Every editor has their favorite way to cheaply generate art for stories with no visual component. Arranging little plastic toys in a cute tableaux is among the classier alternatives to stock art—especially when it comes to the exciting world of international finance.
The current cover design theory at Bloomberg offers a particularly refined version of this school of imagery, unusually comfortable with the absurdity of trying to make this kind of journalism visually engaging.
Pictured above is a photo by Getty Images' Sean Gallup, an emerging master of the genre whose arrangements wed the same ironic self-awareness with genuine storytelling skill.
Hey, it beats the alternative: photos of coins.