Broadside announcing appointment of Earl of Melville Edinburgh Scotland 1690
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
The display stack is doing route-finding, not decoration: a reader at four feet gets LETTER and SCOTLAND, and only on approach resolves the qualifying small lines. That is deliberate size-inversion, with the connective words set smallest so the nouns read as a headline. Published by Authority in black letter is a trust mark set in a different typeface precisely so it cannot be mistaken for the message. The body copy runs the classic deflection sequence: acknowledge the objection first, justify the absence with competing duties, then substitute a named proxy and close by requiring obedience to him, which converts a royal snub into an act of affection.
Steal this when
Steal the display stack when a single word in your title carries all the recognition and the rest is qualification - set the recognisable nouns huge and the connectives tiny. Steal the body sequence when you must announce that you are not showing up in person and need the deputy to inherit your authority intact.