Day 25: Podcast Artwork & Branding

Today we discuss how to create your podcast artwork, the most important things to consider, whether your should do it yourself or pay a designer, and what things to think about for podcast branding.

Steps for Skill Mastery:

1. Brainstorm artwork ideas
2. Create your podcast artwork

Step 1: Brainstorm Artwork Ideas

One of the most important aspects about your podcast brand is your cover art. It is what will be the first thing most people see and good cover art will be the factor in whether a large amount of people - I call them window shoppers - listen or keep scrolling. Those window shoppers are likely the people outside of your existing network, so they are the ones you want to convert.

Your podcast artwork, like your podcast name, should be straightforward and communicate to your avatar what they’re going to get when they tune in.

Now let’s start brainstorming some ideas for your podcast artwork and branding. As you begin be sure to consider the following:

• Have large letters that contrast with the background
• Do not have a “busy” background - keep it simple
• Ensure that it stands out and catches peoples eye
• Had bold colors & text is big and easy to read
• For personal branding, you can include a headshot (again, big and contrasting)
• Clearly communicates what your podcast is about

Here is an additional guide from 99designs to help you think about style, color, and typography.

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Activity: Brainstorm Ideas

Reflect on the following prompts and begin brainstorming ideas:

• I want the look and feel of my artwork to be...
• The colors I want to use in my artwork are...
• The icon that I think best represents my topic or niche is...
• Things I defiantly don’t want in my artwork are...
• The fonts I would like to use are...
• Other notes about my artwork and podcast branding...

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Note: while your podcast artwork is very important, it can be changed! So don’t let it hold you back from launching your show.

If you are having trouble coming up with your ideas, go back to your map of podcasts that your ideal avatar likes to listen to and look at some of their favorite podcasts. What sort of artwork do they have? Maybe you can create something similar.

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Step 2:Create Your Podcast Artwork

Now if you are not a designer, I recommend getting someone to create artwork for you so that you can have your podcast looking professional and stand out.

After you have brainstormed your podcast artwork and branding, either spend some time creating one for yourself or give your brainstorming ideas to a designer to create one for you.

Be sure to follow Apple iTunes guidelines for creating your podcast artwork:

• Podcast feeds contain artwork that is a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels, 72 dpi, in JPEG or PNG format with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .png), and in the RGB colorspace. To optimize images for mobile devices, Apple recommends compressing your image files.

Graphic Design Tools to Help You DIY Your Podcast Artwork

If you’re on a tight budget, there are plenty of free and affordable tools out there to help you bootstrap your own design. Some of the most popular include:

• Canva—the free version of Canva comes with hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics, along with more than 250,000 free templates (including podcast cover art templates!) and over 100 design types, and 5GB of cloud storage.
• Adobe Spark—this free tool includes thousands of free images and icons, branded templates, and professional themes.
• Tailor Brands—this platform has AI that creates a custom podcast logo design based on your brand name and industry. You can also customize the design to your personal tastes.

Hire a Pro to Help You

Of course, not everyone has the time or inclination to design their own cover art or podcast graphics. Fortunately, there are always design experts available at all budget ranges to help you out.

• The Podcast Design Company—this service can deliver completed projects in three business days or less, with unlimited revisions to ensure you’re happy with your result. They also offer fixed prices, meaning there are no hidden or unexpected fees involved.
• 99designs—this graphic design service by Vistaprint involves professional designers collaborating on your podcast art project for anywhere from $299-$1499 USD.
• Jenny H. Design—Jenny H. has designed several recognizable podcast covers. Her custom podcast squares start at $250, or $500 for a Podcaster’s Package Deal, which includes a Facebook cover image and Twitter banner.

Activity: Create Your Podcast Cover Art

Either create the artwork yourself or hire a designer to create your artwork for you.

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Once you have done this, you are ready to add them to your podcast episodes when exporting them for publishing.

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Skill Lesson Mastered

Demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson by applying it to the above activity. If, and only if, you have a full understanding and have mastered the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson, select the next lesson in the navigation.