How To Make A Thumbnail For Youtube

You are here to learn how to make a thumbnail for YouTube that is memorable, creative, and eye-catching. And will convince the viewer to make that one, oh so important, click.

You know as well as we do that the competition on YouTube is fierce. Thousands of videos are uploaded to the platform every day.

This means getting recognized and growing a channel isn’t as easy as it used to be. However, there are ways to help you stand out as a professional YouTuber among all the noise.

We’ve also put together a simple tutorial on how to make a thumbnail for YouTube using the free Desygner thumbnail maker however, we suggest that you read about the top tips that successful YouTubers are using in for their thumbnails to get to where they are today.

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How To Make A Thumbnail For YouTube That Works!

Some basic things we will cover will effectively help you avoid mistakes that 90% of YouTubers are making right now.

1. The correct size for the perfect thumbnail
2. Create an image with depth: Background vs Foreground
3. Get your custom thumbnail on your YouTube video

The correct size for the perfect thumbnail

Having the correct size thumbnail will set you up right from the start. Nothing is worse than having your thumbnail awkwardly get cropped and you have to spend more time trying to fix it.

The correct size is 1280 x 720px. The ‘px’ stands for pixels. But you don’t have to worry about that. When you open a thumbnail template on Desygner the size will already be set up perfectly.

Create an image with depth: Background vs Foreground

As you’ll soon see with some of the examples shown below, Creating a point of focus in your thumbnail is essential. Because they are so small, viewers should quickly be able to find one key element within your thumbnail that sells your video.

For example, having yourself in the foreground will allow viewers to know who the video is about, in this case, you. And in the background, you could show what the video is about.

This should be related to the topic of your video but we’ll get into more detail on this in a bit.

• If you are a fitness YouTuber, show the gym in the background.
• If you are a beauty YouTuber, then show your makeup products or makeup table set up.

How to get a custom thumbnail on YouTube

Most of you probably already know how to do this but just in case you don’t, YouTube has made it quite easy to do and only requires a few steps if you’re just starting out.

1. Simply verify your channel in your creator studio – channel settings
2. Become a YouTube partner and monetize your account
3. When you upload a video, scroll down to add your new custom thumbnail

Just remember to always follow YouTube guidelines and community standards when you upload anything to avoid getting your account flagged and risk getting your account blocked.

What Makes A Great YouTube Thumbnail?

Learning how to make a thumbnail for YouTube isn’t just about the actual practice of uploading it. We need to know what the difference is between the poor-performing thumbnails and the thumbnails that convert clicks to views!

Photos With Faces

The first thing we picked up on, is that all these channels use faces that take up at least one-third of the thumbnail. Why is that so prominent?

Well on Instagram, photos with faces received up to 38% more likes on average.

Now we know this isn’t Instagram but the same principle applies. If someone is more willing to like a photo that means they will be more willing to click on your thumbnail resulting in higher traffic to your video.

Large Headings

If you are going to put text in your thumbnail it needs to be 2-4 keywords. They need to be related directly to what the video is about.

Remember the thumbnail only appears about the size of an eraser. So keep the title big and bold and choose a consistent color that can connect the audience to your channel every time they see it.

Consistency

Whether it be through titles or colors or just the overall style of the thumbnail, the most successful channels on YouTube will more often than not have a very similar style across all their thumbnails.

Subconsciously to your audience, every time they see your thumbnails there will be a sense of familiarity.

One channel that adopts this well with simple titles and a powerful image is Matt Komo, a travel filmmaker and photographer.

He consistently uses the same font style and color for each video. This means his audience, knows what to expect every time and will be more likely to subscribe to him.

Capture Your Audience Don’t Trick Them

If you’re familiar with YouTube then you should know about the notorious term ‘click-baiting’. The YouTube community does not like being tricked and they make it pretty clear in the comment section if it happens. I mean really, do you like it happening to you? Treat your audience with the same respect.

So our advice is to try capturing attention the proper way by using the most interesting part of your video to inform the title and thumbnail to hook more viewers into watching your videos.

There is a fine line between clickbait and a convincing thumbnail.

Consistently dragging in viewers video after video can be hard, even for those with loyal fan bases. However, there’s nothing wrong with a catchy title and a convincing image.

As long is it remains relevant to your video it will pay off and keep viewers interested in what you have to share.

Now that you know how to make a thumbnail for YouTube and how to make a great one at that, you should be perfectly ready to jump into Desygner and create your perfect template for all your video’s thumbnails.

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Remember your designs are saved so you can always reuse the same one and just replace the image and text to get a consistent look every time.
Do also check out how to make a cover pic for your YouTube Channel with Desygner.