Threshold Podcast Cover Art

Scope

☞ Discovery

☞ Illustration

Art Direction & Illustration

Margarita Contreras

Credits

Huge thanks to the Threshold team that brought us on board and with whom we worked closely on this project:

Eva Kalea - Head of Brand & Culture

Caysi Simpson - Marketing & Operations Associate

Year

2022

Threshold is a Peabody Award-winner, season-based podcast and radio show about the evolving relationship between the climate crisis and human livelihood around the world. It is a binge-worthy podcast with a documentary feel to it, telling high-quality stories.

Threshold goes directly to the source to hear all sides of every issue. It takes listeners on journeys, where they can learn without feeling preached to, sympathize with people they didn’t expect to relate to, and discover things they didn’t think were possible.

They are creating an immersive way to connect to what’s happening in the world and touch on very delicate issues while being light-hearted and genuine in an engaging, positive way.

The Discovery Process

Before any sketching was done, we really honed into the podcast's goals & target. Together we uncovered their archetype, their tone of voice and a charming, clever, brilliant, and entertaining personality. We also knew their target listeners were informed and curious people who engage in deep conversations with friends and family and have a strong appreciation of nature and the outdoors.

We laid out a competitive landscape to find every possible way to make Threshold stand out.

We decided we needed to avoid green and yellow tones, favoring bold colors instead.

We also suggested integrating people's voices and stories into the concepts, as we discovered that other podcasts of the same category usually go for environmental and climate-change-related pictures as covers.

Journeys

Angles

Stories

Concepts

Threshold takes the listener directly to where the story is unfolding, so the visual language and the covers’ aesthetic needed to live up to this idea. It needed to be unexpected yet beautiful and inspiring.

1. Journeys

For the first concept, we created a beach landscape to illustrate the stories of the people in the podcast and their relationships with nature.

We used the negative space on the right to portray Amy's profile narrating those stories. Footprints were added to give the idea of a journey and the convergence of people’s paths.

2. Angles

For the second concept, we created a minimalistic 3D composition to represent the complexity of the stories and how everything changes when looked at from a different point of view.

In Angles, the Earth appears as a sphere contained in a glass dome, just like a precious and fragile treasure. On the upper side of the cover, we tried to convey the idea of the moment before an event takes place.

We as humans are represented by the smallest sphere. It is not clear whether it’s about to fall down or roll back, nor are the consequences each possibility implies.

3. Stories

For the third concept, we made sure to put the Threshold logo at the center of attention. We surrounded it with a pattern that represents the storylines followed by the podcast, and how their connection forms a single line.

Before

Fine-Tuning

After

Final Art For The Show

After some fine-tuning, we landed on the cover below. We refined the first concept (Journeys) by incorporating Threshold’s logo and putting the spotlight on it. We worked on a landscape from a different point of view so that it would fit the new layout better.

For the season-based covers, we decided to adapt the landscape to the season it corresponded to.

For the colors, we opted for Threshold’s original brand colors as they stand out compared to those used by podcasts of the same category.

Season 1: Oh,Give Me A Home

The first season explores the story of the American bison, questioning whether it would be wise to reintroduce it to the American landscape and reflecting on the possible consequences.

Season 2: Cold Comfort

For the second season, Amy and her crew went on a circumpolar journey to find out what the Arctic is, how it is changing, and why that matters.

Season 3: The Refuge

Threshold’s Peabody Award-winning third season, “The Refuge,” is a two-year Arctic report that dives into the decades-long debate over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Season 4: Time To 1.5

In season 4, Threshold explores humanity’s mission to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, and what it means to have less than ten years to pull it off.

This season features some beautiful art by Sally Deng!