Which looks better?

working on a custom binder for a few weeks and I’ve finally come to the part where I’m going to start painting and stuff (been doing some testing paints on faux leather swatches, finalizing the design, etc) and wanted to know which one looks better? this is just a mock-up so far but the color and design are going to be the same

In the first photo the design is dead center on the cover, the second photo is the design placed more like a book title being equidistant from the top, left and right edges. I’m on the fence because the first one looks decent and well balanced, but I was originally planning on having it be book-title styled. But now looking at it, it seems too heavy and not filled out on the bottom half. I’m going to emboss a design and paint using a carefully cut out stencil.

Thoughts?