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over 300 hours of video are uploaded to
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YouTube every minute they're all
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competing for views with only mere
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moments to catch someone's eye on
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YouTube there are only a couple things
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that can catch someone's eye compelling
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title and attractive thumbnail hey
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everyone this is Mason from filter grade
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in this video I'm going to tell you what
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makes a good YouTube thumbnail there are
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a lot of factors that go into video
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views and a thumbnail is one of them
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it's not the only part of the equation
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but it is the most visual one and one
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that you have the most control over
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first let's answer the question of why
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you need a thumbnail YouTube Auto
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generates three potential thumbnails
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from frames in your video it allows you
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to choose one of them but choosing one
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of these is pretty boring a custom
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thumbnail allows you to handpick what
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information you're presenting to
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potential viewers whereas a screenshot
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on its own might not show much here are
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some of the key components of making a
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great thumbnail use the proper aspect
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ratio the first thing you need to do is
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make sure your canvas is the proper size
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YouTube uses a 16 by 9 aspect ratio so
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using 1280 by 720 or 1920 by 1080 is
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ideal a different aspect ratio could
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result in unexpected cropping that hides
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important elements of your thumbnail
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using a higher resolution is preferable
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to a low resolution because of your
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video is embedded anywhere it may appear
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much larger than it does on YouTube be
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accurate and honest like your title your
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thumbnail exists to give more
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information and not to mislead clickbait
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is the deceptive art of putting
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something in your thumbnail or title
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that does not reflect the content within
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you can hype up something that happens
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in the video to see more outrageous but
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still keep it honest if you break your
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arm in a vlog you may want to send to
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the thumbnail around that interesting
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moment even if it's only in a short
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portion of the actual video and the rest
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of the video is about other stuff
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entirely it's not lying but it is
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leveraging the most interesting or
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clickable moment use text why even look
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at a video title when someone can put
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text in the thumbnail many creators will
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put a shortened version of their title
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in their thumbnail just using a few of
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the keywords in order to quickly catch
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the eyes of scrolling users if your
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thumbnail image is compelling enough you
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don't need text but it can be kind of
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like having a second title to give more
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information if you do use text and are
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wondering what fonts to use go for a
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thick sand serif font this will be easy
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to read on a small image some creators
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can get away with more stylized fonts
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but it's not always easy to do highlight
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important details there are a lot of
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ways to highlight the key subject in
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your thumbnail Photoshop actually has an
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easy way to do this going to select and
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subject will select the subject of the
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photo with a pretty high degree of
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accuracy once you have the subject
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selected whether you cut it out manually
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or whether you use photoshop's tool you
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can do a lot of things the easiest way
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to make whatever you're doing stand out
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is to copy your subject which is
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probably you onto a new layer blur the
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background on the original layer with a
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Gaussian blur then put a stroke drop
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shadow or outer glow onto the subject to
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make it stand out even more this is the
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bare minimum that you should be doing to
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make your thumbnail stand out but you
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can also replace the background and put
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yourself anywhere you want create a
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consistent style to make your videos
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more recognizable consider creating the
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template or consistent look for your
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thumbnails when someone is scrolling
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through their subscriptions feed or
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suggested videos your videos should be
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instantly recognizable this can be
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accomplished through a variety of means
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putting your logo in the same spot on
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your thumbnails is the easiest way if
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you are the subject of your videos that
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your face is kind of like your logo
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don't hesitate to put your face on each
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of your thumbnails to increase
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recognition other methods include using
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the same fonts and colors using the same
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style of drawings or having a consistent
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general feel and layout know your
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audience the look of your thumbnails
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will be highly dependent on who your
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audience is let's take the gaming genre
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for example it's pretty easy to see the
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difference between thumbnails aimed at
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kids and thumbnails aimed at adults or
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young adults the thumbnails aimed at a
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younger audience feature lots of bright
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colors large text and stylized cartoons
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the thumbnails not directly aimed at
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kids don't rely on text as much and
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definitely feature a lot less bright
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colors consider sizing YouTube
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thumbnails are small you may be tempted
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to pack a ton of detail into a thumbnail
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but simple is often better make sure
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your subject is highly contrasted
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against the background
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this goes back to the earlier point
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about highlighting your subject and
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blurring the background and making sure
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text is large enough to be read when
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you're working on your thumbnail zoom
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out to see how it looks when it's tiny
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consider where YouTube elements go
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YouTube has a couple of elements that
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can obscure parts of your thumbnail the
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first one which is present on every
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video is the video duration marker this
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goes in the bottom right corner and if
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someone has watched a video a watched
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marker goes in the bottom left corner
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keep these markers in mind and keep any
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important information out of the bottom
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quarter of the image hopefully now you
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understand how to make a better
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thumbnail you shouldn't be afraid to
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experiment with thumbnails and even
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update a thumbnail after a while if the
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video isn't performing well there's a
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lot of competition and most ideas aren't
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totally original it takes a lot to
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convince someone to watch your video so
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why not get all the advantages you can
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if you enjoyed this video be sure to
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LIKE and subscribe and leave a comment
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down below and if you're looking for
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and video education visit filter grade
