Exhibit in the column

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 claims form an acrostic: each begins with СССР, a dash and one oversized bold letter, and those four letters, С, С, С and Р, spell СССР again down the page, so every claim about the new life is literally built from the state's initials. The masthead does a similar double job, setting small Latin letters beside the Cyrillic АСНОВА so one mark reads in two alphabets. On the right, the questions "for whom does ASNOVA work" and "who works with ASNOVA" turn a manifesto into a recruiting filter, listing architects, engineers and builders so the reader can find their own place.

The big idea

ASNOVA presents itself as the hub and loudspeaker for rational architecture in the new USSR, and asks architects, engineers and builders to see themselves in its ranks.

The offer

No product or price. The sheet names who works with ASNOVA, architects, engineers and builders of the new, and gives its Moscow address: Myasnitskaya 21, apt. 35, tel. 4-95-75.

The proof

Editors El Lissitzky and N. A. Ladovsky named at the head, and foreign representatives listed down the margin, among them Adolf Behne, Le Corbusier, Mart Stam and Karel Teige.

Lines from the ad

АСНОВА

СССР - Строитель нового бытия.

Громкоговоритель строющих ее.

Steal this when

When a new association or movement has to announce itself and recruit on one sheet, and its claims should look built from the name of the cause it serves.