Does a podcast need a logo?
TL;DR:
- You don’t need a logo, but you do need cover art
- When you expand to other platforms you’ll also need a consistent design system
- Since podcasting is an audio first platform, also consider sonic branding
You’ve spent time and energy creating the best podcast ever and its time to share it with the world, and then you realize that you don’t have a logo.
Oh no, can you post a podcast without a logo? Do podcasts even have logos? What would I even make my logo.
These thoughts come swirling in your head and then luckily you stumble across this article. We’ve got you covered.
What is a logo?
It’s important to first define and be on the same page of what a logo is before we can discuss whether or not its needed. For the sake of this discussion, a logo is a symbol that you create for the purpose of visually identifying your podcast. This is separate from the podcast cover art - which can include this logo (symbol) if you so choose.
With this definition, no a logo is not required.
What to focus on instead?
Instead of creating a symbol associate with your podcast, focus on creating scroll stopping cover art. There’s two kinds of cover art you need to create.
- Your main podcast cover art - think of this as your album cover. You design this once, but the style you choose here will set the tone for the individual podcast graphics to come.
- Episode specific cover art - podcasts allow you to have unique cover art for each episode, be sure to use this feature to create enticing images that
When we were designing the cover art for the Branding Deep Dive Podcast, we went through apple podcasts and spotify to see which podcast graphics stood out to us and what made us click. We tried to create something that had a pop to it so people would be enticed to click.
A Consistent Visual Design System
As you expand your podcast, you’ll likely share clips and repurpose the content for various channels. Each channel has its own best practices for getting good engagement for your content. Its important that your visual design across all channels stays as consistent as possible. This will help people make a deeper connection with your podcast because when they consume on different platforms they’ll remember they’ve seen you and your design style before. If each platform looks different or you don’t have any distinct visual element to your content then you’re relying strictly on the quality of the content to reach new people.
As an example, the colors and fonts you use for your YouTube thumbnails should be pretty similar to the colors you use for your podcast graphics. If there’s a big discrepancy and the style feels totally different, people may have difficulty connecting your YouTube with your podcast in their minds.
Sonic Branding
Although you may not need a visual logo for your podcast, it can be really helpful to think through an audio logo.
Don’t know what an audio logo is? Any time you click play on a tv-show or movie on netflix, the tu-dum at the beginning is Netflix’s audio logo. Audio logos are everywhere, we usually just don’t pay that much attention to them. If you’re interested in learning about sonic branding and how companies come up with their audio logos, check out the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast. They’ve done a full deep dive on how netflix came up with the iconic Tu-dum sound.
Tv shows, youtube videos, and radio shows, and podcasts all have an intro sequence that they usually play after a cold open. By giving good quality content every time you play that intro you’re classically conditioning your audience to get excited for your content. Over time this will lead to a loyal fanbase that is looking forward to your content. Adding good sonic branding to your podcast, can elevate your podcast to another level.