The summer-porch number of the Ladies' home journal (1908) - poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Issue-as-product mood sell.
Define
The issue is sold as a feeling: a face, a color field, a stance. Not as a table of contents.
Mechanism
Mood as SKU. The reader buys the atmosphere and trusts the articles will match. Zoning and figure do the listing's job.
Verdict
We publish a periodical or drop and the buyer chooses identity before they choose an article.
Why it works
The reader is placed behind and slightly above the driver, so she rides along instead of being looked at, which is what converts a picture of a stranger into a picture of the buyer's own August. The orange wheels are the only saturated colour on a muted sheet, drawing the eye into the carriage first and then out along the water. Note also that the art never shows the porch the issue is named after; the label sells the theme and the picture sells the season, and the two are allowed to differ.
Steal this when
Use this when you are selling a mood or a time of year rather than a feature list. Put the viewer behind the subject, looking at what she is looking at, and let one accent colour carry the whole muted frame.