YouTube thumbnail is a reduced-size version of an image or video. Originally it got the name from being about the size of the nail of a human thumb. These are designed by a graphic designer with the help of software.
Thumbnails are used by various platforms (especially social media) because they’re easier to scan and organize than the original files. By using thumbnails, platforms can make smaller and easily viewable pages and allow users to have control over exactly what they want to see.
What’s in here
- Importance of thumbnail
- YouTube thumbnail size
- Software needed to make a thumbnail
- How to make YouTube thumbnail
- Color selection
- FAQs
Importance of thumbnail
Every day, every minute, every second, your videos are judged by their thumbnails. In fact, video thumbnail plays a very important role in encouraging viewers to hit the PLAY button.
With so many videos on the Internet competing for attention, a video thumbnail can determine whether your video is watched or ignored.
As said for everyone that you should never judge book by its cover.
YouTube thumbnail size
the YouTube thumbnail size should be 1280 X 720 pixels. The minimum width must be 640 pixels. To achieve the best effect with YouTube players, a ratio of 16:9 is desired.
Secondly
the best thumbnail size is a larger image size that can easily scale down. That is better than a small-sized image that will need to be scaled up. A larger image size will be scaled down to be small for searches and will expand when it shows as part of the YouTube suggestions on what to watch next.
Apart from YouTube thumbnail size, there are other technical specifications that should also be considered. First, the image file must not exceed the 2MB limit. Secondly, the file must be in.PNG, BMP, GIF, or. JPG formats.
After getting the best YouTube thumbnail size, you should also consider other factors such as making your video to have the right text.
These are the few steps:
- You need to use text over your images or on the side. Thus, you should find a thumbnail image that will work well with text over it or on its side.
- Having text that is too small for your thumbnail image will reduce the number of clicks. That is because the text will not be viewable when the thumbnail appears in search engine results.
- Too much text on an image is also not good. There is the need for the text that viewers can read in one quick glance.
- What is needed is a concise title and if you see it fit, a concise subtitle.
Software needed to make a thumbnail
YouTube thumbnail makers can help you create astounding thumbnail images that will entice people to click your videos. Since thumbnails are intended to grab viewers’ attention and compel them to click on the video, it can be very helpful to use a tool that will help your thumbnails stand out.
1. Canva
Canva is one of the best online graphic design tools on the market today and allows you to create incredible YouTube thumbnails. This tool is very useful to designers and non-designers alike who want to create professional-looking visuals – like YouTube creators who want to make eye-grabbing thumbnails.
Your thumbnail creation with Canva includes free stock type photos, texts, backgrounds, grids, frames, shapes, lines, and illustrations. Canva is free to use, although it has a few paid elements such as clip art and some stock photos.
2. Fotojet
Fotojet is another great tool you can use to create spectacular YouTube thumbnails. Unlike most online programs that perform graphic design functions in general, Fotojet pays special attention to YouTube thumbnail design. It also provides photo editing, graphics designing, and collage-making resources. Fotojet has over 500 collage making templates, which makes it a useful resource for creating YouTube graphics such as thumbnails.
You can use this tool to add filters, resize, crop, or even rotate your images. It has a simple interface that allows you to create stunning thumbnails without any complications. You don’t even need to sign up to use Fotojet.
3. Snappa
Just like Canva, Snappa is a jack-of-all-trades and allows you to do more than just create YouTube thumbnails. It’s one of the best graphic design tools for non-designers because of its versatility and ease of use. It offers a ton of templates for social media as well as for YouTube thumbnails.
All you need is to sign up for a free account and start using some of the pre-made YouTube templates. You can create shapes, add effects, insert custom texts, customize the background and more to make your thumbnails stand out.
4. Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark promises an easy YouTube thumbnail creation process. This online graphic design tool resembles Canva in many ways and can also be used for multifarious functions. Unlike Canva, Adobe Spark does not charge you to use the pre-made thumbnail layouts.
