
president of the New York School of Fine and Ap-
plied Art, upon “The Principles of Advertising
Arrangement,” have been printed in book form, to
the manifest advantage of all interested in what
the author calls the topography of the advertise-
ment. Mr. Parsons’ talks were delivered to a
body of men engaged in the production of adver-
tising. They are of a character to hold the atten-
tion and clear the vision of the experienced adver-
tising man, while simple enough to offer a real help
to the artist, designer, compositor or advertise-
ment writer whose foot is on the lowest rung of the
advertising ladder.
Mr. Parsons writes simply and sanely on a sub-
ject he is competent to discuss. That which
makes a design good makes an advertisement
good. Balance, movement, emphasis, decoration
come under the same general laws, whether ap-
plied to furniture and architecture and fabrics, or
to a page ad in a magazine. The fact that adver-
tising men have produced strong, symmetrical,
well-designed ads without the aid of Mr. Parsons’
books means nothing. The fact that advertising
matter wholly lacking in good arrangement has
sold goods means less.
Advertising men know even better than Mr.
Parsons how much this atmosphere has improved
the selling power of the ad. Mr. Parsons lays
down the simple rules whereby this atmosphere is
produced. It is capable of analysis, and analysis
that is easily understood, as this book shows. Mr.
Parsons lays down the rules that apply to all good
designing, but applies them specifically to adver-
tising. He shows the importance of related
shapes, of balance, of movement, of emphasis (the
“display” of the advertising man’s lexicon), and,
what is more important, proves that the ad is im-
proved by the correct application of these princi-
ples. These principles are not Mr. Parsons’.
They are fundamental. They are felt in a way by
every human being. They are the principles upon
which all art rests. In applying them to the con-
struction of advertising Mr. Parsons has rendered
a service to the real advertising man. An intelli-
gent following of the lines laid down in this book
would bring about a great improvement in the
appearance of all advertising, in magazines, in



PORTRAIT OF MADAME BY HENRY CARO-
DE POZNANSKA DELVAILLE


newspapers, in street cars, on billboards and in
printed things. This improvement would be
double. The advertising would be intrinsically
more attractive. It would afford a certain
esthetic satisfaction. What is still more import-
ant, the advertising would have greater efficiency.
It would sell more goods.
Mr. Parsons is an artist and a teacher of art, ap-
plying to a business instrument the principles of
the art he knows best. He does not pretend that
good arrangement puts the salesmanship into the
ad. The latter may contain an insipid message
and yet be correctly designed. Art does not
supersede copy. What he does contend is that a
good arrangment will permit the ad to yield up its
message more quickly and make a better collateral

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