01
The brief
Accra is Vatar’s next world after Lagos Life, and a partner is putting out a Spotify release for the launch. Its cover is ours to make: one image where Lagos and Accra become one place, with neither city decorating the other.
- Art only
- No text, logo, URL, handle or date. Baked-in map labels and in-game signs count as text.
- 3000 × 3000
- A square in sRGB, uploaded as a high-quality JPG under 10 MB. The PNG stays as the master.
- Reads at 64 px
- One hero idea and a few bold shapes, so it holds in a playlist row and still rewards the full-screen player.
- Lagos × Accra, one coast
- The two cities share one coastline on the Gulf of Guinea, about 450 km apart by the coast road. The tone is friendship.
64 px
Thumbnail test
Every cover at 64 px, the size of a playlist row. If it doesn’t read here, it doesn’t work.
- One shape wins
- The hero idea is the first thing you see, before any detail.
- Few colours
- A controlled colour count keeps the square from turning to mud.
- Stands apart
- It should look like nothing else in the list around it.
Next
What’s next
Then
- Mikky picks
- One cover.
- Finals
- The upload JPG (3000 × 3000, under 10 MB), a 1080 × 1920 story crop and the Spotify Canvas plan: a 3 to 8 second loop at 1080 × 1920, with no text.
- Sign-off
- Mikky approves the final before it goes to the partner.
One honest option: an illustrator could paint over the chosen cover for a hand-painted finish.