Every technology has some limitations. But if it give room to use one's creative energy to create better visual design through use knowledge of typography and assistance of other application then it is all good. Because in the end, the end-user only cares about the experience. And visually that first cover image is aesthetically very pleasing.
Only other feedback I have is:
The titles of each thumbnail could be make a few fonts and with and error at the end of it be the button ( kind of like the "Post comment >" button on this page) . Then the "read more" could be replaced with a time stamp ( i.e. "5 min read") to indicate a functional info) .
Thanks for sharing the design.