The Recipe Podcast Artwork

The tile is the show's spokesperson in the podcast feed and beyond, so it had to be ownable, singular, and legible at any size. The title and both hosts' names sit directly on the artwork, with the names given the same typographic weight as "The Recipe," so the show is identified even when the tile shrinks to a thumbnail. The hosts wanted clean, uncluttered art, so I kept the composition simple enough to hold up blown up on a screen or reduced in a list of search results.

The tile at full size down to the smallest thumbnail. The title, both names, and the apron stay legible at every application.

The hosts are known as recipe writers so for inspiration, I started with with two icons of American home cooking: Better Homes and Gardens and The Joy of Cooking. This inspiration lives in the typography with a font called Mixta, a thick slab serif font with distinctive sharp edges that feels like a modern play on the cookbook titles the authors love. Bold primary yellow, red, and blue play further at the old-school feel with a modern twist, a color palette distinct in the world of food and cooking podcasts. An apron features prominently, signalling home cooking not fine dining.

The art had to work as a full-screen player image, a wide Apple Podcasts hero, and everything between. The hosts started out not wanting their faces on the cover, so the type and apron carry the identity. Their faces appear in the wider hero, where the show page has room for personality.