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George

George Tsoukalas

Professor Jeanette Novakovich

English Composition Stage II

September 30 th 2010

A critique of: Elements of Effective Layout, by Dorothy Cohen

Marketing, a strategy to attract a persons attention to a visual element, is part of todays

commercially based economy. In Dorothy Cohens Elements of Effective Layout , the author

illustrates how important advertisement is in todays world arguing that as a result of competition

the standards have changed. A particular layout, as explained by Cohen, can be a means to attract

attention and a method to present the dominant requisites of an alluring presentation. The

segment focusing on unity and how it is an important element of attracting attention helps

understand how layouts works by focusing on an important requisite of appropriate presentation.

Cohen argues: A border surrounding an ad provides a method of achieving unity. Sets of

borders may occur within an ad, and, when they are similar in thickness and tone they provide a

sense of unity, here the author debates about how the graphic requisites of attraction in

advertising are crucial in order to spark interest to a viewer. This process is best defined when

describing a certain unity within the layout. The similarities in thickness and tone are

concise arguments supporting this sense of unity in a graphic layout.

The author begins by describing the balance requisite and how an advertisement can rely

on how visual weight is distributed within its landscape. In this first section of the article

mathematical terms are used to illicit a sense of visual and spatial concepts, for example the

fulcrum or balancing point. In a secondary section, proportion is emphasized in regards to

aesthetic layout in a graphic representation to best describe the size of an element in regards to

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the rest of the image/picture/advertisement. More specifically, it is demonstrated that non-

proportional images use the proportion of a layout to fortify a particular theme or underlying

message. In a third section, the movement aspect of graphic layout is explained as a sequence

which enables directional flow in order to direct the interpreter into a coherent and cohesive

manner. Typically via, either, gaze motion or structural motion which can differ from one

individual to another. The fourth requisite of graphic layout is unity, this element being an

important aspect of interpretation, is how Cohen identifies the combination of all aesthetic,

structural and visual aspects of the image form a whole in order to display the intended message.

This being the accumulation of the graphic representation as a whole is dominantly the main

aspect when summing up the advertisement in its entirety. Particular attention is paid to form and

the use of white space in order to bring out all aspects rendering a thorough representation of a

particular theme or idea. Also, another section pertains to the clarity and simplicity, which tells

us about how the message will generally be interpreted and what will be the outcome of such a

message when displayed. Lastly, Cohen discusses emphasis in order to best identify how the

most important element is emphasized in order to strengthen the intended point behind the

advertisement.

Although the information provided within this text is accurate, the segment concerning

unity and how the border of a graphic layout achieves a sense of unity by adding a boundary is

appropriate for the particular topic, but has a fallacy that of hasty generalization. For some, such

boundaries help strengthen the images unity, but others may simply see such boundaries as

limits or borders. This generalization is also hasty, because the thickness can identify the unity of

the advertisement, but can also identify the particular look or style the creator is attempting to

illustrate. The information within this passage is certainly accurate, but is not final.

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In my response, the provided information regarding graphic layout may be illegitimate,

because I am not studying marketing, but as an individual or interpreter of an advertisement I

know that borders that are similar in tone and thickness do help unify the image, but dont make

the graphic layout limitless or one-sided. As an interpreter, I can justly see such borders as a

means to create boundaries keeping the strengths of the image concealed within a structured

environment as opposed to a united one.

This article helps illustrate the fundamentals behind graphic layout and advertisement in

contemporary marketing strategies. Cohen reveals such concepts in an essay on unfairness about

trade regulating rules where advertising takes a whole new approach towards legality of

advertising and appropriate demonstrations of graphic layout (Cohen, 1982).

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Works Cited

Cohen, D.. "Unfairness In Advertising Revisited. " Journal of Marketing (pre-1986)

46.1 (1982): 73-80. ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 29 Sep. 2010.

Cohen, D., Elements of Effective Layout. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum:

An Anthology of Readings (1988): 433-436.