De Stijl advertisement page: La Vie des Lettres et des Arts
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 lead-in sentence is a conditional promise that makes the title the answer to a question the reader has just been handed, so the enormous title reads as a resolution rather than a shout. Indenting the contributor list on both margins turns a long run of names into a texture block the eye can weigh at a glance without reading - the point is the mass, not the individuals. Setting the Paris address at the largest body size on the page makes the last thing the reader sees the only thing they have to act on, and the specification line before it - page count, trim size, frequency - does the quiet work of making an abstract subscription feel like a physical object.
Steal this when
You are selling access to a body of work whose value is the names inside it. Open with the reader's want, answer it with the title, then let a solid indented block of names carry the proof.