My goal for the cover was to invoke the feeling of sitting in a classroom. The overhead projector and the grayscale color scheme invokes an old-timey feel (I like the ambiguity of the time period invoked by the overhead projector; they manage to be nostalgic for both my generation and my parent’s generation). The grayscale also feels mysterious, an effect heightened by the light of the projector and shadows in the classroom.

For the rest of the branding, I wanted to heighten that vintage-y feel, but keep it fun and approachable, and also eye-catching enough to work on social media. I created a color palette that contained both muted, moody colors, and some unexpected brightness for contrast.

I created the website to be a natural expansion of the podcast cover. Again, I wanted to invoke that feeling of being in the classroom. I did an illustration for the homepage that incorporated the podcast cover and gave a “different view” of the same, old-fashioned classroom. The vibrant “Listen now” button draws the eye in the otherwise grey classroom.

After the fold, the website feels more colorful and modern, but retains the vintage feel in a more playful way.

For each episode that launched, I created an audiogram of the intro of the episode, using the same cover image and styling but changing the colors used daily to provide variation. I then posted the audiogram to our social media accounts, tagging any people or organizations relevant to the episode.