Changing my thumbnail design, feedback?

[Veecharlie]

Hey guys,
wow I'm posting like crazy these days.

Ok so, another thing I'm changing: thumbnails. I want to make them more eye-catchy.
HOWEVER..... I hate the "regular" pewdiepie "standard" thumbnail that everybody is copying. (Sorry Pewdiepie, I don't mean it personal.)

I'd like to come up with something clean, modern and serious.
I have been doing these updates to some of my thumbnails and I would like to know some feedback on what could be better (?

Here is the old thumbnail:


Here are two prototypes (I don't like that blue horrendous text, however I have to admit it's catchy... but not professional/serious enough on what I want to talk)



Thanks a lot!!

 

[Stike96]

Hey guys,
wow I'm posting like crazy these days.

Ok so, another thing I'm changing: thumbnails. I want to make them more eye-catchy.
HOWEVER..... I hate the "regular" pewdiepie "standard" thumbnail that everybody is copying. (Sorry Pewdiepie, I don't mean it personal.)

I'd like to come up with something clean, modern and serious.
I have been doing these updates to some of my thumbnails and I would like to know some feedback on what could be better (?

Here is the old thumbnail:
View attachment 41817

Here are two prototypes (I don't like that blue horrendous text, however I have to admit it's catchy... but not professional/serious enough on what I want to talk)

View attachment 41815 View attachment 41816

Thanks a lot!!

I think the prototypes are a lot better than the old thumbnail. I'm not really sure which I'd pick though, for me the first one shows the drumkit which is important I feel but the text doesn't really stand out, and it's hard to read the tips writing when the thumbnail is small. As for the second one, the text stands out a lot better but it's hard to see the drumkit. I think it would be best to maybe find a middle-ground between the two where the text stands out, but so you can still also see the drumkit.

 

[BrettMikaluk]

Professional graphic designer here!

If you're gonna put text in your thumbnail, then you need to understand the fundamentals of typography, namely which colours don't clash, how to position your text so that it's readable, and what the ratio of image-to-text should be.

So I'm not saying my thumbnails are perfect, but here's an example of very legible text and image together.

Even at these small scales it's easy to read and understand what's happening.

On the opposite side of things, you may want to consider not having any text in the thumbnail, and just having a very stunning visual, paired with a great title, much like Peter Mckinnon does.

exmaples:

Video Title: The reason I've been missing

Video Title: What's in my CAMERA BAG?! 2018

Now if you don't have great pictures like this, a quick Google search for non-copyright images is always a great choice!

here's a google search for 'band' making sure that it's copyright free:

OR

Imagine either of those used as a thumbnail with the title: TIPS for your first gig!

Just some thoughts!

 

[Veecharlie]

thanks guys this was useful! I'll upload a couple more thumbnails with your feedback and see the improvement