What makes a good thumbnail?

I'm probably going to repeat a few things here you have hear of before and hopefully add some personal insights that stand out from common wisdom.

Simply said a YouTube video thumbnail is like a movie poster or the food packaging. It needs to make someone look, create an interest or appetite and compel them to take an action.

So in plain terms a thumbnail needs to stop the scroll, create curiosity and make someone click and also set the right expectations so that people stick around to watch.

Because if someone clicks but then turns the video off right after they clicked because it didn't match the expectations it's to no benefit of anyone.

The problem with generalizing a topic like this is that there are as many good thumbnails as there are are creative people. Practically infinite.

Of course having vibrant colors, bold text, (half) naked bodies or other imagery that appeals to our lizard brain can capture attention but I have seen just as many fade images with no clear subject that are the cover for very popular videos.

So to make a good thumbnail I would consider a few things.

• What is the style of the video?

• What do thumbnails in this niche look like?

• What kind of expectations does it create?

• Can you repeat this style?

I hope that with these questions you can develop images that do attract the right people to your videos and convince them to give it a watch.

What I would do next is try out a few versions and see what they look like in context with a tool like clickpilot.app or thumbsup.tv

Then if you publish videos and see that one variation is better at continuously gaining views, take time to figure out what the elements are in this image and what you can carry over to other videos.

There is probably a lot more to say about this topic but in reality there is no silver bullet or one right answer to this. Not just because everything can work but also because styles and preferences evolve.

Ultimately a good thumbnail is more about psychology than about presentation. Learning about how people make decisions and what drives them is probably more helpful here than learning graphic design. Very often those two go hand in hand. Like with all things marketing.

I hope this helps you make a banger thumbnail and catch some views.