7 Ways to make Best Thumbnails

1. Bright, bright, bright

This should be one of the most obvious things, but in general a brighter thumbnail is a better thumbnail. Utilise bright prime colours & ensure faces and subjects are bright and not under exposed.

2. Roughly 60-70% of mobile users use YouTube on dark mode

To follow on from the first point, Thumbnails look very different against a black background. Light images pop out, while dark images can get lost in the crowd💡

3. The “3 element rule”

I often find the best thumbnails on YouTube have 3 or less major elements (e.g text, face, subject) - minimal thumbnails that are easy to see in a glance are always preferable

4. Keep it to 1 or 2 faces per thumbnail

Of course there are exceptions to this, but I’ve done enough testing to realise that crowding a thumbnail with too many faces is a bad idea in 90% of scenarios

5. “Rule of odds” 

When you’re including a group of subjects in your thumbnail, an odd number is more visually interesting

6. Be wary of “busy” backgrounds

Always analyse what is in the background of your image. Try to keep them simple, so that the viewer can easily see and read (if text) the main elements

7. Tease a story/action moment

Your thumbnail should compliment your title and really tease your story. Sometimes this is an image captured JUST before action unfolds.