Building theatre patronage : management and merchandising (1927)

CHAPTER XXII PRINCIPLES OF LAYOUT IT is comparatively easy to master by experience the printing materials used in advertising. But how to arrange those materials effectively can be mastered to a limited degree by experience and by principles. It is impossible to make a master of layout by rule of thumb, just as it is impossible to make an artist or a designer. There are few fixed principles which always apply. Here we have a creative activity — something which requires taste, feeling and design, an appreciation of harmony and the application of what is generally referred to as genius and individual ingenuity. As far as theatre advertising is concerned, however, masterful creative work is not expected. In fact, if theatre advertising would avoid attempts at over-artistic, eccentric, intricate and elaborate layout, it would be much improved. Quite a few theatres could be built with the money that has been actually wasted on theatre newspaper advertisements which attempted to be over-artistic instead of being attractive and simple. What theatre advertising needs is the application of a few simple, elemental principles of layout such as will be outlined here. The Theatre "Artist" In many cases, the ineffective theatre advertisement can be traced to what is known as "the theatre artist." Too many theatres have on their payroll a staff "artist" whose function it is to prepare hand-drawn theatre advertisements. This socalled "artist" is usually a total loss on the theatre budget. Many a theatre ticket sale has been lost through his extreme attempts at the "artistic." Very, very few theatres could afford a staff artist competent enough to prepare hand-drawn advertisements. The staff "artist" prepares a layout usually three or four times the actual size in which the layout will be reproduced. 274