Thumbnail design tips

DotDeida

DotDeida

Active Member
Hi there!

Because some of you liked some of my tips from the thread "How much time do you spend on custom thumbnails?" i thought i would put em all together on the same post so more pepole can read and learn from it :)

Ok so here we go!

  • Best size for a thumbnail is 1280 x 720.
  • Keep the thumbnail stylish and unique, but still clean (With other words not over detailed with like fonts and pictures all over the place)
  • If you got some kind of fan art, use it! If you show that you like what people send you its a bigger chance you get more!
  • Give some information about the video! like what game your playing or what book your reading out loud from.
  • Make it so that people that see it directly know what the video is about. For example: If you make cooking videos you should not have your fridge as thumbnail but rather use a plate with the kind of meal your making.
  • This one is one of the most important ones!(I have seen many people forgetting this): The right lower corner is the thumbnails blind spot, because of the videos duration is there.


    I hope you guys have learnt something new and that this can help you improving your thumbnails, because remember. The thumbnail is the first your viewer will see ;)

    I will be filling this list if i come up/remember more stuff. So help you fellow youtubers by commenting on this tread now and then to keep this thread bumped up :)

    Have a pleasant day!
    Deida
 
Another thing, use color theory if you're gonna try to make the thumbnail "pop". Annoying colors can end up driving people away.
 
Rule of thumb (pun unintended) that I use: Make your text nearly touch the opposite sides. That way it is the focal point as that is what will draw most people in
 
Good thread and tips. I agree with everything you said. Thumbnails are something I'm sort of rediscovering myself lately and I've heard quite a few differing points about what makes them the best. In the end your thumbnail is designed to catch the viewers eye and make them say "I wonder what part of the video that's from!" or "Whoa, what's this video about?". It's a lot harder than it sounds!

For gaming channels, I recommend using a screenshot from the episode you are posting. This is very easy, just view your video locally at full screen, and hit the print screen button at a part you like! This makes sure you have an interesting picture for every episode, and it's not the same boring one time after time, with just a new episode number tacked on.

For instance in my Dead Space video thumbnails I have an explosion, a necromorph dismembering a guy while he's screaming at the camera, and a necromorph grabbing onto my face and trying to kill me. These are all exciting moments from the episode and hopefully make people more curious than just seeing a boring old Dead Space background shrunk down to thumbnail size, with some text on it.

I also keep my text very simple. Game title, and episode number in the format of "#1". I make the picture matter, while the text provides all the info they need to know! If it's not a series and the video is a commentary like "Why the MSMC sucks in Black Ops 2" then I wouldn't bother with text other than Black Ops 2. Make the picture itself represent the show, with an MSMC gun and a big red thumbs down or a red crossing out or something. Images are worth a thousand words!
 
Shadeypwns said:
For gaming channels, I recommend using a screenshot from the episode you are posting. This is very easy, just view your video locally at full screen, and hit the print screen button at a part you like! This makes sure you have an interesting picture for every episode, and it's not the same boring one time after time, with just a new episode number tacked on.
Click to expand...
Actually, many programs allow you to save the specific frame you are on, so take advantage of it and that way it will come out even clearer!
 
Shadeypwns said:
Good thread and tips. I agree with everything you said. Thumbnails are something I'm sort of rediscovering myself lately and I've heard quite a few differing points about what makes them the best. In the end your thumbnail is designed to catch the viewers eye and make them say "I wonder what part of the video that's from!" or "Whoa, what's this video about?". It's a lot harder than it sounds!

For gaming channels, I recommend using a screenshot from the episode you are posting. This is very easy, just view your video locally at full screen, and hit the print screen button at a part you like! This makes sure you have an interesting picture for every episode, and it's not the same boring one time after time, with just a new episode number tacked on.

For instance in my Dead Space video thumbnails I have an explosion, a necromorph dismembering a guy while he's screaming at the camera, and a necromorph grabbing onto my face and trying to kill me. These are all exciting moments from the episode and hopefully make people more curious than just seeing a boring old Dead Space background shrunk down to thumbnail size, with some text on it.

I also keep my text very simple. Game title, and episode number in the format of "#1". I make the picture matter, while the text provides all the info they need to know! If it's not a series and the video is a commentary like "Why the MSMC sucks in Black Ops 2" then I wouldn't bother with text other than Black Ops 2. Make the picture itself represent the show, with an MSMC gun and a big red thumbs down or a red crossing out or something. Images are worth a thousand words!
Click to expand...

Ahahaha! now i feel bad for using the "official wallpaper" for my DS3 playtrough, maybe i should look it over and see if i can change it ^^
 
DotDeida said:
Ahahaha! now i feel bad for using the "official wallpaper" for my DS3 playtrough, maybe i should look it over and see if i can change it ^^
Click to expand...
Haha I did the same thing, and just changed it a few days ago! I like the change so far, we'll see how it affects views though. :)
 
I just got the thumbnail option today for Youtube! I was searching around and had read somewhere that the optimal size was 640x404. What would be the difference of 640x404 from 1280x720? I'm just not understanding because I thought it is just a thumbnail, not a full screen picture. Can someone explain it to me, if they understand what I'm trying to say lol. Thanks
 
Pervert Pete said:
I just got the thumbnail option today for Youtube! I was searching around and had read somewhere that the optimal size was 640x404. What would be the difference of 640x404 from 1280x720? I'm just not understanding because I thought it is just a thumbnail, not a full screen picture. Can someone explain it to me, if they understand what I'm trying to say lol. Thanks
Click to expand...
Thumbnails show up anywhere your video is embedded, and YT says the maximum embedding size is 1280x720 so that's the best thumbnail size to make. Assuming your video isn't embedded anywhere at full 720p however, you could get away with using smaller sizes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top