How To Create A YouTube Thumbnail In CANVA For Newbies in 2020

Intro

Do you want to learn how to make a youtube thumbnail with Canva?

As a YouTuber or video creator, having a compelling thumbnail is really important. It’s the first thing your viewers see on a video when they scroll through their video feed.

And if you have a really appealing, eye-catching video thumbnail, you’ll be able to draw the attention of your audience to get more clicks and views on your videos.

When people click on your Youtube video a lot more, it boosts your click-through rate (CTR) and your video would be shown to a lot more people.

If you want to get more clicks,

views, and a higher CTR, follow me on this post as I take you through my process of creating thumbnails for my Youtube videos on one of the best online design tools out there, Canva.

In case you’re a sucker for videos, you can watch this 8+ minute instead to learn how to make those beautiful thumbnails.

Insert Video Link Here

Let’s dive straight in.

What is Canva?

Canva is an online design tool at its core. You go to the platform, sign in online, and start creating wonderful designs with ease.

It is widely loved and used due to its utmost simplicity and how easy it is to use to design anything. And most times, it is often recommended as a good starting point for beginner designers.

With a ton of templates, Canva enables you to create simple visuals from Youtube thumbnails to posters to banners and more. And it doesn’t matter if you’re unskilled and a newbie in graphic design.

You can create designs from scratch and also use templates with Canva, all thanks to its very intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Each template on the tool has been arranged into multiple categories which makes the creation a smooth breeze.

And the best part of Canva is that you get most of the awesome features for free. Really great!

Now, let’s dive in to see how you can use Canva to create those cathing, alluring YouTube thumbnails to get more clicks and views.

Creating Youtube Thumbnails with Canva

Using a custom YouTube thumbnail for your videos comes with a lot of benefits. A compelling image as your Youtube thumbnail helps you compel more eyeballs and potential viewers to get more views on your videos.

Also, it allows you to include your video title and an image of yourself to make your video more presentable and professional.

When it comes to YouTube thumbnail size, the ideal size is 1280 x 720 pixels which clearly fits the size of a 720p video.

But Canva comes with YouTube thumbnail image templates you can edit so you don’t even need to worry about the size.

Let’ s dive in.

Sign In To Canva

To get started creating your YouTube thumbnail on Canva, you need to sign in to your Canva account. If you don’t yet have a Canva account, sign up for a free one.

Once you’re signed in and you’re on the main dashboard, go the search box and type in ‘Youtube thumbnail’ and click on the “Youtube thumbnail” option once it appears from the search results. After clicking it, you’ll be directed to a page filled with Youtube thumbnail templates.

If you want to create from scratch, you could click on the create a design button by the upper right portion of the main dashboard.

Next, click on the “custom dimensions” link and manually insert the 1280 x 720 dimensions for Youtube thumbnails and click on create a new design.

Find a YouTube Thumbnail Template

On the Youtube thumbnail page, you’ll find loads of well-designed templates for your videos.

Scroll down the list, look out for the template that fits your style and click on it. When you click on it, you’ll be taken to the editor where you can tweak and customize the template.

Edit the Template

This is where the magic happens. On the Canva editor page, you’ll be able to style the template.

The editor is basically drag-and-drop and really simple, so you should worry about coding or any technical stuff. It is easy to use and you just have to drag and element you want to use and drop them on the canvas.

By the left corner, you’ll find all the page elements (such as custom photos, charts, icons, text blocks, stickers, videos, background, and more) you can add to your canvas.

And to add style to each element, click on it while it’s on the canvas, and custom options will appear in the top bar.

For images, you can add effects, resize them, add filters, adjust their tone, crop, lock, and much more. For text elements, you’re allowed to change the font type, font size, font color, and much more.

In case you have a custom image you want to use on the thumbnail, you should upload them by clicking in the “upload” icon by the left panel of options. So now that you’ve edited the template, you should move on to saving your image and adding it to your video.

Download Your Thumbnail

Once you’re done editing your template, it’s time to save and download for use. Click on the “Download” button on the top right corner of the page. You’ll see a couple of download options that allow you to download in various formats such as png, jpg, pdf, and even mp4 and even gifs.

For images, you should click on the png format and download it. After that, the thumbnail image would begin downloading into your computer.

Upload Thumbnail to Youtube

Once it’s on your computer, the next thing is to add the thumbnail to your Youtube video. You can add the custom thumbnail image using YouTube Studio.

Kindly note that for the image to be accepted as a thumbnail by Youtube, it must be set at the ideal dimensions and size and format.

The image must be 1280 px wide by 720 px tall, under 2MB and in JPG/JPEG, PNG, GIF, or BMP image format. If you don’t see an option to upload a thumbnail, you might need to verify your Youtube account.

It’s easy to do and here’s a guide you can follow through to do that! but I have a detailed guide here.

That’s how you create a Youtube thumbnail with Canva. Let me know if you have any questions in the comment box below.

Shelly Hopkins

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