- Whether you want to grow and promote a business,
or get your voice heard on a topic you're passionate about,
a podcast is a great way to do it.
And there's no limit to how many people you can reach.
But before you get into your listeners' ears,
you'll need to catch their eye with a visual brand
that stands out and sticks in their mind.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, I'm Katy.
I'm a Design Educator with Canva and a podcaster myself.
In this series, we're going to discuss
how to build your podcast brand using Canva.
And by the end of this series, you'll know the importance
of creating eye-catching show art,
how to drum up pre-launch excitement using social media,
and how to create a Brand Kit
for your podcast to reach more listeners.
So, let's get started.
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So, what is podcast cover art?
Simply put, it's the image that'll show up next to your show
in podcasting apps people use,
like Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Besides the actual content in your podcast,
the cover art is one of the most important pieces
of launching a podcast as a brand.
So, why is a visual brand so important to an audio art form?
I hear you ask.
Well, first of all, it's a mandatory requirement
for submitting your show to all major podcasting apps.
Sadly, if you don't have cover art to go with your podcast
the show will be rejected, and you're back to square one.
Second, your show art helps you set the tone
and personality of your podcast.
And this will go a long way
in helping your show stand out from the crowd.
Our friend Arielle is here to tell you more.
- Hey, my name's Arielle Nissenblatt.
And I am a podcast curator and a community manager.
I work with hundreds of podcasters every week,
so I see a lot of cover art.
Did you know that there are already
more than 2 million podcasts out there?
That is a lot of podcasts.
So, if you're just getting started,
your show will not lack competition.
But, if you craft eye-catching podcast cover art
that grabs the attention of your ideal audience,
you'll have a leg up on the competition.
So, where do you start?
First, you're gonna wanna make sure
that your podcast cover art meets the size
and resolution requirements for podcast platforms.
This is super important and often overlooked.
The good news is that Canva outlines
the dimension requirements that you need.
Next, do some research
and see what other podcasts in your genre look like.
Think about what you like out there
and how you can stand out in your own designs.
We're told not to judge books based on their covers,
but people often do judge podcasts on their artwork.
And that's okay.
Cover art is often an indicator
of what people can expect within that podcast.
So make sure that your podcast cover art
matches the tone of your show.
Then, get to designing.
Take your time and try lots of looks
before you land on a design that you love.
Ask your friends and colleagues what they think
of your designs, especially their initial reactions.
Most importantly, ask them what they think
your show is about based on your artwork.
I'll let Katy take it from here.
- Thanks, Arielle.
Okay, step one, the technical stuff.
The very first step in creating your podcasting art
is getting the technical side just right.
Your podcast cover art should be at least 1400 x 1400 pixels
and no bigger than 3000 x 3000 pixels.
Next, you'll need to save it as a JPEG or a PNG file.
It has a resolution of at least 72 dpi.
Not sure what any of that means, it's okay.
In just a minute, I'll walk you through how Canva
can help you easily create a design
that passes the technical test with flying colors.
Okay, let's start thinking about designing.
A huge part of creating podcast cover art
is to resonate with your audience.
And we're gonna do that
in using something called color theory.
Do a little research on what sort of emotions
and feelings different colors bring up in people.
Then think about how you want potential listeners
to feel when they see your cover art.
And then you'll know what colors to use.
Here are some really great examples.
This is a screenshot of the popular true crime shows
from Apple Podcast in June, 2022.
Do you see anything in common?
You're probably noticing, with a few exceptions,
the artwork is mostly dark.
There are a lot of reds and blacks.
And when you consider color theory,
red often represents passion, anger, aggression.
Why do you think those colors were chosen for these topics?
And now, here's a screenshot
of Apple's popular sleep podcast from June, 2022.
What common colors are you seeing here?
Unlike the last list, you're probably noticing
more subdued colors like blue, purple, soft pink.
This is to convey
that the topics are gonna be much more relaxing.
I encourage you to explore the genre
you're creating a podcast for.
And take note of the trends and colors you may be seeing.
How can you convey your message and personality,
and how can you stand out?
Now, it's time to design.
Today we're gonna be creating cover art
for our imaginary podcast Daily Read.
It's a literary podcast for a network called Chatter Media.
So, let's hop into Canva and get started.
No need to remember any of the size
and technical requirements from earlier.
Just simply click on 'Create a design'
and search podcast cover art.
Yeah, it's that easy.
In the editor, you can see
that there are plenty of templates to choose from.
This is great for inspiration, but for Daily Read
we're gonna design from scratch.
From our previous research
we've landed on light orange for the main color,
and white and black as our accent colors.
So let's apply these now.
Now, let's add our text and image elements.
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If you have existing elements
or text created in another platform,
drag and drop them into your Canva editor,
and start incorporating them this way.
Otherwise, you can use the free elements
in Canva's massive element library.
Perfect, I love this.
Make sure to save your design to a folder before downloading
and submitting it to your platform host.
Now, we have podcast art that's easily recognizable,
which is so important when creating a brand for your show.
And once you have podcast cover art
that represents your show's personality, style, and genre,
the rest of the branding will fall into place.
That wraps up this episode on branding your podcast,
but we're just getting started.
Our next episode will be about
setting up your podcast social media accounts,
and why you should do that before launching your podcast.
So make sure to subscribe if you haven't already,
you don't wanna miss out.
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