The Essential Guide to Making YouTube Thumbnails for Mobile Storytellers

As a content creator, you know the importance of a visually appealing thumbnail for YouTube videos. It gives your viewers a sneak peek of what they can expect from your video and helps it stand out in the crowded world of YouTube.

When creating your thumbnail, it’s important to remember that the recommended size is 1280 x 720 pixels and a minimum width of 640 pixels. With these dimensions in mind, let’s dive into how you can easily create stunning thumbnails for your YouTube videos using your mobile phone.

Method 1. Make a YouTube Thumbnail on iPhone With the iPhone Photos App

One way to create a thumbnail for your YouTube video on your iPhone is to use the built-in Photos app. The Photos app comes pre-installed on all iPhones and offers a range of editing tools you can use to create a thumbnail.

The Photos app on your iPhone offers a range of features that you can use to create a custom thumbnail for your YouTube video. Here are some of the features you can use:

Crop: The crop tool allows you to resize and reposition your thumbnail image by trimming away any unnecessary parts of the image.
Rotate: The rotate tool lets you adjust the orientation of your thumbnail image. You can rotate the image clockwise or counterclockwise to achieve the desired angle.
Adjust lighting and color: The lighting and color tools allow you to adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, and other aspects of the thumbnail image to enhance its overall appearance.
Add text: You can use the text tool to add words or phrases to your thumbnail image. This can be a great way to include a call-to-action or to highlight a key feature of your video.
Add filters and stickers: The Photos app includes a range of filters and stickers that you can use to give your thumbnail image a unique look. You can experiment with filters and stickers to find the perfect one for your thumbnail.

To create a thumbnail using the Photos app on your iPhone, follow these steps:

Step1 Open the Photos app and find the image you want to use as your thumbnail. Tap on the image to open it.

Step2 Tap the Edit button in the top right corner of the screen. Use the crop and rotate tools to adjust the perspective and the aspect ratio of 16:9.

Step3 Tap the Filters button to access the filter effects. Scroll through the available filters and tap on one to apply it to your thumbnail image.

Step4 To write or draw on the image, tap the Markup button. This will open a toolbar with a variety of drawing and text tools. Use these tools to add your personal touch to the thumbnail.

Step5 When you’re satisfied with your thumbnail, tap Done in the top right corner of the screen.

Pros

Convenient
Easy to use
Versatile

Cons

Limited customization option
Lower image quality

This method is best for users looking for a quick and easy way to create a thumbnail on the go and doesn’t need many customization options. It’s also a good option for users needing computer or graphic design software access. If you’re looking for more advanced customization options or higher image quality, consider using other methods or software.

Method 2. Make YouTube Thumbnails on Android/iPhone With Third-Party Apps

In addition to using the built-in Photos app on your iPhone or Android device, there are also many third-party apps that you can use to create YouTube thumbnails. Some popular options include Canva, Adobe Spark, and FotoJet. These apps offer a wider range of customization options and design templates, making it easy to create professional-looking thumbnails even if you have yet to gain graphic design experience.

One popular third-party app for creating YouTube thumbnails on both iPhone and Android devices is PixelLab. PixelLab is a powerful graphic design app with many features and tools for creating custom thumbnails. With PixelLab, you can add text, shapes, and stickers to your thumbnail image and adjust the image’s color, lighting, and other aspects to get the perfect look. You can also import your images or graphics for your thumbnail design.

Here are the steps to create a thumbnail using PixelLab on your Android or iOS device:

Step1 Open the Play Store and search for PixelLab. Install the app.

Step2 Tap the “+” icon to add an image from your gallery.

Step3 Edit the image using the available tools, such as cropping, rotating, and adjusting the color and lighting.

Step4 Add text to the image and customize it to your liking.

Step5 Change the resolution of the image to 1280 x 720 pixels.

Step6 Save the image to your gallery by exporting it.

Pros

More customization options
Advanced editing tools
High image quality

Cons

Requires a separate app download
It may require a learning curve

This method is best for users looking for more advanced customization options and higher image quality for their YouTube thumbnails. It’s also a good option for users with experience with graphic design software and who are comfortable using advanced editing tools. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to create a thumbnail and only need a few customization options, consider using the built-in Photos app or other simpler methods.

How To Add Thumbnails to YouTube Videos on Mobile

Once you’ve created your thumbnail image, it’s time to add it to your YouTube video. Adding a thumbnail to your YouTube video on your mobile device is a simple process that only requires a few steps.

Here’s how to do it on your mobile device:

Step1 Open the YouTube app on your mobile device and sign in to your account.

Step2 Tap on the My Videos tab to view a list of your uploaded videos.

Step3 Tap on the video and tap the “Edit“ button in the top right corner of the screen.

Step4 Tap the Custom thumbnail button and upload the image you want to use from your photo library.

