Thumbnails are an integral part of your image on YouTube. Usually, bloggers adhere to a single style, which often fails to meet the principles of attracting an audience. Below, we will share several insights on making an eye catching thumbnail that will ensure the highest number of views.    

How to Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails for Live Stream

First, let's recall that thumbnails are the first thing your viewers will see before they click on your stream, which is why they're so important for grabbing attention on content-heavy platforms like YouTube and Twitch. So, how can you create intrigue and entice platform users to tune in to your stream through the eye catching YouTube thumbnail? Let's find out right now. By the way, if you want to receive even more information about effective marketing strategies on YouTube, you can check this article.

Use text to inspire curiosity

Perhaps one of the main things you should pay special attention to when creating thumbnails is the text – in particular, it should make a potential viewer want to know more and open your stream. For example, it can be a provocative question or a teaser, such as: "What are game developers hiding?" or "5 mistakes in dough kneading that you make." You should generally stick to a simple formula: “Concise and readable text for thumbnails with a size that takes up no more than 20-30% of the image.”

Choose bold, eye-catching fonts

Let's continue, smoothly moving on to the topic of fonts. They play an essential role in the visual perception of the text. To do so, you should use clear, bold fonts that are easy to read even on small screens (examples of such fonts include Impact and Montserrat). At the same time, you should avoid complex decorative fonts, as they can make reading difficult.

Maintain a consistent visual style for recognizability

Maintaining a consistent style across thumbnails is probably obvious, but it’s still worth discussing in more detail. In particular, this is necessary to emphasize your image and make your channel look more professional. You can use the same color palette, typography, and a common visual language to do this. This way, your audience can instantly identify your videos without reading the text.

Leverage viewer expectations to your advantage

Viewers typically associate different topics with certain visual elements. For example, for live streams about traveling, adding images of nature, world maps, or suitcases to the background might be appropriate. It will create a subconscious feeling in your audience that the content is tailored to their expectations.

Use emotional reaction faces or human expressions

Thumbnails with faces tend to get more clicks. For this, you should use large, emotional faces of people (it may be you or the main character of your video). The more expression they show (such as surprise, joy, or shock), the better.

Analyze successful thumbnails in your niche

You need to analyze the top videos and their thumbnails in your content category. Pay attention to their style, fonts, color schemes, and elements. For example, analytics of successful YouTube channels will give you valuable insights into what might work for small-screen owners. Also, you can get additional information about good thumbnails for YouTube Shorts here.

Design specifically for small screens

Every day, more and more users of social networks (specifically, those where they can watch live streams) consume content from smartphones. For this, your thumbnails, as we have already indicated earlier, should be readable and understandable even on a small screen (i.e., its text and elements have to be large enough and not get lost when scaling).

Study and stand out

Another worthwhile recommendation for creating a grab thumbnail is to avoid template solutions. Instead, using recognizable elements (unexpected color combinations, unusual shooting angles, etc.) is much better, so each thumbnail will look unique.

Use bright colors to drive attention

Bright colors like red, yellow, and blue attract the audience's eye the best, so they can be used to emphasize attention. At the same time, you need to maintain visual balance and avoid oversaturation so that the final image does not look chaotic.

Eliminate unnecessary elements that don’t add value

Generally speaking, minimalism helps viewers focus on the main idea you want to convey through your live stream. Therefore, you must remove anything that does not add value to the thumbnail, including heavy text blocks, unnecessary graphic elements, or a cluttered background.

Common Thumbnail Mistakes Beginner Video Creators Make

Now, it's time to discover what mistakes beginners usually make when creating thumbnails for their live streams.

Mistake #1: Using unedited screenshots as thumbnails

Simple screenshots from videos without additional processing in graphic editors often look unprofessional. That is why it is so important to always pay special attention to this, improving brightness and adding filters, text, and different elements that capture the audience’s attention.

Mistake #2: Relying on generic or overused templates

Viewers quickly get bored with similar or generic YouTube thumbnails. To avoid repeating this mistake, you must develop a unique thumbnail style tailored to your content.

Mistake #3: Overloading the thumbnail with too much text

Too much text makes your thumbnails unreadable. To avoid this, when creating them, you should use no more than three to five words – this will be enough to convey the main point of your video stream.

Mistake #4: Using misleading click-bait tactics

Clickbait thumbnails that aim to create false emotions in your audience will always disappoint. For example, adding images of celebrities not mentioned in the video will lead to a loss of trust in your viewers. So, here it is simple – don’t do it.

Mistake #5: Making promises you can't deliver

If your thumbnails create high expectations for your viewers, but the content does not deliver on them, they may be considered bad YouTube thumbnails. Your audience will be disappointed and stop choosing your content further. Here, too, things are simple — you just don't want to let this happen.

Best Tools for Creating Stunning Thumbnails

Finally, we would like to share a short list of helpful software tools that will make your life much easier when you design thumbnails.

  • Canva, a user-friendly graphic editor with many ready-made and fully customizable templates, which is ideal for beginners;
  • Pixlr, another easy-to-use graphic editor with a wide range of features for professional image editing;
  • Adobe Express is a great software solution for designing eye-catching and branded thumbnails;
  • Snappa, a tool that provides beginners with numerous resources and tools for creating catchy YouTube thumbnails (including fonts and graphics);
  • Fotor is a tool suitable for creating thumbnails with bright visual effects and filters.

So, good luck and have fun!