Gebrauchsgraphik, vol. 4 no. 1 - cover
The pattern
This still is filed under Lettered cover hook.
Define
The cover is the hook, and the hook is lettering: a title treated as an image.
Mechanism
Type as bait. The words are drawn so they stop the hand before the contents are known.
Verdict
A journal, book, or issue must sell itself on a rack or a feed
Why it works
The masthead is set in two languages one above the other in the same drawn face, so the international claim is made by typographic equivalence rather than by a line of copy. Splitting 1927 into four outlined numerals placed at opposite diagonals turns the date into composition and pulls the eye across the heads instead of letting it stop on them. Using two versions of the same head - one warm and flat, one grey and modelled - shows range in a single image, which is exactly what a magazine about commercial art needs its cover to promise. The whole page is drawn lettering, so the cover advertises the craft it is selling.
Steal this when
Use this when a publication or brand has to be read as international without saying so - stack the same drawn or set title in both languages, equal in treatment. Also steal the trick of breaking a year or number into pieces placed on a diagonal to make a static image move.