Vogue, October 1913 - cover
The pattern
This still is filed under Typographic cover frame.
Define
A stable type frame (masthead, rules, folio) that stays put so the image inside can change every issue.
Mechanism
Fixed architecture. Recognition lives in the frame. News lives in the picture. The two jobs stay separate.
Verdict
We publish on a fixed schedule and need instant recognition plus a new image every time.
Why it works
The green border does two jobs at once - it holds every line of type off the picture so the illustration is never crossed, and it repeats the greens inside the image so the frame reads as part of the painting rather than a mount. The foreground figure is turned away from the reader, which makes her a proxy: you are looking over her shoulder at the same goods she is handling. The stole stretched horizontally across the entire picture is the only pattern-heavy element, and because it spans edge to edge it pulls the eye across the whole width and physically links the two figures into one transaction. The cover line is set at the same size as the price, which keeps the border reading as a clean band of information rather than a shout.
Steal this when
You are selling a special or themed issue and want the theme legible in one glance. Show the transaction in progress with the customer's back to the viewer, and carry all the cover lines on a coloured border rather than over the art.