The Europa Editions Aesthetic

Over at the Book Design Review they're commenting on our aesthetic. Most of the comments (from what we assume to be graphic designers themselves) are not very positive, and here at Europa we're pondering this conundrum: readers (who write to us or whom we meet at fairs etc.) and, above all, booksellers are mostly enthusiastic about the majority of our covers, yet graphic designers are not. Why might this be? 

Regardless of the answer, we suppose we ought to be happy that they're commenting on our look at all: at the very least, this means that we HAVE a look that can be identified and commented on by others. And yes, it's a "branding thing."