Podcast Artwork, Episode Artwork, Merch Artwork, Audio Production, Video Editing, Social Media Outreach.

Months after I created podcast artwork for a group, I partnered with them as the audio producer and brand designer to raise a podcast about the world's most popular roleplaying game.

Within a year, DumpStat rocketed to the top of Spotify Podcast's "Dungeons and Dragons" section, comfortably sitting in the top five of all time. DumpStat grew to over 5,000 downloads per week within a year of production (now 15,000/wk in 2 years). We have partnered with successful Kickstarters, charities, and creators to give back to the community that has let us onto the airwaves and in their ears.

We received some positive feedback from listeners in the beginning, and wanted to see if we could take what they liked and push it out to the social media world for more exposure. Audiograms are said to be the most effective way for podcasts to connect with audiences across non-audio mediums like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

I used my After Effects experience to create some of our own audiograms for specific episode releases, and also utilized a third-party application to promote episodes already in our backlog. I currently manage the social media and routinely put out pieces of media to advertise our podcast, and to give better insight into what people will get from our product.

We prefer to steer away from "pretentious," as a sort of pub-like, slap-dashy, "Intoxicated Tolkien" duo discusses relevant topics to the world's most popular tabletop roleplaying game.

We wanted to push the product further, so after getting better equipment, I moved the process into Adobe Audition once I felt my procedure was streamlined. Removals of "Um," filler words, and gaps of silence became the norm for editing, along with paying real attention to the waveforms, and how the audio can meet a professional standard for platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

Eventually we began adding in voiceover dubs, sound effects, and an intermission to give the listener a break when the topic was especially dense to talk through.

I created a distinct wordmark and piece of artwork to function as a skeleton of brand identity, in case the project gained momentum and we wanted to expand. And, gratefully, I've been able to use this structure and rearrange it for social media and apparel opportunities. 

We wanted to steer away from common icons of Dungeons and Dragons fandom, like the 20-sided die, swords, dragons, or copyrighted creatures. The podcast cover and color identity were heavily inspired by the old-school Gary Gygax aesthetic of the game from the 70s.

DumpStat expanded in 2021 to include guest speakers, spinoffs, and actual-plays. Rocketing to the front of most D&D Podcast searches put us in a great position to experiment and do more of what we love.