According to American research, the number of iTunes podcast cover art listeners has grown up to 120% over the past four years. As the audience has continued to grow, it’s time to start a podcast for your business or a brand. Now before rushing into listening, podcast cover art is the only tool that can help you to get featured on iTunes.
Here we will have a look that how to create an effective podcast cover art. The first thing before drawing a podcast cover art is to think and being clear about the topic of the podcast. You have to show a visual reflection of the words or the discussion in the cover art. Then considering the tone of the podcast is another important thing.
The second step is to meet the requirements from the directories. The restrictions from iTunes are as follows:
iTunes podcast cover art size or itunes podcast cover art specs
The minimum size of the artwork should be 1400*1400 pixels to a maximum size of 3000*3000 pixels. The format should be JPEG or PNG with the URL ending at .jpg or .png. The resolution of the cover should be 72 dpi. The maximum size of the file should be 512KB. Another constraint apart from the size is that your podcast cover art should be a square frame. Though it doesn’t suit the age where widescreens and screen rotating phones are an option but you have to meet this requirement. Your cover should be in RGB colorspace.
After getting started with your podcast cover art, you are left with two options. Whether to use photograph or illustration in your podcast cover. If you want your podcast to feel real, the photograph should be the first choice. A photo depicts something real. The other choice is making a graphical art design. This method helps you to build the mood of your listener according to your show even before listening. Whatever you are going to use, an image or illustration, the main focus is to grab the attention of listeners.
iTunes podcast cover art requirements
Using logos or icons of headphones or microphones in your cover art helps you in grabbing listeners while posting on other social media accounts. Though it sounds cliché it actually works. Another step is picking the style of your cover art. You can create a style according to your subject using all six basic elements of design. Draw your subject using lines and shapes but these should be in a way that should convey the idea you are going to discuss in your podcast. Add texture to your podcast but too much shading can create a mixed-up mess. So you need to avoid this. You have to limit the frame of your podcast cover as per the restrictions.
You can upload your artwork on iTunes within the RSS feed and may change the iTunes podcast cover art at any time. All you need to do is to upload the image with a different file name. The next step is to change the URL to the new uploaded images’ URL. Displaying the new image on the feed may take few days.
