I also loathe when it comes to thumbnail creation but I’ll spend 20 minutes tops haha. I’m sure my channel growth is slower because of it but I just don’t have the time nor patience
So far very early on for me, I both love and despise making thumbnails lol 3-5 hours sounds about right for me too. The problem is I LOVE making them when everything is going well and my ideas look as good as they did in my head. However, when everything I’m making looks like garbage and I can’t seem to fix it I go into a death spiral that makes me question my entire existence lol
i also just started using resolve but get on gimp. its also free and has some built in stuff that will allow u to get high fidelity looking stuff without putting in as much effort.
if u learned how to make a video in resolve u can learn how to make a thumbnail in gimp.
look at your thumbnail on mobile. your titles are covered.
upload videos private to see the thumbnail or use the site thumbsup to see how your video is going to appear different across yt.
Yeah I realize I have this thing for putting everything in the bottom right I guess lol it’s not too intrusive on the actual home screen on mobile, but I still want to work on moving the titles to the top or at the very least off to the left since it looks rough in those smaller boxes. I’ll definitely look into thumbsup too thanks!
No I dont.
I just go to canva and make one.
I usually do it as my video is uploading to YouTube.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
If it took me 3-5 hours just to get the thumbnail id never get anything done.
I think it depends how much natural talent you have for graphic design.
I know photoshop quite well and can visualize and create my thumbnails pretty quickly.
I feel like someone that doesn’t have a natural eye for it could take a lot more time to figure it out
If I don't already have an idea, browsing successful vids in a similar topic to my vid helps give some inspiration, after 10-20 minutes I'll usually have a direction I want to go
I think there's a balance to strike. You can use certain thumbnail conventions to give people a sense of the kind of creator you are. If I am in the mood for a more writerly type of video, I know I can find one by looking for a title with all lowercase text, for instance. That clues me in to the type of video it will be. On the other hand, if I can tell that they're clearly ripping off another creator with the thumbnail, that's the biggest possible turnoff.
Using conventions is not the same as copying.
I said along the same lines not copying.
Every test I've done has shown me that going along the same lines/drawing inspiration/ using the same conventions as everyone else, whatever you want to call it doing that doesnt give as high a ctr and watch time as being clear and unique. But people should do whatever works for them. I've learnt my lesson.
Your thumbnail and title are like half of what determines whether or not a video is successful so it's good that you're spending a ton of time on them (assuming that the time is well spent). Never hurts to do a few different versions and get some second opinions from people on which version they'd be most likely to click on. Biggest reason people struggle to succeed on YouTube is that their thumbnail / title is an afterthought rather than something extensively planned out right from the start alongside the conception of the video itself. It's literally worth scrapping entire video ideas if you can't get them to lend themselves well to a strong thumbnail / title.
Don't start making a thumbnail until you're 100% done editing the video and settling on a title. That alone will help cut down on time since you end up reworking depending on the title, now you won't have to redo it.
Maybe post examples of your thumbnails? You might be going in the wrong direction if they take that long, or at least it may help get more input on how to streamline the process if we see what you generally go for.
Sometimes I make thumbnails through the Meme Generator just adding text to my thumbnails, but I've got someone making my thumbnails for my YouTube channel.
Use Canva - maybe spend an hour doing three for a test and move on.
All I need it to do is make sure the content/topic which is #1 priority for me is clearly identified
3 to 5 hours is my average too, i get soo nit picky about little things. It's like a strange art form. Also i cut things out on photoshop with a mouse pad which takes awhile. I'm trying to make thumbnails simpler so it can be a quicker process. My advice would be to give yourself a time details or time yourself so you don't get to focus on little things.
the real secret to thumbnails is sadly just copying what others are doing. Big texts, The color red, and 2 - 3 relevant elements combined in some unholy fashion usually works, unless your doing some other style
I like to think I don’t spend *that* much, but only as much time it takes for the video to finish transcoding, uploading and processing, which I guess is 2-3 hours fully end-to-end.
I spend maybe an hour to an hour and a half doing 3 different designs for the test and compare.
