diff --git a/src/App.css b/src/App.css
index 7dade3c1..0c1cc20f 100644
--- a/src/App.css
+++ b/src/App.css
@@ -5920,11 +5920,40 @@ body.has-player .chat-fab {
   );
 }
 
+/* The scrim is tuned for white ink at rest; the hover colour is whatever the
+   theme's accent is, which over a busy or bright thumbnail can sink into it.
+   So a pointed-at title picks up a backing of its own — a dark glass plate by
+   default, reskinned per theme through the --journal-title-hover-* props. The
+   padding is always there and cancelled by an equal negative margin, so the
+   plate grows around the text instead of shifting it; `align-self` keeps it
+   hugging the headline rather than spanning the whole card. */
 .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-pad-y: 0.12em;
+  --journal-title-hover-pad-x: 0.35em;
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: rgb(0 0 0 / 0.66);
+  --journal-title-hover-color: var(--color-accent);
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: var(--radius-sm);
+  --journal-title-hover-shadow: none;
+  --journal-title-hover-filter: none;
+  --journal-title-hover-text-shadow: none;
+  align-self: flex-start;
+  max-width: calc(100% + 2 * var(--journal-title-hover-pad-x));
+  padding: var(--journal-title-hover-pad-y) var(--journal-title-hover-pad-x);
+  margin: calc(-1 * var(--journal-title-hover-pad-y))
+    calc(-1 * var(--journal-title-hover-pad-x));
+  border-radius: var(--journal-title-hover-radius);
   color: #fff;
+  transition:
+    color var(--dur-base),
+    background-color var(--dur-base),
+    box-shadow var(--dur-base);
 }
 .journal-card--image .journal-card-title:hover {
-  color: var(--color-accent);
+  color: var(--journal-title-hover-color);
+  background-color: var(--journal-title-hover-bg);
+  box-shadow: var(--journal-title-hover-shadow);
+  backdrop-filter: var(--journal-title-hover-filter);
+  text-shadow: var(--journal-title-hover-text-shadow);
 }
 .journal-card--image .journal-card-meta {
   color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.78);
diff --git a/src/themes/brutalist.css b/src/themes/brutalist.css
index 89bb8b14..fb798b2d 100644
--- a/src/themes/brutalist.css
+++ b/src/themes/brutalist.css
@@ -190,6 +190,16 @@
   --journal-break-rule: 2px solid var(--color-border);
 }
 
+/* A pointed-at headline over a photo becomes a label slapped on it: a solid
+   accent block, hard offset shadow, no glass — the same stamp every button
+   here is made of. */
+[data-style="brutalist"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: var(--color-accent);
+  --journal-title-hover-color: var(--color-on-accent);
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: 0;
+  --journal-title-hover-shadow: 3px 3px 0 var(--color-text);
+}
+
 /* ── Dump post detail header ─────────────────────────────────────── */
 [data-style="brutalist"] .dump-post-header {
   border: 2px solid var(--color-border);
diff --git a/src/themes/geocities.css b/src/themes/geocities.css
index 9184487a..602a00c4 100644
--- a/src/themes/geocities.css
+++ b/src/themes/geocities.css
@@ -268,6 +268,16 @@
   box-shadow: 0 0 16px color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-accent) 75%, transparent);
 }
 
+/* A pointed-at headline over a photo lights up like a marquee: neon yellow
+   on a black plate, ringed and glowing in the accent. */
+[data-style="geocities"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: rgb(0 0 0 / 0.82);
+  --journal-title-hover-color: #ffff00;
+  --journal-title-hover-shadow: 0 0 0 2px var(--color-accent),
+    0 0 10px var(--color-accent);
+  --journal-title-hover-text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgb(255 255 0 / 0.6);
+}
+
 /* The divider GIF, minus the GIF: the rainbow the header ends on, run again
    between sub-blocks with a sparkle sitting in the middle of it. */
 [data-style="geocities"] .journal-break {
diff --git a/src/themes/kanagawa.css b/src/themes/kanagawa.css
index 4d2bf980..c6411d55 100644
--- a/src/themes/kanagawa.css
+++ b/src/themes/kanagawa.css
@@ -161,8 +161,14 @@
 }
 
