Some book covers promise adventure. Some promise drama. Civil@Work promises… a PowerPoint presentation you’re forced to sit through at 8 a.m. in a hotel conference center with stale muffins and lukewarm coffee.
From the moment you see it, you know you’re in for Corporate Template Chaos™. The bold blue swoosh background? Straight from Microsoft Publisher circa 2005. The white sans-serif text shouting CIVIL @ WORK feels less like a book title and more like the subject line of a passive-aggressive HR email. And that @ symbol? Tacked on like a desperate attempt to make things look “modern” and “with it,” but instead it just screams Boomer discovered email last week.
Then there’s the author photo. Full body, cut out, plunked on top of the background with all the finesse of a WordArt insert. Our author is styled like she’s ready to lead a seminar called “Effective Team-Building Exercises Using Trust Falls.” She doesn’t look like she’s walking into the business section of Barnes & Noble — she looks like she’s on page 4 of an HR pamphlet titled Working Together Is Success.
And let’s not forget the subtitle: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Soft Skills for Business Success. Helpful, sure, but paired with this cover design, it reads like filler text ripped directly from a Chamber of Commerce handout. Add the mismatched hierarchy of text blocks fighting for dominance, and you’ve got a layout that’s more confusing than a corporate org chart.
Verdict: This isn’t a book cover. This is a training manual disguised as literature, a glorified brochure for “mandatory workplace civility training.” The only soft skill it teaches is how to endure bad design without crying.