I took a whole lot of photos in front of a green screen so I could use these for YouTube thumbnails. After I added this screenshot, I zoomed in on the image and rotated it slightly to give the slanted effect.
To do this, I took a screenshot of some code I had in a GitHub repo. So I'm going to grab a chunk of code for the background: This thumbnail is for a video on code snippets. Choose something that is relevant, eye catching, but not too over the top. I like to start with the background since you can add elements from there. This is the best resolution for YouTube's platform and will ensure you do not crop any elements in the thumbnail. Just note the screenshots and screen layout may look a little different.įor YouTube thumbnails, you need a file that is 1280 x 720 pixels. Feel free to use your platform of choice. I use Adobe PhotoShop, so the tutorial and screenshots will be PhotoShop specific. Got some thoughts on your thumbnail now? Sweet! Let's create it.Īlso, these tips are also useful for creating things like the thumbnail on a DEV post, or your social media share card: The simpler your thumbnail, the easier it will be for people to see it and engage with the video.
Things to consider when making your YouTube thumbnail: I'm giving you the tips first, because it's important to understand what you want in an image you go creating the file.
So I thought I'd put together a tutorial on how to create a cool thumbnail, as well as some tips when making one. We recently put out this video and it instantly began performing better than some others: After many YouTube videos on the GitHub channel, we've come to the conclusion that Thumbnails - and good thumbnails - have a huge impact on the performance of a YouTube video.
Tutorials, walk-throughs, event-hype reels, and more. Many of us in DevRel, or who are getting into the developer space are making videos.