The Five C's of Thumbnail Design (Tips)

flexotn

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What's up everyone?
I'm still pretty new here, however I have a lot of experience with graphic design and I studied Software Development, meaning that I know how to make an interface look good.

When making a thumbnail, I've put together a list of golden rules.
- Consistency - Make sure each set of thumbnails is similar. For example, have the same style for a series of gameplay, or for every thumbnail for every video.
- Constrast - People are naturally drawn to contrasting colours because it sticks out on the list of results. An example would be orange text on grey/black backgrounds, which is what I use.
- Colour - Use bright colours for your text. This draws people into it by catching their eyes when they scroll down. Good colours to use are orange, green, pink/purple, etc.
- Content - This is where you can get a little bit click-baity. If you have a video about CSGO knives, add a picture of the CSGO knife unboxing, gold "Rare Special Item" logo. Not only is it bright, but it will catch the eye of someone who knows what it means.
- Creation - Make sure your thumbnails are either 720p (1280x720) or 1080p (1920x1080). I recommend 1080p. Having a low quality thumbnail is really off-putting and makes them look ugly. Keep it high resolution and high quality over all.

I hope this helped some of you! :)
 

whats_good

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- Clickbait
- Clickbait
- Clickbait
- Clickbait
- Clickbait

;)

In all seriousness though, good list. Agreed.
 
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Brewin

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I really like this! Great tips, I wish I would have made all of mine 1080p from the start, but it's too late now.
 

Anjim

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Great tips! I am working on my thumbnails as we speak