Knowing how to make the best YouTube thumbnails will help you go a long way to making it big on YouTube. After all, the thumbnail is the reason someone will click on your video in the first place.

So, how exactly do you make a great thumbnail? It’s not quite as easy as just taking a popular YouTuber’s thumbnail and slapping your face on it. However, we’ve broken down the five steps to making a good thumbnail, all to help get your videos watched by millions. You can watch the in-depth tutorial above or keep reading here for the boiled-down text version.

Step One: The Idea

Before you can do anything, you need to come up with The Idea for your thumbnail. In other words, what’s actually going to be in your thumbnail?

On an extremely basic level, the best YouTube thumbnails summarise what’s going to be in your video in a single image, just like a film poster would.

So, if you’re making a video about playing Minecraft, you would maybe have a photo of yourself in the thumbnail and something Minecraft-related next to you.

But let’s be honest, is anyone going to watch a random person playing Minecraft on YouTube? There are already millions of people doing that. So, how do you stand out? Here are a few things to think about.

First, think about the story you are telling in your video and how to put that in your thumbnail. What makes that story interesting? Ideally, you’ve thought about this when coming up with why you’re making your video, and now you’re implementing that in your thumbnail.

For instance, if you’re playing Minecraft, what’s the interesting thing that happens in your video? Let’s say you’re trying to survive for 100 days in hardcore mode? And do you then add the word “survival” to your thumbnail? Already, you’ve got something extra going on.

When it comes to your story, you need to think about something we here at Storezar call the curiosity factor. What is it about the story you’re telling that will make someone curious? To stop scrolling on YouTube and actually click on your video?

Of course, coming up with an idea that makes people curious to click on is not easy, and you can take inspiration from other people. But what we’ve learnt from video-making with Finzar is that originality is what works best and will make you stand out. You want to make sure that you’re ultimately creating a thumbnail that tells your story, not anyone else’s. So focus on that.

Step Two: Acquiring Assets 

It’s time to start assembling your thumbnail, which means creating the assets that you’re going to use. If your face is involved, that means having a good, clear image of your face.

For the best thumbnail pictures, you want to ideally use natural soft light, creating minor shadows on your face. (see the example above) It’s not like filming a video with dramatic lighting, as you want your face to be really clear in a thumbnail, and then you can alter it easily in Photoshop, or whatever editing software you’re using. If your story is one where you struggle, or one where the results of a challenge were surprising, then you may want to pull a face that shows this. Take multiple photos at this stage to give you the option to play around in the edit.

Text is also another common element in thumbnails. Make sure your text is clear and readable, even in a thumbnail’s smallest form. And make sure the words you’re using are enticing and exciting.

Whatever you’re using, make sure to layer up your assets to create something new. Rather than a thumbnail being a photo of a computer on a desk, bring in separate images of a computer, a desk, a mouse, and a background. That gives you ultimate control over your image, but make sure they all fit with the theme of the story you are telling.

Step three: Colour and Composition

By now, your thumbnail is coming together, and it’s time to start going deeper into the composition of your assets.

This can get highly technical and artistic. There’s just so much to think about when you’re putting together a thumbnail. So I’m going to quickly break down some techniques just to get you thinking.

First, the rule of thirds, which is simply breaking up your screen into thirds using a grid. The result is two vertical lines and two horizontal lines, and you want the focal point to be at the intersection of these lines

If you want to take this one step further, you may want to think about the Golden Ratio, which is a naturally occurring, aesthetically pleasing ratio equalling 1.618 (see picture above). This shape can be found in lots of artworks, like the Mona Lise and can be a good metric to go by.

Colour is also super important. Using complementary colours from the colour wheel, where your composition is dominated by the two complementary colours. You can use colour to highlight a certain object within the frame.

We recommend studying the colour wheel, testing colours, and seeing what works for you. But whatever you end up doing, we want to stress the idea of simplicity. Don’t overfill your thumbnail with a hundred colours or millions of objects. Make sure you are clearly and concisely teasing the story your video is going to tell.

Step four: Finessing

This is really all about using Photoshop, or whatever your chosen software is, to make your thumbnail shine. It’s more than anyone can really go over in a single article, but the above video that we have made offers some tips and tricks to finesse your work.

Step Five: Launch it!

You’ve made a thumbnail, and now it’s time to see how the world responds to it. This is the hardest part of the whole journey, because you have no idea whether your thumbnail will get people to click.

We really recommend A/B testing your thumbnails – that’s where you have two different thumbnails for the same video and see which one has people clicking the most. It could be something as simple as a colour change that suddenly starts catching people’s attention.

And that’s our guide to how to make the best YouTube thumbnails. Over here at Storezar, we love helping YouTubers and video-makers with their projects, so if you’re looking to take your videos to the next level, check out our presets and courses.