Podcast Graphic Elements

Once we’ve settled on a title and basic structure for the podcast series, we’ll need to design, at minimum, a square cover image (1400 x 1400 pixels) in order for iTunes to syndicate the podcast.

Media Nouveau

We settled on the title Media Nouveau for our podcast series and decided that each episode would pose a question near the beginning about the publication under discussion, and offer some sort of answer to that question by the end of the episode. Your goal is to design a square graphic image that conveys the tenor and spirit of the series in a striking manner. Take this as simply a creative challenge.

Here’s some inspiration for you: a the podcast gallery has a big list of podcasts and you can scroll through the cover images to see other designs. And here are the 2 covers for the podcast series from my classes on video games: (Gamecast and Doing Video Game With …) and the cover for the podcast series for New Media Writing last spring is the feature image for this post, in case they help to spark something.

Details

Use whatever technology you choose, including crayons and paper if that is what works for you. If you have used Photoshop or InDesign, those are great tools for something like this. But you might also check out services like Canva, which is a free, web-based tool for designing simple graphics and documents — they have a template for designing an album cover that should be helpful for square graphics.

If you are using digital methods, export a good quality .jpg or .png file. If you use analog methods for designing a cover, then make a color scan of your image (don’t just snap a photo with your cell phone).

If you use images created by someone else in your design, make sure they are CC-licensed and allow modifications (in other words, the creator did not choose the NoDerivatives license).