6 Tips for Creating the Most Clickable YouTube Thumbnails

First you’ll want to set up your YouTube channel. Got that? Good. YouTube can generate thumbnails automatically by grabbing screenshots from your video, but it pays to create custom ones instead. 

A reported 90% of top-performing YouTube videos do the same, so learning the following steps is crucial, whether you’re looking to grow your own channel or apply for content-creation jobs. 

Choose the right platform 

No pricey software is required when straightforward web-based platforms such as Canva and Adobe Express offer an easy way to create preset:

• Templates
• Photos, icons, and illustrations
• Colour schemes
• Fonts

You’ll create polished, professional thumbnails using simple drag-and-drop tools to combine those elements with your own uploaded images or artwork.

Get the details right 

YouTube suggests that custom thumbnails be as large as possible and follow these basic recommendations:

• A resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (with minimum width of 640 pixels) and 16:9 aspect ratio
• Uploaded as a JPG, GIF, or PNG

Custom thumbnails must also follow Community Guidelines by avoiding:

• Nudity or sexually provocative content
• Hate speech
• Violence
• Harmful or dangerous content

Check it 

Tools such as Test My Thumbnails and TubeBuddy let you review thumbnails before uploading so you can see how they look:

• In search results, suggested videos, and on your channel’s homepage
• On desktops, mobiles, and TV screens
• In YouTube’s light and dark modes

Make sure text and images aren’t cut off and evaluate your overall design before progressing to the final step.

Upload it 

On desktop:

• Sign in to YouTube Studio. 
• Click “Create,” and then “Upload Videos.”
• Select your file, and then scroll down to the Thumbnail section and click “Upload thumbnail.” 

On mobile:

• Open the YouTube Studio app.
• Tap “Content.” 
• Select your video, and then tap the pencil icon.
• Choose “Edit thumbnail” and select your custom image. 

Any issues? Read a more detailed guide to uploading via computer, Android, iPhone, or iPad.

1. Spark curiosity.

For YouTube expert Aprilynne Alter, a thumbnail’s fundamental purpose is to spark curiosity. 

“Ultimately…the decision to click is driven by a single psychological mechanism: curiosity,” Alter says. “That curiosity is strongest when we experience what’s known as a ‘curiosity gap.’ This is the gap between what we currently know and what we want to know.… It pushes us to seek out answers by clicking on the video.” 

Alter offers five ways to create that curiosity gap using a single still thumbnail image. It’s a skill in itself to get right, so we’ve added examples for each: 

1. Showing a moment immediately before a powerful reaction, as in this video from Kelly Wakasa.
2. Introducing the first part of a story, as in this video from Cleo Abram.
3. Showing a compelling result, as in this video from Binging With Babish.
4. Presenting an impactful A-to-B transformation, as in this video from Peachfit.
5. Showing something novel or unexpected, as in this video from Mark Rober.

2. Use colours for contrast.

“Bright and contrasting colours on your thumbnails are a great strategy to draw people’s attention,” says social media expert Enrico Incarnati. 

Contrast is your friend, making colours pop while keeping elements visually distinct. Try one or two combinations from opposite sides of the colour wheel. “This combination provides a high-contrast and high-impact colour combination,” notes Canva. “Together these colours will appear brighter and more prominent.”

Bold colours work particularly well for high-energy videos that prioritise entertainment, which is why creators like KSI use them on videos such as Make Us Uncomfortable, Win $1,000. 

Pure white or muted monochromatic colours suit less frenetic videos aimed to inform or educate, so you’ll see tech reviewers such as Marques Brownlee taking that path for videos like The Android Tablet Problem.

3. Consider adding text.

Text also helps create the all-important curiosity gap. The key is limiting yourself to three to five words that complement the video’s title (rather than just repeating it) without overcrowding the frame. Those words should make viewers more likely to click. 

For example:

• “Naked Pilot”: Paper Skies adds an intriguing humorous detail to The Ridiculous Crash of the Soviet Giant | The PS-124 Story.
• “2027 Is Too Late”: Diary of a CEO underlines the sense of urgency in Ex-Google Officer: You Only Have 3 Years Left Before It Hits! — Mo Gawdat.
• “No”: Lindsay Ellis boldly answers the question she promises to explain in Did Yoko Break Up the Beatles?

Notice how each one makes clicking the video that much more attractive? 

Best practices for thumbnail text include: 

• Avoiding the bottom-right corner (where video duration is shown) 
• Using bold, easy-to-read fonts, such as sans serifs
• Using a large enough font to be readable on mobile

When shouldn’t you add text?
“If your image is strong enough to convey the video’s promise, text becomes redundant,” Elie writes for Thumbmagic. Consider avoiding text when: 

• There’s already a lot going on, such as MrBeast’s thumbnail featuring many famous creators
• The image is spectacular enough alone, such as this one from photographer Peter McKinnon
• The image tells a story, such as this moment from Fern’s How a Pilot Hijacked a Plane

4. Consider including your face

Studies show thumbnails with faces have higher CTRs than those without. According to David Ch at Thumbnail Test, faces can:

• Create personal connections
• Trigger emotional responses (hence the exaggerated expressions you see all over YouTube)
• Make videos appear more engaging
• Help viewers recognise your videos 
• Use your gaze to direct views to a thumbnail’s key element

Including your face tends to work for personal and emotional content in which you’re prominently featured and which is geared toward current subscribers. Just be sure to match both the emotion and emotional intensity to your content’s tone. 

For example:

• ZerkaaPlays uses very animated facial expressions for his high-energy gaming videos. 
• Angela Collier uses more muted, thoughtful expressions for her relatively slow-paced educational content.

When shouldn’t you include your face?
Becoming an influencer on YouTube doesn’t always mean revealing your face. Going faceless (at least in thumbnails) may make sense for: 

• Conceptual or educational videos, such as those of Animagraffs
• Content in which you don’t typically appear, as with Daily Dose of Internet
• Creators who simply want to maintain privacy, such as Internet Historian
• Videos aiming to increase your YouTube subscribers more than entertain current ones

5. Keep it uncluttered.

Leveraging the full power of YouTube thumbnails is important best practice, but it’s possible to go overboard. 

Research conducted by academics Byungwan Koh and Fuquan Cui in 2022 stressed the need for balance: “In particular, having more types of design elements (e.g., product, model, text) in a thumbnail may help convey information; however, focusing on too many objects can hinder the processing of the information.”

We suggest: 

• Choosing one clear focal point to fill most of the frame
• Using two or three visual elements and up to five words
• Either avoiding complex graphics or placing them in the background

6. Stay consistent.

Avoid changing styles, colour schemes, or fonts across videos. It only waters down your brand identity and confuses your audience. Once you’ve stumbled on a thumbnail style that works, stick with it unless you notice CTRs dropping off (and even then, the thumbnail may not be to blame). 

For example:

• Scott the Woz has adopted a recognisable design and trademark blue border
• Second Wind uses a distinct layout and trademark red-and-white colour scheme
• Asia Jackson sticks to muted colours, plain white text, and a fashion-inspired aesthetic

Distinct visual style helps fans instantly recognise their content whenever it crops up on homepages, in search results, or in suggested videos. Follow our tips and you could soon say the same.