18 YouTube Banner Ideas to Complete Your Channel

Are you looking to create a banner for your YouTube channel but don’t know where to start? We’ve selected examples for you to learn from professionals in the creative space to create a banner that will best represent you.

Most people discover channels through the videos they produce. But the banner, which is the largest visual element of a YouTube channel,  is only noticeable once they land on the homepage. That’s why it’s important to make sure your YouTube channel art is representative of your channel as a whole, straight to the point, looks professional and matches the overall aesthetic of your channel. Think of it as a Facebook cover.

Whether you include pictures of the creator(s) in the cover, have the same color palette or filter as the videos, or describe what viewers can expect from the channel through the use of text, a channel banner that fits best with your video content will be the way to go.

Before we jump into it, if you are looking for information about sizes, dimensions and safe area of YouTube banners or overall tips on how to create high-quality channel art, check out our article on YouTube banner sizes, file size, maximum width, design templates to use and other helpful tips.

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Showcasing people

If you are a vlogger, a well-known persona, or your channel revolves around you as a person, including a portrait or image of yourself in your banner design will be a great strategy to attract more viewers to the channel.

1. Good Mythical Morning

Since getting its start in 2012, the Good Mythical Morning variety-comedy talk show has put out 18 seasons-worth of content and garnered over 16 million subscribers, created multiple spin-off channels and launched a large online merchandising store.

The faces of the channel, Rhett and Link, have remained consistent throughout all the seasons with the setup of their videos as well as the overall theme and type of content while elevating the quality and scale of their YouTube videos. The main premise of their show and videos is to add some mythicality to their viewers’ mornings.

The newest addition of their banner design incorporates the mythical element very well, featuring fictional creatures (a flying fork with wings), a man in a spacesuit, giant spiders and an unnaturally beautiful and starry sky. The logo as well as the creators are also featured on the cover, along with the important information of when viewers can expect videos, making the cover visually beautiful, informative and cohesive.

2. The Try Guys

Initially formed under Buzzfeed, this male quartet gained massive popularity and eventually branched out to create their own channel. Considering it is their contrasting personalities and the dynamic they create together that made most viewers fall in love with their content, their photos are the main focus of the YouTube cover.

The banner background features four different colors, which are also incorporated into their merchandise. The clothes of the Try Guys coordinate with the color, giving the design a cohesive appearance. The white text completes the banner art, featuring the channel name as well as the days when videos are released, making this YouTube banner a simple yet powerful one.

3. Jimmy Kimmel Live

Regular viewers of the Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night talk show will be familiar with the special bond between Jimmy Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo. Having started off as a security guard of the parking lot of Hollywood Boulevard studios and later promoted to being the comedic-effect helper to the talk show host, his humble beginnings, as well as the special relationship with Jimmy Kimmel, gives the show a special heartfelt touch.

The design features the two embracing in a hug looking up into a possible sunset (or a studio light), with a simple light blue background. Considering the show is hosted on the ABC network, the logo is included in the design as well as the talk show logo.

4. Brice Gump

This next YouTube channel banner is centered around the YouTube creator—Brice Gump—a marketing and advertising professional sharing his experience and knowledge on the video platform.

The majority of the cover is in the color blue, which evokes a feeling of trust and reliability, an important factor if your videos are centered around providing advice on an important topic. It has a professional and put-together appearance, with the zig-zags in the design adding an interesting visual touch. The text included in the design provides the basic information about Brice to let the audience know who he is as well as his experience, which adds to trustworthiness towards his content.

5. Invisible People

Focusing on making what many would consider “invisible” people of the United States visible, this non-profit organization puts a face to the homeless people they work with. The urban-looking background image represents the areas where the featured people live.

In efforts of keeping with the concept of the channel, the background is made to be invisible, while the people at the forefront are made to be the focus of the channel art. The brand tagline “changing the story of homelessness” is also included in the banner design, letting know in a short amount of time what the purpose of the organization is.

Despite dealing with quite a heavy topic of homelessness, the smiles on the faces of the people bring a joyful atmosphere to the channel, as well as showing what their goal is: to make the lives of those without a home a little brighter.

