cover design – ArmLin House

How to Write a Cover Design Brief for Your Novel

June 25, 2026June 21, 2026

Many authors believe they need to design their own book cover before hiring a cover artist. In reality, that’s one of the fastest ways to create confusion. Professional cover designers don’t need a rough Photoshop mockup or an AI-generated image. They need direction. Your job isn’t to design the cover. Your job is to explain the story, the audience, and the feeling you want readers to experience. Think of yourself as the creative director, not … Read more

Designing Meaning: Creating the Cover for The Epic of Lost Immortality

March 10, 2026

One of my favorite parts of working with authors is translating a story’s deeper meaning into a single image. A good book cover doesn’t just decorate a book—it interprets it. Recently I had the opportunity to design the cover for The Epic of Lost Immortality, a novel by Bernard Langs. This project became a fascinating exercise in assembling fragments of historical imagery and symbolism to reflect the psychological depth of the story. The final design … Read more

When Horror Collage Becomes a Book Cover (and Why It’s Harder Than It Looks)

February 8, 2026

Every once in a while, a piece of art accidentally turns into something else. This cover is a perfect example. This is not a published book. It’s a sample cover, created to show how my horror collage work naturally lends itself to book cover design—especially for dark fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction. Moody lighting, narrative tension, strong focal imagery… all the ingredients are already there. And yes, this cover was created in Canva. Before anyone … Read more