Step5 Tap Save in the top right corner to upload the thumbnail to your video.

That’s it! Your new thumbnail will now be displayed on your YouTube video, helping it stand out and attract more views. You can repeat this process for other videos if you want to add a custom thumbnail.

It May Interest You – Make YouTube Thumbnails on Windows/Mac

While it’s convenient to create YouTube thumbnails on your mobile device, there may be times when you need to create a thumbnail on your Windows or Mac computer.

For example, if you need to create a thumbnail with a higher resolution or more advanced customization options, you may find it easier to do so on a computer. Additionally, a computer may be more efficient if you’re working on a larger thumbnail project and need to create multiple thumbnails simultaneously.

One popular tool for creating YouTube thumbnails on a Windows or Mac computer is Filmora. Wondershare Filmora is a powerful video editing software that allows you to easily edit and enhance your YouTube videos and create custom thumbnails for your videos.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

With Filmora, you can add text, graphics, and special effects to your thumbnail image and import and edit multiple images. Filmora is a great tool for creating professional-looking YouTube thumbnails on your Windows or Mac computer.

To create a thumbnail using Filmora on your Windows or Mac computer, follow these steps:

Step1 Launch Filmora, add the picture to the timeline and select the AI Portrait option in the Effects panel to cut out the subject from the background.

Step2 Scale up and reposition the photo.

Step3 Add a new background to the track below the picture. Use the other editing tools in Filmora to customize the image as desired, such as adding text, graphics, and special effects.

Step4 When you are done editing the thumbnail, take a snapshot by clicking the camera icon.

Step5 Locate the thumbnail in your local drive.

For more detailed instructions and a visual guide, you can watch the following video tutorial:

Add a video

This video will show you how to use Filmora to create a custom thumbnail for your YouTube video, step by step.

Conclusion

Many tools are available for creating YouTube thumbnails, including the built-in Photos app on mobile devices and third-party apps like Pixelab. One particularly powerful option is Filmora, a video editing software with features for creating custom thumbnails, such as adding text, graphics, and special effects.

Whether you create your thumbnails on your mobile device or your computer, use a high-quality image and make the thumbnail relevant to your video to increase the chances of it getting clicked.

Method 2. Make YouTube Thumbnails on Android/iPhone With Third-Party Apps

Here are the steps to create a thumbnail using PixelLab on your Android or iOS device:

Step1 Open the Play Store and search for PixelLab. Install the app.

Step2 Tap the “+” icon to add an image from your gallery.

Step3 Edit the image using the available tools, such as cropping, rotating, and adjusting the color and lighting.

Step4 Add text to the image and customize it to your liking.

Step5 Change the resolution of the image to 1280 x 720 pixels.

Step6 Save the image to your gallery by exporting it.

Pros

More customization options
Advanced editing tools
High image quality

Cons

Requires a separate app download
It may require a learning curve

How To Add Thumbnails to YouTube Videos on Mobile

Here’s how to do it on your mobile device:

Step1 Open the YouTube app on your mobile device and sign in to your account.

Step2 Tap on the My Videos tab to view a list of your uploaded videos.

Step3 Tap on the video and tap the “Edit“ button in the top right corner of the screen.

Step4 Tap the Custom thumbnail button and upload the image you want to use from your photo library.

Step5 Tap Save in the top right corner to upload the thumbnail to your video.

It May Interest You – Make YouTube Thumbnails on Windows/Mac

While it’s convenient to create YouTube thumbnails on your mobile device, there may be times when you need to create a thumbnail on your Windows or Mac computer.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

To create a thumbnail using Filmora on your Windows or Mac computer, follow these steps:

Step1 Launch Filmora, add the picture to the timeline and select the AI Portrait option in the Effects panel to cut out the subject from the background.

Step2 Scale up and reposition the photo.

Step3 Add a new background to the track below the picture. Use the other editing tools in Filmora to customize the image as desired, such as adding text, graphics, and special effects.

Step4 When you are done editing the thumbnail, take a snapshot by clicking the camera icon.

Step5 Locate the thumbnail in your local drive.

For more detailed instructions and a visual guide, you can watch the following video tutorial:

Add a video

This video will show you how to use Filmora to create a custom thumbnail for your YouTube video, step by step.

Conclusion

Whether you create your thumbnails on your mobile device or your computer, use a high-quality image and make the thumbnail relevant to your video to increase the chances of it getting clicked.

How to Make Collab Videos And Grow Your Channel?

How to Make Collab Videos and Grow Your Channel?

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

The following post will teach you how to find and contact partners for YouTube collaborations, as well as provide advice for actually making the collab. We also did a post earlier this week about how to get other creators to collab with you,which includes videos from 4 different YouTubers on that subject.

