De Stijl advertisement page: Verzamelde Volzinnen
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 four bars are structural, not decorative: they establish the rectangle, and because they are broken at the corners the frame reads as four separate marks rather than a box, which keeps the page feeling constructed instead of enclosed. Setting the same line upside down at the foot gives the composition rotational symmetry and forces a double take - the reader has to turn the page or their head, which is a second engagement most ads never earn. The empty band in the middle is doing the hierarchy: two text blocks separated by nothing but space read as headline and detail without a single rule or size change between them.
Steal this when
You are announcing something to an audience that already knows you, so the news is short and the ordering terms are the only body copy. Let one big empty band carry the split and let the frame do the shouting.