> hello michael,
>
> I was just wondering if you could help me with a quick
> question.In a full page ad in a magazine...what's the best
> font and size to use for headline and body
>
> thankyou
>
> shane



Try to look like the magazine. Use their font, their style, their layout. Make your ad look as much like the magazine as possible -- as if it was an editorial. If you advertize in many magazines, stick with the conventional -- serif fonts (times, roman, etc), 10-12 pt size, for the body copy, and sans-serif fonts for headlines and headers (arial, helvetica, etc), about 14-18 pt.

David Ogilvy gives some wonderful advice on this very subject.

... "the eye is trained from an early age. Move away from what the eye is used to and you stop readership... "

In this order

Illustration or picture(top of page)
Headline (20 words no period at the end)
Subheadline (20 words or so)
Drop cap
Reader familiar font.

And most imporatnly ... write in an editorial style. This in itself increses readership by around 10-20%

Hope this helps.

Here's an interesting "model" I've prepared for a client...

http://SuccessDoctor.com/samples/email.htm

(I've incorporated some of Alan's brilliant insights, too.)

Here's a few tidbits that I've brought from the "ergonomics" world of computing and applied to my copywriting with decent results and some rationale for why it works.

First, a note of warning regarding the online copy "frame" -- keeping with Oglivy's "Move away from what the eye is used to and you stop readership"

I've found that it's best to use an ivory background as opposed to a bright/stark white. Testing has shown a 13% improvement with this change alone. Rationale: Aside from the "used to it" factor, the harsh contrast of the black type on the unnaturally white paper or screen is just too hard to read for 66 pages worth of involved copy.

Additionally, Bob Stone (of Stone & Adler fame -- check out his book: Successful Direct Marketing Methods) shows that indented paragraphs USUALLY outperform those that with the more "modern", non-indented paragraph style.

So, you're mileage will obviously vary on this one. I haven't split tested this yet, as I've been honing other aspects of my craft. But it's part of the "formula" I use.

That's funny, because this is an OOOLLLLLLLLDDD thread (September '03!). I've since revamped that article to this one after doing countless split-tests:

http://successdoctor.com/samples/font.htm

Sorry if I disturbed the dust which had settled so thickly on this old thread. I was just wandering back in time, to make sure I'm not saying things that everyone else has said a million times over previously on here, and noticed this topic by which I am rather fascinated. I just couldn't resist.


Nicely done, Michel...

It was so obvious, I forgot to mention it -- liberal subheads. These things just become second nature after a while, and you don't really even notice you're doing it.

Well, I certainly have NO bone to pick with THIS version.

You covered it all.