Ah, Justice’s Journal. The book cover that asks the eternal question: What if Nancy Drew fell into a Photoshop time machine and crash-landed in a low-budget Lifetime crime drama? Let’s break this down: The Film Strip Border: Nothing screams “professional thriller”...
Ah, Temple Knight — or as I like to call it: “What if Medieval Times had a sunset cruise line?” This cover is a fever dream of every fantasy cliché rolled into one Photoshop disaster. Let’s break it down: The Knight: Our heroine is wearing armor so shiny it looks like...
Oh, August of 68’ — a title that promises drama, nostalgia, and maybe even a hint of historical gravitas… and then immediately sucker-punches you with a design choice that screams, “I made this in Microsoft Paint at 3 a.m.” Let’s start with the apostrophe in 68’....
Ah, Tattoo — a title that promises ink, artistry, rebellion, and skin-deep storytelling. But what we get here is the design equivalent of asking for a full back piece from a master tattoo artist and instead getting a “Live, Laugh, Love” decal from HomeGoods. The cover...
Ah yes, behold A More Ancient Evil, a book cover that manages to look like it’s been through at least three layers of Photoshop and one hasty cell phone snapshot before it got uploaded. And the pièce de résistance? The top two-thirds of the image forms a suspicious...
There are bad covers. There are weird covers. And then there is this. Opening this visual potion feels like falling face-first into an overgrown terrarium after downing three shots of rose quartz–infused moon water. Our central figure, a pastel elf straight out of an...
The Sage Forgot Graphic Design Somewhere in a dimly lit office, Robert B. Haynes sat before a computer, gazed at the horizon of possibility, and said: "What if I just… slap white Times New Roman on a sunset?" And thus, the cover of Sound Thinking: Thoughts From a Sage...
Welcome, dear readers, to tonight’s feature in Horrible Covers After Dark — a sultry stroll through the land of high drama, questionable font choices, and the kind of graphic design that makes you wonder if the designer was paid in Hot Topic store credit. “Veil of the...
Oh, Dragon’s Lore. A title that promises adventure, magic, and fire-breathing spectacle — and yet, delivers a cover that feels more like the end boss was “MS Paint circa 2002.” Let’s start with the sword, which appears to have been plucked from a free Photoshop brush...
Proof that mountains can be majestic… and still photobombed by bad typography. Ladies and gentlemen, gather ‘round for today’s installment of “Why Did This Happen to Design?” — a little number I like to call Above It All. Here’s the setup: you’ve got a sweeping,...