Stop Making Good Thumbnails · Synthesizer School

Stop Making Good Thumbnails

You heard me right. I'm a thumbnail designer telling you to stop making good thumbnails. Because it doesn't work. Those thumbnails that you're spending all of your time on, trying different versions, fine tuning the tiniest details, those aren't working. And here's why:

What are thumbnails? Really, what do they do for your channel?

If we think of YouTube, as I often like to, as a business, thumbnail are like the ads for that business. They're merely leverage to get more people to watch a video. They're multipliers on your content. Your thumbnail have nothing to do with your actual content, they're just there to expose more people to your content.

My point with all of this is that it's a waste to multiply bad content. You'll never fix a bad video with a good thumbnail. So IF you don't already have fantastic content, spending hours on crafting the absolute perfect thumbnail is literally useless.

In the three steps that I like to think about when packaging content, thumbnail execution always comes last. In every single video. The video idea and it's execution however, always come first. If you don't have a good video idea that you turn into a valuable piece of content nothing matters. After that you then need the second step which is a good packaging idea, how you'll present to the world the appeal of your content. And only then does the thumbnail execution become important. In there are those fine details of your photoshop skills, how well you bring that packaging idea to life, the things that ultimately matter the least.

So don't waste your time on those tiny tiny details and trying to fix those little bits of your thumbnails or titles. Take a bigger picture view. Create what people want to watch. Because nothing else matters.

Feel free to ask questions and leave your thoughts below.

P.S. I've made a video on the topic which is linked below.

1 comment

Synthesizer School

Public group

Create content. Make money. Educate earth.

Join the Synthesizer Movement.