A cover has two seconds and often only the size of a stamp. This guide shows what matters so it works as a thumbnail too.
Legibility first
The title must be readable at 120 pixels wide: generous type, high contrast, few words. A bold, clear wordmark always beats a delicate one.
Title readable at thumbnail size
One clear focal point instead of three
Serve genre codes deliberately
Contrast that holds even on light
Colour and genre lead the eye
Every genre has its visual language: thrillers are dark and high-contrast, how-to books clear and calm, romance warm and soft. These codes aren’t rules but reader expectations — knowing them lets you serve them deliberately or break them on purpose.
Chaptrix leans on the craft database here: it shows which colours, motifs and type styles are working right now for the top titles in your niche. So you make design decisions with evidence instead of gut feeling.
From draft to print
In the cover studio you work with pixel parity: what you see is printed byte-for-byte. Patterns, curves and freehand masks, PSD export and a correctly placed EAN-13 area are all included.
A cover you have to enlarge to understand has already lost.
A closing rule of thumb: test your cover at thumbnail size right next to real competing titles. If it stands out and stays legible there, it will work on the shelf too.