Echo the first sentiment, strongly.
And yeah you are right - these ECM-alike covers [i mean the real ones, not the wonderful pastiches] are poor - they show up the virtues and consistency of ECM even if you *don't* really admire the Nordic Twilight aesthetic ('it's dusk, and here I am, all quiet and alone with just the echoes of distant feelings and fading memories...')
Tough crowd.
The psi in post #2 above comes closest, I think.
This just proves that no matter what you think of the music (or the design, in terms of liking or disliking) of what high quality ECM's cover designs usually are (there are exceptions, I'm sure...)
Only mostly joking. really.
What I find fascinating about the ECM aesthetic is how it has modulated over the decades while still remaining recognizably "ECM." Those 70s overs seem to me to have a bit more warmth to them, even though the photographic content has remained pretty much the same... in the 80's, there's quite a bit of scribbly / hand-drawn stuff, along with covers (FIRST AVENUE) that could almost have been slapped on the long-playing debut of some No Wave... the 90s, very cenotaph-y at times, stark typography and color fields... and the 00s, back to atmospherics, this time more somber.