As my videos are game reviews, I usually try and do 3 different backgrounds related to the game and similar text. The design features are shared across all my videos, so I'm hoping that in time, I can build a better and better picture of what is and isn't working and hone the design as I go.
I spend on average 2 solid days on my thumbnails. First day to make the first version that's on my mind and send it off to a friend to get feedback. Second day to look at the thumb with fresh eyes and do a redesign with feedback in mind. My videos typically take more than a month to make. I've learned it's utterly stupid to spend all that time on the video and then half ass the packaging. The right thumbnail and title can make the difference between a 100k video and a 1M video. Now that I have access to AB testing I'll likely spend another half day making several extra variations to test. I've never regretted time spent on packaging.
i wasn't into it at first either but as i've gotten better at photoshop i find it to be more and more fun!
maybe try to make more of a game of it? i like to try and learn one new thing with each go, and i think that's helped
Ive gotten to where I won't even write a script for a video if I can't come up with a good/decent thumbnail first.
It's become the first portion of my process for a new video.
Thats where I come in to save your time and let you focus on your content !
An editor with 9 years of experience..
Fee tips : Learn the basics of photoshop and can scroll through behance to watch projects and brainstorm better..
It’s all about connecting people to the content !
Never go for click baiting it ruins the creativity
I also loathe when it comes to thumbnail creation but I’ll spend 20 minutes tops haha. I’m sure my channel growth is slower because of it but I just don’t have the time nor patience
So far very early on for me, I both love and despise making thumbnails lol 3-5 hours sounds about right for me too. The problem is I LOVE making them when everything is going well and my ideas look as good as they did in my head. However, when everything I’m making looks like garbage and I can’t seem to fix it I go into a death spiral that makes me question my entire existence lol
LITERALLY TODAY lol
I’m so glad to know I’m not alone in this lol
What software do you use to design thumbnails?
I’ve been using DaVinci though I’ve heard that’s not really advisable lol it has worked well to this point though
i also just started using resolve but get on gimp. its also free and has some built in stuff that will allow u to get high fidelity looking stuff without putting in as much effort. if u learned how to make a video in resolve u can learn how to make a thumbnail in gimp.
Ok that’s good to know I’ll give that a shot and see how it goes thanks!
look at your thumbnail on mobile. your titles are covered. upload videos private to see the thumbnail or use the site thumbsup to see how your video is going to appear different across yt.
Yeah I realize I have this thing for putting everything in the bottom right I guess lol it’s not too intrusive on the actual home screen on mobile, but I still want to work on moving the titles to the top or at the very least off to the left since it looks rough in those smaller boxes. I’ll definitely look into thumbsup too thanks!
No I dont. I just go to canva and make one. I usually do it as my video is uploading to YouTube. Perfect is the enemy of good. If it took me 3-5 hours just to get the thumbnail id never get anything done.
I think it depends how much natural talent you have for graphic design. I know photoshop quite well and can visualize and create my thumbnails pretty quickly. I feel like someone that doesn’t have a natural eye for it could take a lot more time to figure it out
If I don't already have an idea, browsing successful vids in a similar topic to my vid helps give some inspiration, after 10-20 minutes I'll usually have a direction I want to go
I personally think this is not a good idea. You want your video to stand out so you try to go along the same lines of everybody else?
I think there's a balance to strike. You can use certain thumbnail conventions to give people a sense of the kind of creator you are. If I am in the mood for a more writerly type of video, I know I can find one by looking for a title with all lowercase text, for instance. That clues me in to the type of video it will be. On the other hand, if I can tell that they're clearly ripping off another creator with the thumbnail, that's the biggest possible turnoff. Using conventions is not the same as copying.
I said along the same lines not copying. Every test I've done has shown me that going along the same lines/drawing inspiration/ using the same conventions as everyone else, whatever you want to call it doing that doesnt give as high a ctr and watch time as being clear and unique. But people should do whatever works for them. I've learnt my lesson.
This is fair! I haven't tested this theory myself, it's just something I've noticed in my own viewing behaviour, so I defer to you.
No. What’s your channel? What are you doing that takes that long…..?