 /* ── On the scrim, links hover in the dark scheme's blue ─────────── */
-[data-style="kanagawa"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title:hover {
-  color: var(--kngw-accent-on-photo);
+/* …on a plate of sumiInk, the Wave page itself, in either scheme: the blue
+   is the dark scheme's, so its ground has to be too. Square-ish, like the
+   selection block an editor draws behind a match. */
+[data-style="kanagawa"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-color: var(--kngw-accent-on-photo);
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: rgb(31 31 40 / 0.86);
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: var(--radius-xs);
+  --journal-title-hover-shadow: inset 2px 0 0 var(--kngw-accent-on-photo);
 }
 
 [data-style="kanagawa"]
diff --git a/src/themes/melange.css b/src/themes/melange.css
index 3438df02..62e3df15 100644
--- a/src/themes/melange.css
+++ b/src/themes/melange.css
@@ -314,6 +314,16 @@
   color: var(--mel-dust);
 }
 
+/* A pointed-at headline over a photo sits on a pillow of roasted coffee —
+   the dark scheme's ground in either scheme, since the scrim under it is
+   dark in both — lit in the dark scheme's amber, in warm shadow. */
+[data-style="melange"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: rgb(41 37 34 / 0.84);
+  --journal-title-hover-color: #ebc06d;
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: var(--radius-sm);
+  --journal-title-hover-shadow: 0 4px 14px -4px rgb(0 0 0 / 0.5);
+}
+
 /* ── A quote is a printed pull-quote: big soft mark, terracotta ──── */
 [data-style="melange"] .journal-card--quote {
   background: var(--color-surface);
diff --git a/src/themes/nyt.css b/src/themes/nyt.css
index 8b7e2743..eadff0e3 100644
--- a/src/themes/nyt.css
+++ b/src/themes/nyt.css
@@ -131,8 +131,18 @@
 }
 /* …except over a photo, where the headline is white on a dark scrim: ink
    there goes black-on-black in the light scheme. */
+[data-style="nyt"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-color: #fff;
+  /* A caption box set in solid ink — square, flat, no glass. */
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: rgb(0 0 0 / 0.8);
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: 0;
+}
 [data-style="nyt"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title:hover {
-  color: #fff;
+  color: var(--journal-title-hover-color);
+}
+/* The accent is ink, so over the photo the unread dot goes white with it. */
+[data-style="nyt"] .journal-card--image .unread-dot {
+  background: #fff;
 }
 /* Over a playable thumb the card's "open" cue stands down (see App.css). */
 [data-style="nyt"]
diff --git a/src/themes/smooth.css b/src/themes/smooth.css
index 0e480744..af653ba2 100644
--- a/src/themes/smooth.css
+++ b/src/themes/smooth.css
@@ -99,3 +99,17 @@
   --btn-primary-shadow: var(--shadow-1);
   --btn-primary-shadow-hover: var(--shadow-1);
 }
+
+/* A pointed-at journal headline sits on frosted page colour rather than on
+   black glass: terracotta on cream and jasmine on Prussian Blue are the
+   pairs this palette was picked for, where the accent on a black plate
+   would lose the light scheme's terracotta. */
+:root:not([data-style]) .journal-card--image .journal-card-title,
+[data-style="smooth"] .journal-card--image .journal-card-title {
+  --journal-title-hover-bg: light-dark(
+    rgb(255 253 248 / 0.9),
+    rgb(1 21 42 / 0.78)
+  );
+  --journal-title-hover-radius: var(--radius-md);
+  --journal-title-hover-filter: blur(6px);
+}