How To Create Great Podcast Cover Art
At PodServe.fm we can auto generate custom cover art for you, but I would recommend eventually creating a more unique one yourself.
Podcast Cover Art Or Logo
Podcast cover art is a very important part of your podcast. It is an afterthought for a lot of people because they are focused on recording and creating great content. It shouldn't be though because your podcast cover art is your first impression. When someone is browsing for podcasts on a podcast app you want to have an intriguing enough cover art that they'll want to click or tap and start listening.
The Basics
Podcast Cover Art Size
First and foremost your podcast cover art will need to be square, so the length and width will need to be the same amount of pixels. Secondly it needs to be between 1400px x 1400px and 3000px x 3000px. This is the standard that is expected for all podcast listening platforms. If you don't have large square podcast cover art you risk it being squished in apps, or the quality not being good because it is getting stretched.
Podcast Cover Art Format
For acceptance on Apple Podcasts the largest podcast directory your podcast art needs to be 72dpi, in the RGB colorspace ( Not CMYK ), and either a .jpg or .png. If you don't follow these rules you risk your podcast not being approved on the different podcast listening platforms.
Apple Podcasts Cover Art Requirements
What Makes Good Podcast Cover Art?
Now we got the basic details out of the way, what makes podcast cover art good? Podcast cover art needs to grab the attention of a random app scroller, and quickly convey what your podcast is about. Your cover art is an ad for your podcast and follows a lot of the same rules as an ad would.
Keep It Simple
Most podcast listening will occur on a smartphone. This means although your podcast image is a large 3000x3000 it will not look nearly that large on a podcast app. Make sure that your cover art is not too intricate where people have to squint on their phones to make out what is going on. If you are designing it yourself shrink it down to 170px x 170px multiple times throughout to make sure it looks good at that size.
Use All The Space
You want to make sure to use all the space of your cover art. Fill it from side to side and top to bottom. You don't want, say a circle, cover art taking up 50% of the square and the rest being a white background. Take that circle and make sure the top of it is touching the top of the square and the bottom is touching the bottom of the square. You only have a small amount of screen real estate on the phone make sure you utilize all of it.
Catch The Eyes
You only have a few seconds before someone either clicks or scrolls past your cover art. You need to make sure it stands out and makes them want to click. Utilize bold bright colors that will catch the eye of someone scrolling through. Avoid using microphones and speakers in your cover art, it is common to want to use that for a podcast so a lot of people do. You don't want to blend in with all the other cover arts with microphones and/or speakers on them.
Humans like to look at other humans, so it can be a good idea to put a picture of yourself large on your cover art. Now that is not for everyone or every podcast but humans will instinctively want to look at other humans. So as the proverbial podcast app scroller goes through they will linger longer on the pictures of humans over just text cover arts.
Hire Someone To Generate Cover Art For You
If you are not artistically talented I would recommend spending a couple bucks and having someone generate artwork for you. There are a lot of gig marketplaces out there where you can get someone to make you quality cover art for cheap.
Fiverr - Affiliate Link
Fiverr is a fantastic place to get good podcast cover art created for cheap. The premise of Fiverr originally was every gig was $5. It has expanded now to have more high quality options though for a few dollars more. You can easily get a great looking cover art made for under $20 from Fiverr.
If you are looking for a more expensive, high quality, and custom cover art take a look at 99designs. You will most likely be spending at least $200 if you choose them, but you do get what you pay for.
Don't Let Cover Art Stop You From Starting
Starting a podcast can be a complicated process and require a lot of steps. If you have your podcast recorded and ready to go I wouldn't let cover art hold you up. You can let PodServe.fm generate cover art for you during podcast creation and come back later and replace it. You aren't locked into one cover art for forever so get started now and when you got that perfect cover art later go ahead and change it.
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