Remake guide
Cover art that survives the podcast app grid
Slide across to see the remake against the original.
Podcast covers do their real work at postage-stamp size, in a grid, against a hundred competitors. The rules of that arena are brutal: one strong visual, high contrast, a title readable when it's smaller than your thumbnail — literally. A plain photo of the host, dropped into a square, fails every rule at once.
Photomaker remakes the host portrait into cover art. Stylizing pushes the photo toward graphic boldness — posterized color, strong shapes, illustration-grade contrast — so the face reads at grid size. Background swaps establish the show's palette. The square crop gets composed deliberately, with the face weighted to leave space for the show name where it won't fight the art.
Interview shows remake the host; narrative shows might stylize a scene or object instead. Either way the test never changes: shrink the finished cover to the size it will actually live at, hold it beside the charts in your category, and be findable. Rerun until you win the squint test.
What usually gets in the way
- Covers get judged at thumbnail size in a crowded category grid.
- A plain photo plus a title font reads as amateur next to designed covers.
- Custom podcast art costs designer money before episode one earns anything.
- Title text becomes unreadable exactly where listeners decide.
The remake, step by step
Stylize the portrait into graphic art
Bold, posterized treatment is what keeps a face legible when the cover shrinks to grid size.
AI Style TransferSet the show's color world behind it
A committed palette makes the cover recognizable and separates it from photo-on-white neighbors.
AI Background ChangerCompose the square with title space
Weighting the face off-center reserves clean area for the show name at readable scale.
AI Photo ReframeAdd the show name
Big, high-contrast type integrated with the art completes the cover in one place.
AI Photo EditorGood to know
What are the technical specs for podcast cover art?
Directories generally want a square between 1400 and 3000 pixels, RGB, under common file-size limits. Compose at 3000×3000 and every platform is covered.
Face or abstract art — which performs better?
Faces stop the scroll and suit host-driven shows; strong graphic objects suit narrative and topic shows. Whichever you pick, contrast and simplicity at small size decide the outcome.
How much text belongs on the cover?
Show name only, as large as the composition allows. Taglines and episode info vanish at grid size and just add visual noise where clarity pays.
Can I refresh the art for a new season?
Rerun the same portrait with a shifted palette or treatment and the season refresh stays recognizably yours — continuity plus novelty, a few credits total.
More remakes to try