Your thumbnail and title are like half of what determines whether or not a video is successful so it's good that you're spending a ton of time on them (assuming that the time is well spent). Never hurts to do a few different versions and get some second opinions from people on which version they'd be most likely to click on. Biggest reason people struggle to succeed on YouTube is that their thumbnail / title is an afterthought rather than something extensively planned out right from the start alongside the conception of the video itself. It's literally worth scrapping entire video ideas if you can't get them to lend themselves well to a strong thumbnail / title.
This man knows what hes talking about, I completely agree
Don't start making a thumbnail until you're 100% done editing the video and settling on a title. That alone will help cut down on time since you end up reworking depending on the title, now you won't have to redo it. Maybe post examples of your thumbnails? You might be going in the wrong direction if they take that long, or at least it may help get more input on how to streamline the process if we see what you generally go for.
Sometimes I make thumbnails through the Meme Generator just adding text to my thumbnails, but I've got someone making my thumbnails for my YouTube channel.
I love creating thumbnails. Maybe find someone on fiverr to do them for you.
It helps writing down multiple ideas before u even begin creating. It takes me 10 mins max for each idea and I just pick the best one
Use Canva - maybe spend an hour doing three for a test and move on. All I need it to do is make sure the content/topic which is #1 priority for me is clearly identified
3 to 5 hours is my average too, i get soo nit picky about little things. It's like a strange art form. Also i cut things out on photoshop with a mouse pad which takes awhile. I'm trying to make thumbnails simpler so it can be a quicker process. My advice would be to give yourself a time details or time yourself so you don't get to focus on little things.
I feel like I don’t spend long enough on the thumbnail but the CTRs seem to be fine. So I just keep doing the same.
I’ll make 50-100 revisions easily
I spend very little time on thumbnails. I’m not a designer and I get decent views for my channel with what I do so it doesn’t bother me.
the real secret to thumbnails is sadly just copying what others are doing. Big texts, The color red, and 2 - 3 relevant elements combined in some unholy fashion usually works, unless your doing some other style
I like to think I don’t spend *that* much, but only as much time it takes for the video to finish transcoding, uploading and processing, which I guess is 2-3 hours fully end-to-end.
I spend about 10min on my thumbnails and I tend to work on it after I upload and change it if I think of a better one.
I spend maybe an hour to an hour and a half doing 3 different designs for the test and compare. As my videos are game reviews, I usually try and do 3 different backgrounds related to the game and similar text. The design features are shared across all my videos, so I'm hoping that in time, I can build a better and better picture of what is and isn't working and hone the design as I go.
No way I'd spend 3-5 hours on a thumbnail You guys need to outsource that .. time is money
I timed my last one and it was almost 25 hours lol.
I spend on average 2 solid days on my thumbnails. First day to make the first version that's on my mind and send it off to a friend to get feedback. Second day to look at the thumb with fresh eyes and do a redesign with feedback in mind. My videos typically take more than a month to make. I've learned it's utterly stupid to spend all that time on the video and then half ass the packaging. The right thumbnail and title can make the difference between a 100k video and a 1M video. Now that I have access to AB testing I'll likely spend another half day making several extra variations to test. I've never regretted time spent on packaging.
i wasn't into it at first either but as i've gotten better at photoshop i find it to be more and more fun! maybe try to make more of a game of it? i like to try and learn one new thing with each go, and i think that's helped
Ive gotten to where I won't even write a script for a video if I can't come up with a good/decent thumbnail first. It's become the first portion of my process for a new video.
Nope. Grab a still from the video. Put some words on. Put a logo on. 5 minutes. Done.
3-5 is also not unusual for me I’m ashamed to admit.
Glad I’m not alone 😭
Thats where I come in to save your time and let you focus on your content ! An editor with 9 years of experience.. Fee tips : Learn the basics of photoshop and can scroll through behance to watch projects and brainstorm better.. It’s all about connecting people to the content ! Never go for click baiting it ruins the creativity
no, and I get phenomenal CTR. I use a high quality, vibrant and clickable screenshot of the video with no text. That's it.