Episode art

One template. Two moving parts.

The Acquired model, with the number as the hero: everything on the cover is fixed except the episode number and the season color — and the color is the ground, not a decoration. Ten episodes, ten full-color tiles down a warm ladder — ember to cream.

5ABCDE
  1. A

    The number — the hero. Oversized Fraunces, reversed with the cover cut — cream on the deep rungs, ink on the pale. The number replaces the ritual of ritualish: read it with the blob and the cover says the episode. The rule: ground relative luminance below 0.36 takes the cream cut (rungs 01–06); 0.36 and up takes ink (rungs 07–10). Varies — 1 to 10

  2. B

    The ish blob — the podcast’s own icon term (the locked tag-alone ish mark), sized as the number’s companion so the pair reads as one word: “N ish”. Same reversed cut, so the blob always reads and “ish” always reads inside it. The constant device on every cover. Never varies

  3. C

    The melt — ONE molten form bleeding from the bottom edge, same hand-drawn path on every cover — now a tonal ground event: a shade of the episode’s own ground, lighter on the deep rungs, darker on the pale. Subtle, confident — never a second color. Shade follows the ground

  4. D

    The ground — the episode’s ladder color IS the ground, full bleed. Season one runs ember to cream across the ten; line them up and the arc reads on its own. Ground varies — season ladder

  5. E

    Grid + margins — 3000×3000 canvas, 200px margins (16:9: 3200×1800, 160px). The episode’s ladder color IS the ground — full bleed. Ground varies — season ladder

Season one ladder

Ember to cream, in ten steps.

Each episode takes the next step. The season opens hot and cools as it goes — line the covers up and the arc reads on its own.

Proposal — ladder pending ruling

The first ten

All ten, side by side.

The grid is the point — ten full-color grounds in ladder order, the ember→cream gradient as one image. This block doubles as the season-one announcement — the set reads 1 ish, 2 ish … 10 ish.

  • 1
    01 · Ember #832D12
  • 2
    02 · Char #9A3F1B
  • 3
    03 · Rust #AE5126
  • 4
    04 · Clay #BE6433
  • 5
    05 · Terracotta #C97841
  • 6
    06 · Ochre #D08D53
  • 7
    07 · Amber #D8A268
  • 8
    08 · Butter #E0B781
  • 9
    09 · Sand #E7CA9B
  • 10
    10 · Cream #ECD9B4

Widescreen

The same template at 16:9.

For YouTube, links, and video frames — same slots, same melt, wider canvas (3200×1800).

Legibility law

Every cover must read at 160 pixels.

Podcast apps render covers around this size, often on dark chrome. The number leads and the ish blob rides beside it — the pair is what survives, and “ish” still reads inside the blob.

Be first

Hear it when it's ready.

One email when the first episode drops. That's it.

Wiring pending — list to be created