A big piece of successful podcasting is marketing, and a big part of marketing is branding. Your podcast logo (or show art) is very important to help set you apart. A large percentage of listeners use apps where show art is prominently displayed, both in directories and in playback modes. Apple once was indifferent about show art, but now it’s part of registering your podcast with its directory. So, when getting ready to launch your podcast, you need to have a good look for your production like those featured here.
Show Art is a podcaster’s way to brand a show and gives your episode a slick final touch when played back on various media devices.
Show Art is a podcaster’s way to brand a show and gives your episode a slick final touch when played back on various media devices.Show artwork, commonly seen in many media players, is a nice option for podcasters who want to brand a podcast with a logo. For example, Mur Lafferty’s Parsec-winning I Should Be Writing logo is a classic broadcast microphone with a sticky note slapped on it and a pencil, sharpened and ready for use. Then you have The Onion Radio News’s trademark onion with a globe ghosted behind it, the stamp of quality journalism at its funniest. These icons are associated with their shows, and this kind of branding is becoming more and more common in podcasting.
To get your artwork ready for prime time:
- Design your show art to the following specifications:
- Format: JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png) format
- Color Mode: 8-bit channel, RGB mode
- Resolution: 72 dpi
- Size: 1400 × 1400 pixels (minimum) or 3000 × 3000 pixels (maximum)
- Using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) application, upload your art somewhere on to your web server. If you are using a service like LibSyn, you will use its FTP options the same way you would upload an episode. If you are hosting the podcast on your own, you can use Cyberduck or Fetch to upload it somewhere on your server.
- Pull up the artwork on your browser and then copy its URL. Once you have the URL of the show art copied, have it on a note somewhere on your computer. You will need that URL when registering your show with various directories.
- When using your podcast plug-in with your blog, enter in your artwork’s URL when asked for it.
With the PowerPress podcast plug-in from BluBrry, you simply enter in the URL of your show into the Artwork section. Podcast plug-ins should offer similar options.
If you do a makeover of your show art, you can upload a new image to replace the old one.
- Save your changes in the plug-in.