It has a special category for YouTube thumbnails, and this makes the thumbnail creation process simple and straightforward. Its features are pretty basic and on point. However, that doesn’t make it inferior. It lets you add texts, colour, background components, and many other basic elements you’ll need to make your thumbnails stand out.
How to make YouTube thumbnail?
1). TAKE A PHOTO FROM YOUR VIDEO
What I like to do is a couple of quick poses at the end of each video. This gives me an option of what to choose. You don’t have to do this, but it’s a lot faster and easier than scanning your whole video, hoping to find a good pose. Take a screenshot of the pose (on a Mac, it’s Shift-Command-3, on a PC it’s Ctrl-Print Screen).
2). CROP AND CUT OUT THE PHOTO
Before going to Clipping Magic, I like to crop the photo to remove everything else that was in the screenshot.
You want a quality image so the bigger you upload the photo, the better. Chop it down to just enough of what you need, then upload it to Clipping Magic (or whatever software you’re using).
If you’re using Clipping Magic, you’ll take the green plus sign and highlight what you want to keep in the photo. Then you’ll take the red minus sign and erase everything around it. You’ll get a vector image to save to your computer.
3). UPLOAD THE PHOTO TO Photo editing Software
First, can we talk about how amazing photo editing software is? I use it for literally everything and I definitely plan on upgrading to a paid account at some point.
Among its many features, photo editing software has pre-made settings for different social media platforms. Find the one that says “YouTube Thumbnail” and click it. You’ll then upload your new photo.
4). DESIGN YOUR THUMBNAIL
This is where the fun begins! You can make any kind of background you want here. Photo editing software’s has so many free photos, backgrounds, fonts, colors, anything you can imagine to create an eye-catching thumbnail.
I won’t go into too much detail here because it’s a matter of taste for everyone, but play around with it and I’m sure you’ll become as obsessed with it as I am.
5). DOWNLOAD AND UPLOAD
Once you’re happy with your photo, download it and name it something that will help your YouTube SEO. Make sure it’s relevant to you and your video so people can find it! I talked about this in my last post, but uploading a photo called “Untitled_1” is not helpful to your channel! When you upload your YouTube video, you’ll see a section called “Custom Thumbnail.” Upload it there and you’re good to go!
Color selection
The top ten combinations that are proven to be extremely effective for you the thumbnail
Yellow and Red
This color combination immediately draws your eye to the center of the thumbnail. The red pops up against the bright shade of yellow creating a sense of energy.
Black and Yellow
The bright yellow is full of energy. The black shade brings out the yellow to make your thumbnail pop-up. This is a great combo for music channels.
Blue and Green
This combo provides a feeling of energy. It works well in the fashion and entertainment spaces.
Orange and Purple
Warm orange and bright purple is very effective for fashion beauty and lifestyle channels.
Purple and Yellow
This is a very energetic combo and it can be a great fit to the education or food channels on YouTube.
Pink and Blue
Pink and blue will give you a young and trustworthy environment. The blue will pop up against the light pink creating a beautiful contrast. You should consider this if you have a beauty or vlogging or a makeup channel.
Black and Red
This is a very inviting combo. It dominates and instills a sense of power. The intense red draws the eye to the thumbnail while the black provides a perfect neutral background.
Yellow and Green
Yellow with its high energy is a great contrast to the green. We often use yellow and green in organic field and environmentally conscious related channels.
Black and Orange
Provides optimism with a professional touch. This combination will work well for thumbnails of visual media channels
White and Blue
Best combo communicates feelings of trust and tranquility. Creating a thumbnail with this combination will work best for charity or social responsibility related channels.
FAQs
This whole is collected from internet and various source’s based on that compilation has been done to get a better perspective.
You can contact me @[email protected] if you find something in appropriate in content or want to share some ideas.
Most of the You Tubers use them to attract the audience towards their video and get more view.
YouTube thumbnail is a reduced size version of an image. This thumbnail is the first thing a person will see when they are browsing and trying to decide which content will give them the best solution or answer to whatever it is they’re looking for.
Use close ups on faces, preferably making eye contact with using bright backgrounds.
