Benning Wentworth governor Thanksgiving Proclamation
The pattern
This still is filed under Exhibit in the column.
Define
An image is dropped into the column of type so the reader meets picture and argument in one scan.
Mechanism
In-flow exhibit. The figure is not a separate see fig. 2. It starts the paragraph. Eye and mind start together.
Verdict
Long copy must show as well as tell: a product cutaway, a before/after, a map in the story.
Why it works
This is hierarchy done with nothing but a case and a measure, and it is worth studying because every level is a different rhetorical voice, not just a different size. The authority is established before the message - name, titles, jurisdiction - so the reader knows who is speaking before learning what is asked. The one display line inside the body, I have therefore thought fit, with the Advice of His Majesty's Council, is placed exactly at the pivot from reason to instruction, which lets a reader skimming the posted sheet catch the turn without reading the paragraph. Inside the block, italic and small caps work as a second, faster read: the nouns alone tell you the subject. The closing sequence deliberately reverses the opening, climbing from small type back to display, so the sheet ends louder than it began.
Steal this when
You have to issue a single-sheet notice with real authority behind it and no images available - a policy announcement, a legal notice, a standards declaration. Establish who is speaking at display size before the message, put one display line at the pivot from justification to instruction, and let italic and small caps give skimmers a second, faster read.