Cartoonized

Cartoons are a great way to add personality to any cover design. It is also a great way to show that you are committed and willing to put effort into making your design look good, as making a cartoon design requires more work than putting a photograph or a simple image on the cover.

6. Nado

The Korean YouTuber Nado, specializing in creating eating shows (or mukbangs) and cooking videos—an increasingly popular video genre—features a simplistic and cute banner design with a cartoon illustration of the YouTuber. The banner design shows three illustrations side by side of the YouTuber’s face making different facial expressions that she is often seen making in her videos.

Although this sort of artwork requires a slightly higher level of graphic design, as it is highly customized and requires good skill to be able to capture the essence of a person in a cartoon, it definitely pays off. This banner design is a wonderful example of representing the channel as a whole.

7. Crash Course

An educational channel started by the John and Hank Green brothers has over the years become a go-to video resource for topics anywhere from biology and chemistry to film history and games. The hosts of the channel do a great job of explaining and boiling down the concepts to their core, making it suitable even for a younger audience.

The plethora of topics discussed over the years in the videos are presented in the form of cartoons of famous figures as well as subjects. Cartoon faces of the Green brothers are included in the center of the banner design, right above the name of the channel which is displayed in the middle. The overall look of the YouTube banner design is approachable and positive, inviting all viewers to join the creators to learn a little something.

8. Will Smith

One of the most widely known and likable personalities, the actor, producer, rapper as well as a YouTuber since 2018 boasts a bright and cheerful banner design on his YouTube channel. The cover features the YouTuber in the middle with his name written above his head, surrounded by a crowd of people. The characters around include all sorts of ethnicities and seem to be from different backgrounds, representing the celebrity’s ability to connect with people from all corners of the earth.

This makes sense for the channel as Will Smith’s content features all kinds of people and shows him doing a little bit of everything. It also plays off of his status as a celebrity and highlights his sociable nature. All in all, considering this is the image that is first seen upon accessing the channel page, it gives off a very positive and bright feeling—what the actor is most known for.

Culinary Channels

Food is just as much a visual experience as it is a gustatory one—especially on such a visual platform as YouTube. These next examples do a great job of creating a beautiful visual experience through the cover, enticing the viewer to explore more of the culinary delicacies.

9. Binging with Babish

A great example of a clean yet very representative channel art, this design strongly resembles photographs inside a cookbook. The nickname of the YouTube chef is the focus of the banner design, with a miniature whisk replacing the letter “I” in Babish, and his signature beard (that is also part of his logo) making the background of the banner.

The text on the left side of the channel art not only adds information about days when videos are released but also includes a fun play on words, comparing video releases to serving up food at a restaurant. A design that is simple, yet nothing is missing.

10. Maison Olivia

For a channel that creates extraordinary works of art in baked dessert form, this banner design is quite underwhelming. However, it is a great example of using photography in YouTube channel art to achieve impressive results. Although the design is not nearly representative enough of all the stunning baked goods the master baker produces, it keeps in line with the overall aesthetic—muted, softened colors and photographic quality to the videos. The title of the channel written in a scripted font at the bottom right corner adds to the soft and elegant look of the cover, bringing it together.

11. Strictly Dumpling

This fun and jolly-looking YouTube banner design is very fitting to the YouTube host, who has an equally fun and bright personality. Taking his viewers on a food tour around the world, Mike Chen taste-tests all sorts of food on his channel.

Being a Chinese-American with a love for dumplings, the delicious pocket of food is featured on both his YouTube channel art as well as the channel name and logo. In an effort to encourage viewers to become official endorsers of the channel, the banner design includes images of some merchandise items, with the message “T-shirts & more!” to encourage visits to his online store.

Not only a great example of letting viewers know what more the YouTuber has to offer, but also capturing the personality of the video creator.

Collages

Capturing all the content one YouTube channel has to offer can be a challenge, and sometimes, just one image is not enough. These next YouTube banner designs feature compilations of images to give a more broad representation of all the content viewers can expect to find on the channel.

12. 1MILLION Dance Studio

A Seoul-based dance studio that rose to fame on YouTube through their diverse dance and choreography styles, as well as numerous collaborations with celebrities, features many dancers in their channel.

