Podcast art is a funny business, because it needs to be in square dimensions (so you can forget the rule of thirds) and most viewers are seeing it ~50px x 50px (very tiny!) on their phones. Podcast art needs to be memorable, but also simple enough that the viewer ‘gets it’ rather quickly.
It was so fun collaborating with Michael Sidgmore and Alexis Ohanian on the podcast artwork and branding for their latest project: Community x Capital.
As with every project, it is important to take the time to understand what the artwork needs to convey (audience, goals) to add parameters to the brainstorming process.
During my call with Alexis and Michael, a few things became clear. The artwork needed to...
After years of perfecting my process, it always comes back to keeping concepting loose and analog
A: Mix of ‘money tree’ and ‘the giving tree’; community planting/playing amongst tree
B: Showing personas (culture guy vs. bow-tie finance guy); incorporating venn diagram speech bubble here
C: Chaos and movement; this gets the point across but feels visually busy (and isn’t soothing to look at)
D: Experimentation with venn diagram intersection (this is where the below built out concept comes from)
With the forced square dimensions + small view size, we need to either break up the two words connected by X, or shorten to commXcap — otherwise text will be small and not very legible.
We were most excited about direction D (above), showcasing an abstracted/modernized venn diagram showcasing intersection (collision) of community (red) + capital (blue).
The type choice has the perfect personality for the project: strong, sharp, and well-spoken. The Modernized Mid Century typeface has universal appeal and is a great alternative to overused Swiss-style sans-serif typefaces. Also it was created by an independent typographer ✨
The tinkering here was mostly around ensuring a nice balance between legibility (enough contrast with text and background) and interest. E.g. the first example below is symmetrical and highly legible, but it’s boring. The second example is visually interesting, but might get lost in translation. The third example is juuuust right!
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We wanted the podcast branding (artwork) to feel familiar yet new.
For most projects, it takes a long of brainstorming to land on the perfect concept. For a lucky few such of this project, you see it immediately in your head.
We want the podcast topic to be clear enough from a mile away. We also want it to be aesthetically pleasing and clean enough that the viewer comes closer.
This is a really nice and easy composition. The abstracted dollar bill clearly shows this podcast is about finance. In a millisecond closer look, you notice it's quite funkadelic (does that guy have his cartilage pierced?!), and the coin is in fact a bitcoin — this shows the viewer that its a unique viewpoint within the traditionally stuffy finance world, and clearly a shakeup.
Changes based on review:
After some consideration, the BTC coin drew too much attention. We removed it and landed on a very simple composition, also adding in other alt assets into the bill (sneakers, sports cards).
Even though these might seem very different from the above podcast art (very different personal brands!), the challenge of designing artwork for ~50px x 50px (very tiny!) square dimensions that packs a punch remains consistent.
I remember a marketing professor at UVA McIntire preaching K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). As a student I rolled my eyes at the acronym. But as an adult, I reflect on it often. K.I.S.S. certainly applies to podcast artwork — viewers see it teeny tiny on their phones so the less clutter the better in readability, skimmability, and clarity in the type of content you'll consume by tuning in.
