Type, the essence of advertising design – print ad, Cooper & Beatty, Carl Dair, 1951

This advertisement is one of the first from Cooper & Beatty to feature the mark designed by Carl Dair in 1951. Dair had recently relocated from Montreal to Toronto, where he established Design Workshop Ltd. His new studio began with only two key clients: Cooper & Beatty and The E. B. Eddy Paper Company. To support the growing workload, he hired Karl Rix as an assistant.

Since Dair was still in Montreal in May 1951, it’s reasonable to assume this ad was produced later that year. Cooper & Beatty had yet to introduce phototypesetting, so their advertising remained focused on metal type. In this piece, Dair highlights three essential aspects of that process. First, the guidelines around the word type suggest the early design stage. Below that, an illustration of a piece of metal type and a historical engraving of a type case reinforce the nature of metal type. These references would have been well-known to contemporary art directors and designers – as would the idea that the message is the final goal of an advertisement.

Although Jack Trevett is credited as art director, that title likely reflected his role as company president rather than any direct involvement in the ad’s design. The meticulous arrangement of visual and typographic elements reflects Dair’s distinctive control of space – his skillful execution earned the ad an award at the Third Toronto Art Directors Annual Show in 1952. – Rod McDonald

Artifact Text

Type, the essence of advertising design The final objective of every well-designed advertisement is the message itself. There is no substitute for the skill and knowledge of the typesetter in integrating the type message with the design concept to form an harmonious unit.
Cooper & Beatty, Limited Type Craftsmen at 196 Adelaide Street West, Toronto • Telephone WAverley 2921 (mark)