20 Best Youtube Thumbnails That Will Impress Your Viewers

No matter how cool and compelling your videos are, if the YouTube thumbnail design is eye-catching, nobody’s gonna give a click about what you have to say. 

Let’s start with the obvious: the perfect youtube thumbnail needs to be custom rather than automatically generated through Youtube studio. It needs to be in high definition and use the best size for YouTube thumbnails (1280 x 720 pixels).

Of course, it also needs to relate directly to the purpose of your video content and the style of your channel. 

With these key principles in mind, let’s explore some of the best YouTube thumbnails and see what they can teach us.

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The YouTuber thumbnail: utilize the power of human expression

This type of YoutTube thumbnail design is especially popular with YouTubers whose channel is focused on their experiences (whether it’s lifestyle, gaming, fashion, etc.). It helps potential viewers immediately recognize people whose content they're interested in and can help bump up those click-through rates!

1. PewDiePie

Although this YouTube legend has a very diverse thumbnail design, one consistency is definitely him appearing in them. 

Whether he’s making a silly face, looking into the camera, or (presumably) at the screen, he’s now definitely reached the point where it’s enough for his target audience to just catch a glimpse of his face and click on the video immediately. He often uses bold YouTube fonts which helps further prompt emotional curiosity. 

PewDiePie’s channel art is also a great lesson in “more is more”. Don’t be afraid to pair striking portraits with bright colors for a background. This will definitely help you grab people’s attention and (with the right audience) it will work wonders.

2. Neil Patel

If you head over to this digital marketing expert’s channel you’ll notice that he uses the same thumbnail image for several videos with just changing the title and sometimes tweaking the background.

While you may think it lazy, this actually works very well for the type of video content Neil produces. First of all, he’s a fairly famous guy and his image can hook a lot of people immediately. And the consistent style gives his channel a more professional look which is important since people will watch his videos to learn something, rather than entertainment.

3. Yoga with Adriene

So this one doesn’t exactly put this YouTuber’s face at the forefront, however, it’s obviously a conscious choice. Instead of seeing a smiley Adriene in every thumbnail, you can see her in different yoga poses. The well-lit images in a familiar space have a calming effect and the prominent titles help viewers quickly find the type of exercise that they’re after.

4. Cut

Video thumbnails with people are inherently intriguing even if the face appearing isn’t one of a celebrity. Cut has some wonderful thumbnail examples that showcase a truly diverse group of people and use their interaction as a way to draw viewers’ attention. There’s a genuine emotion behind many of these thumbnail images and the best part, of course, is that these great thumbnails live up to the moving and genuine video content featuring real human connections and relationships.

5. James Charles

Thumbnails showing their faces are a logical choice for makeup and beauty YouTubers. However, a little bit of design know-how goes a long way.Just take a look at some YouTube superstar James Charles’ thumbnails! By adding emojis and simple design elements, he is able to make thumbnails much more dynamic and unique.

Thumbnails with high-quality photos

If you’re into travel or cooking videos, there’s arguably no better way to snatch those Youtube views than a beautiful photo. 

If your images are not high-quality you can always use Photoshop to tweak them. However, steer clear of stock photography. Whereas it’s probably ok for travel videos, when it comes to DIY or cooking stuff, video marketing of something that’s not actually your work certainly counts as cheating.

6. Where’s Mollie

This travel blogger’s YouTube channel is a wonderful source of inspiration for travel lovers in search of a more authentic experience. Instead of boring stock images, she often uses her own photos. While the photos are by no means flawless, they are authentic and show you that the person in the videos has actually visited the place they’re about to talk about.

7. XO, MaCenna

It’s amazing what a good quality camera and proper lighting can do with DIY projects. This YouTube channel is certainly a testament to that. The thumbnails loo practically like a fancy catalog, with a beautiful and consistent color scheme and typography.

If you want to mimic the style of this DIY vlogger make sure that you’re using high resolution photos (png is the preferable format). Since the photos are usually quite busy, it’s best to place any text against a shape or single-color background to make it easy to read.

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8. Tasty

If I had a dollar every time I watched one of Tasty’s videos on social media during a university lecture… Jokes aside, you’re probably familiar with these fun, dynamic videos often featuring very indulgent food.

As for YouTube thumbnail examples, this channel offers a lot of creative inspiration. Instead of the glossy and conventional photos of finished dishes, you’ll often find collages of different colorful meals as well as more “honest” photos of food (no fancy plating, etc.) that are still mouthwatering!

9. Zoella

This is another YouTuber you’ve probably heard of, and sure enough her thumbnail style is primarily focused on putting her recognizable image at the front. Nevertheless, compared to similar channels, Zoella’s video thumbnails do stand out in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

The pictures she chooses are usually quite beautiful and (recently) a little more candid than is the usual practice. She uses filters and other modifications to give visuals a softer, almost retro look. These thumbnails often combine photographs or screenshots from the actual video along with a nice frame or little details that give these visuals a photo album kind of look.

10. Red Bull

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this channel does a terrific job of conveying a sense of energy and adventure. You’ll see some amazing high-quality photographs paired with bold dynamic fonts (they use a wide range of them too).

Although you might not get all the fine details of these awesome photos in a smaller file size, these photographs are still impressive enough to give viewers a good idea of what kind of adventure the video is going to be about.