This is translated into their banner design, featuring photos of the choreographers. The logo, address and email are also repeated throughout the cover, so the channel name as well as their social media information can stick more in the minds of the viewers.

This makes for a stylistically pleasing design, giving it a professional feel while keeping it creative.

13. Best Ever Food Review Show

Another example of a world food tour/extreme food challenge channel, that features a photo collage of the creator, Sonny Side, as well as some of the unusual foods he has eaten on his channel.

This creates a nice balance between the face behind the channel, as well as the content he creates, which is an accurate representation of the videos found on the channel—interesting facts and discoveries about food paired with the big and excited personality of Sonny.

The photographs all have a similar color hue, which helps blend them together into one larger banner design, resulting in a perfect photographic synopsis of the channel.

14. LAD Bible

UK’s largest entertainment website LAD Bible, that also has a YouTube channel, has an equally stylish and informative banner design. The images shown are displayed in an arrow design pointing to the right, giving the appearance of speed and sensationalism and an overall more interesting look to the design. The images on the cover correspond to the text written over them, with a startled dog screenshot representing the “best of the internet” section, a shot from an interview for “LAD Bible originals” and an image of a Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal interview for the “celebrities” section. This does a great job of encompassing all the content viewers can find on the channel while making it look polished and professional.

Based on typography

Fonts play an important role in a design, regardless of whether it is on a book cover, in a logo, or even on a YouTube cover.

15. Unbox Therapy

Unboxing videos are a popular video genre and a guilty pleasure for many. Unbox Therapy specifically focuses on the unboxing and reviewing of technological gadgets and devices. In the true unboxing fashion (that most of us do on our bed as we excitedly run back to our room to see the long-awaited delivery), the background of the banner design is a bedsheet. The inclusion of polystyrene loose-fill chips on the sides further supports the concept of unboxing, making the idea behind the channel more easily recognizable.

The text in the channel art is textured, resembling materials used in packaging. The color orange adds a nice pop of color against the more muted colors used in the design. It is also a color often used in the commerce world to entice shoppers, which is again in line with the theme of the channel.

16. Refinery29

Dedicated to bringing the latest beauty, fashion and lifestyle inspiration to its viewers, this next channel has been regularly delivering videos for over 10 years.

Given the nature of the channel, that has many hosts and various shows and segments, the banner art mirrors that by featuring the many faces of their creators. The background color is a pastel salmon pink color (a trendy 2020 color in design) which is in line with the primary target audience the channel caters to (that being females). Although the font of the text is simple, the unconventional switcheroo of the bulk of the imagery being inside the text as opposed to in the background makes this YouTube cover art a beautiful and intriguing choice.

17. Neat A/B Testing

Neat A/B Testing offers statistics to provide help to entrepreneurs to increase their profits, using YouTube as a way to expand their reach as well as provide additional material to be displayed on their website.

The logo of the company is the main focus of the banner design with few extra additions. For a business that offers statistics and analysis-related services, this simple and neat cover is the best option. This design is also easy to create using a YouTube banner template, considering you already have the logo design prepared. The dark blue, white and orange are all techie colors commonly used in the industry, helping viewers identify what sort of services the channel offers.

18. Zamzar

This is another channel art belonging to a website that uses YouTube as a way to offer instructional videos on how to use their services. Its cover design stays true to the appearance of the website: the design elements incorporated into the background, including music notes, video files and computer icons represent the different types of files the website is able to convert.

The text beneath the title provides information about the kind of services one can expect from the website including the types of files that can be converted and the large array of formats supported. The three arrows on the left encourage the feeling of ease and speed, two very important factors in file conversion, as everyone wants things to be done quickly.

Creation time

Now that you’ve been inspired by other creators, it is time to create your own great banner design. Using Adobe Photoshop or Canva can be a good way to go. You may choose to go with stock photos for your banner background, or take your own pictures and make it more customizable.

If you are someone with little to no design experience but wish to provoke a great first impression with your cover design, you can choose to use our design services at ManyPixels, guaranteeing you a personal designer who will cater to your needs and complete as many revisions as needed.