Merz no. 20 (Kurt Schwitters Katalog) - cover
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
Three type sizes only, and each one does a different job - shout, whisper, shout - so the page needs no ornament to build hierarchy. The vertical rule and the rotated caption turn the portrait's edge into a structural element rather than a photo border, which is the constructivist move that keeps a photograph from floating. Letting KATALOG bleed off both sides implies the word is larger than the page, an easy trick for making a small format feel like a poster. The presentation line and the home address are set in the smallest type on the page, which reads as modesty and simultaneously supplies the ordering information.
Steal this when
Use this when a person is the product - a consultancy, a studio, a solo practice - and the piece has to work as both self-introduction and price list. The shout-whisper-shout size ladder is the part to copy on any cover built from type and one photograph.