Minimalist and professional Youtube video thumbnails

If your Youtube video content is aimed at teaching small business owners and entrepreneurs on how to improve their business ventures, you’ll probably want to create a simpler, more professional thumbnails or channel art.

You can probably use online Youtube thumbnail makers and successfully mimic the style of some of these examples. Make sure you pick a color scheme that matches your brand to create a stronger sense of brand identity.

11. Wired

If simplicity is your thing, then this iconic black and white thumbnail design is something to learn from. Of course, the reason why this simple design gets so many clicks is thanks to Wired’s very famous guests.And yet, it’s a good lesson in effective YouTube thumbnail design. If you want to make something stand out, going for a simple design is a great choice.

12. Shopify

This online selling platfrom’s YouTube channel is actually their help center meant to answer some frequently asked questions. In that respect, they always keep it to the point: the thumbnail image is just the video’s title on a YouTube thumbnail template that they have created for the channel.

Sure it’s not the most eye-catching or appealing visual, but it serves its purpose perfectly. If you google Shopify and then go to the videos section, you’ll find heaps of content produced by this platform's customers (people who sell stuff over Shopify).

That’s why it was important for the platform itself to develop a consistent brand identity and steer clear of over- or underrepresenting any of their customers by using real-life examples in the video thumbnails.

13. Monday.com

You might be familiar with this task management system’s colorful palette, and sure enough, it’s what will instantly help you recognize their channel.

When it comes to video thumbnails, you’ll notice a variety of styles (from people to the actual content of the video). However, they maintain great design consistency and practically always find a way to incorporate their logo into the thumbnail design, which helps build a strong brand identity.

14. Hootsuite

If your YouTube homepage features different types of content suitable for different target audiences, it’s a good idea to label your videos clearly to make it easier for people to search and find what they are interested in.

Hootsuite did a fine job with this using labels like getting started, advance and enterprise (that also might refer to the type of users paying for their social media management dashboard). They make terrific use of white space to accentuate the theme of the content. In the last few months, their videos have a more corporate look with a very simple YouTube thumbnail template (and again the use of appropriate labels for a bigger topic).

15. Webflow

We’ve featured many colorful YouTube thumbnail examples. However, if you’d like to learn from something a little different, be sure to check out Webflow’s YouTube channel.Good YouTube thumbnail design can also be very simple, and this account proves it. Pairing a dark background with white text is always effective, especially when you create actionable and informative content for your users.

Beautiful custom thumbnails to set you apart from the rest

Anyone can slap a big bold title on their video thumbnail. But, creating something unique and custom is usually not something you can do with a simple YouTube thumbnail maker. 

These kinds of thumbnails are displays of sound graphic design, in the sense that they are not too busy, use colors effectively (whether it’s bold contrasting colors or a mellow color scheme to match the brand), and the text to best match the video’s content and intention. 

16. The Futur

This online education platform’s YouTube channel is a real treasure chest of inspiration. Their designs are very modern, sharp and ever-evolving. You’ll see different backgrounds (solid colors, patterns, or scenography) as well as great use of mostly bold colors.

The Futur never overdoes it with text, but use it as a focal point of the thumbnail and a way to convey clearly either what the video is about (or who is in it) or what the main theme is.

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17. Canva

You’ve probably considered using Canva’s YouTube thumbnail maker to create your own graphics. However, you can also learn a lot about custom thumbnails from their own channel.

As you might expect, you’ll find quite a range here: from minimalist and professional thumbnails, to colorful video thumbnails that appeal to non-designers using the DIY software, and its awesome features. 

18. TED-Ed

Perhaps it’s the kid in me, but if I’m looking to brush up on history via YouTube, I’ll almost always choose a video with an illustration in its thumbnail. Listening to a piece of educational material while simultaneously seeing it visually represented through beautiful animation is in my book one of the best and most fun ways to learn something.

I really recommend checking this channel out—they feature a variety of illustration styles and give and can give you a great idea of just how versatile this type of design is.

19. The School of Life

This is another learning channel that really harnesses the power of graphic design. From illustrations to interesting pictures to entice potential viewers to learn something through their fun, engaging videos.

As you can see from this example, the best fonts for YouTube thumbnails are usually simple sans serifs. This way you can ensure text overlay is legible even on very busy designs as is the case here.

20. Big Think

If this hasn’t become clear already, here’s the message plain and simple: if you want to use it as a platform to teach people something, make sure your custom Youtube thumbnails are really distinct and able to draw people’s attention!

Big Think is another awesome source of inspiration. From famous guest speakers to intriguing topics, they manage to get people to stop and notice these videos.

Need YouTube thumbnails?

We hope this list of the best YouTube thumbnails has given you some food for thought. If you produce video content regularly, creating cool thumbnails can be time-consuming. Using the best size for YouTube thumbnails might not be the easiest thing if you’re looking to create a very complex design with lots of elements.

With an unlimited design service like ManyPixels, you can get all the graphics you need to make your channel a success. Whether you want professional Canva templates you can use time and again, or a custom thumbnail every time - we’ve got you.

Get started today - flat monthly rates start at just $549 and cover everything from YouTube thumbnails to websites, illustrations, and much more!