Page:The Ideas of an Artist - June 1900 - G. Howell-Baker - The Poster, 4 (23), 160-162.pdf/2

1900 have rarely noticed greys in them. Greys are very well to pronounce an individual colour either in brilliancy or composition of colours. But, however they may be placed to catch the public eye, there is nothing like a galaxy of colours in all their untrammelled brilliancy. Look at the gaudy parasols in the streets; they strike the eye like a Nasmyth hammer. This is the object and errand of a good cover.



The second reason is that its wording on the cover is short. Look at the wording on the posters of our largest advertisers, one never sees more than a few words, just the thing advertised and a succinct formula or catch-phrase. Bovril, Colman's, etc., etc., never overdo it in this respect, and several of our theatrical posters are good and acceptable under this category. They are more readily grasped, and work with the centralising quality of a poster pictorial and illustrative. It's a thing in a nut-shell. has its name, its volume number, date, and the fact that it is an illustrated monthly chronicle, and that is all you want. If you want to know anything else, buy it and look inside; the same is to be said of the article advertised, taste it and try it. A lot of printed matter is like a garrulous woman, one never pays strict attention, and in regard to the over-printed cover, rarely, if ever, does one read all that is printed—and its errand is lost.

Put that, and that only, which is absolutely imperative to induce the busy man of to-day to see it at a glance, and then he is sure to ask himself what is inside; don't overdo it, as his eye will soon wander and his mind will go with it—the chance of selling your book has likewise gone.

I hold with virgin colouring and heavy line—the guiding spirit to be in as few lines as possible compatible with intelligibility and design.



There is design in colour as well as