Choosing A Potential Partner
How to Contact A Partner
Types of collab videos
Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

1. Choosing A Potential Partner

Before you think about how you’re going to approach someone you need to decide who you want to approach.

A lot of people automatically want to approach their YouTube hero, and that can be a mistake. Liking your partner’s videos is a must – why would you want to refer your subscribers to someone whose channel you wouldn’t watch yourself? – but it can be really hard to get someone with a significantly bigger channel than yours to work with you.

Will Kitty get to collab with the big dog?

Larger YouTubers get a lot of collab requests, and they are really busy with their own channels. Even if they love your content, it can be hard to justify taking time away from working on their own channel to do videos that won’t help them grow too.

Collaborating with someone your own size means you both stand to gain equally in channel growth. Instead of approaching someone you love that’s huge, try finding someone you like just as much whose sub count is similar to yours.

There are exceptions to this, of course. The team at Mr.Kate managed to work with YouTubers who had millions of subs while they were still under 1 million. They got these high profile collabs because they had something additional to offer that made up for the subscriber gap – they were redesigning the apartments, offices, or studios of the YouTubers they did the collabs with. If you want to work with someone bigger than you, think about what you might be able to offer them in place of new subscribers.

Mr.Kate makes over **MyLifeAsEva **’s bedroom.

Also, try to find someone whose channel has something in common with yours thematically so you know your subscribers will be interested in them. They don’t have to do exactly what you do, but your topics should be related. For example: if you do quirky video game reviews and they do quirky movie reviews, you could team up to review a movie based on a game. That would make sense. But if you quirky video game reviews and they review do very serious ice cream reviews, that’ll make a lot less sense.

A good way to find potentially collab partners is to look at your list of subscribers. You already know everyone there likes your channel!

2. How to contact a partner

Sometimes people leave contact info in their video descriptions, but it might be easier to go to the About tab on their channel page and check for an email address. Look for a field that says for business inquiries, click on view email address, and use the CAPTCHA that appears to prove you aren’t a robot.

Reaching out more casually through Twitter DMs, YouTube comments, or Facebook is good too, but you should use those platforms more to build a relationship that could lead to a collab. If someone had never commented on a video of yours before and then commented once just to ask you to collab it’d be hard to believe they were really interested in your channel.

3. Popular Types of Collab Videos

Gabrielletalks about different types of collabs and how well they work.

In most cases when you do a collab, you’ll each want to have content to post to your own channels (unless you’re doing some type of interview). You don’t want to put a lot of effort into a video that won’t end up being ‘yours’. Here are a few different ways to collaborate:

#1. Shout outs

In this type of collab all you do is mention each other and, usually, use YouTube cards to link to each other’s channels. You make a video that is completely yours, and at some point in it you talk about your partner’s channel and why you like it. To make things fair, you should discuss how long the mentions will be and where in the videos they will happen. It wouldn’t feel good to gush about how great someone is for a full minute near the beginning of your video and have them spend two seconds mentioning you near the end of theirs.

I personally don’t check people out just because someone I like mentions them, so this might not be the best way to go if you’re hoping to bring in new subscribers. It is the easiest kind of collab to do, though.

2. Guest spots

This is my favorite kind of collab to watch, because each YouTuber has sole creative control over the video that goes on their channel. Instead of trying to blend your styles together, you each make videos that reflect your own personal styles.

For your video, you have the other vlogger on as a guest. In the video you do the same kinds of things your fans like watching you do, and you include the other person. If they’re alright with it, it can be fun to draw them a bit outside their comfort zone. If you like to dance on your channel, and they never dance on theirs, ask them to dance with you!

Matthias gets NateWantsToBattle – who does song parodies on his channel – to make balloon animals.

Turnabout is fair play, of course, so be prepared to step a bit outside of your own comfort zone when you appear as a guest in one of their videos.

Alternatively, you could just introduce your guest and then let them take over and then do the same thing in reverse on their channel.

3. Long distance collabs

Lauren is in Toronto and Aja is in LA, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cook together! Also: Lauren’s channel is about food and Aja’s is about healthy living – they aren’t exactly the same, but they’re related enough that the collab makes sense.

Sometimes you really want to work together, but geography just won’t bend to your wills. That doesn’t mean you can’t collab. You can always send each other some footage to cut to and make videos together that way. Or, you can do a Google Hangout or Skype chat and record it.

4. Getting the Most Out of Your Collaborations

Usually, you have two reasons for wanting to do a collab; having fun with another YouTuber, and growing your channel. The collab exposes you to their subscribers, who will hopefully decide they like you and subscribe to you too. There are ways of increasing the odds of this happening.

Commenting on each other’s videos, and responding to viewer comments, is one of the best. It will help you seem more like a person who is being introduced than a guest star in a video.

Kitty got the collab! They’re friends now – doesn’t that make you want to sub?

What have your experiences with YouTube collaborations been like?