Podcast episode art: 12 numbered cards from one prompt skeleton

To make episode art for a 12-episode podcast season, write one prompt skeleton with a fixed style sentence and change only the quoted episode number and title, then run it twelve times with ideogram/ideogram-v4.5. At $0.06 list per image at medium quality that is $0.72 at list, before Sume's margin, and a card with a wrong title is $0.06 to redo.

Consistent numbered art helps listeners find the episode they want in a feed. It also gives you a ready square for each episode's social post, which pairs with a short motion clip such as the one in the season launch post.

What stays fixed and what changes?

Fix the style sentence, the colours, the layout and the font description, and quote the two things that change: "EP 07" and the title. Keep titles to about five words. Long titles are where text rendering starts to slip, and a podcast app shows the title again beside the art anyway.

What does the loop look like?

One request per episode, each with its own Idempotency-Key. Use a square ratio for a podcast cover size and the same quality for the whole season. If a call passes 30 seconds you get a job envelope and read the images from the job result (Jobs and results).

import os, requests

STYLE = "Flat square podcast episode card, deep teal background, warm yellow sun circle, bold sans-serif lettering."
titles = ["The Pilot Light", "Small Talk, Big Lease", "The Long Way Home"]
for n, t in enumerate(titles, 1):
    r = requests.post(
        "https://api.sume.com/v1/images",
        headers={
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SUME_API_KEY']}",
            "Idempotency-Key": f"season-art-ep{n:02d}",
        },
        json={
            "model": "ideogram/ideogram-v4.5",
            "prompt": f'{STYLE} Top: "EP {n:02d}". Title: "{t}". No other text.',
            "aspect_ratio": "1:1",
            "quality": "medium",
            "mode": "sync",
        },
        timeout=120,
    )
    print(n, r.status_code)

What does a season cost?

Ideogram 4.5 lists $0.03, $0.06 and $0.22 per image by quality, before Sume's margin (Image API docs). Draft at low quality to test layout, then render the keepers at medium or high.

How do I check the set?

Put all twelve in a grid at thumbnail size, the way a feed will show them. Check that the numbers read, the titles are spelled correctly and the set looks like one season. Redo any outlier with the same skeleton and a new key rather than adjusting the style sentence, which would break the match.