5 Tools to Create Eye-Catching YouTube Thumbnails

YouTube is a highly competitive and cutthroat video platform. If you’re looking to gain traction, you need to tweak a variety of factors such as the length of your videos, how they’re edited, and how they show up on people’s feed. That’s why your thumbnails need to be of the best quality, so viewers will stop scrolling and actually click on play. 

In today’s age, you don’t need to hire a graphic designer to create engaging thumbnails. Instead, AI platforms offer beginners AI-assisted features and ease-of-use so you can design YouTube thumbnails all by yourself. Let’s dive into 5 top-rated graphic design tools online. 

1. Canva

Overview 

Canva is a web-based online design platform that offers millions of general-purpose templates for free. It’s beginner-friendly, easy to use, and has a user-friendly web and app interface. If you’re working with a creative team, this tool also offers team collaboration features in abundance. 

Pricing 

• Free tier 
• Canva Pro: $12.99/month 
• Canva Teams: $14.99/month 
• Canva Enterprise: Custom pricing 

Features 

• Asset library 
• Brand kits 
• AI-powered tools
  • Magic Write 
  • Magic Resize 
  • AI image generation 
• Built-in video and animation editors
• Download and export options available in multiple formats (PNG, JPEG, PDF)

Ease of Use

This tool is incredibly user-friendly and a great option for those with no prior design experience. It has a simple-to-use drag-and-drop interface, zero learning curve, and professionally-made templates to cut your design time in half. 

2. Adobe Express

Overview 

Adobe Express is an accessible entry point to the Adobe suite. It’s simplified, minimalistic, and sleek. It offers powerful built-in Photoshop features and AI tools to make designing easy for everyone. If you’re looking to generate AI artworks, it also has a commercially safe backend for AI. 

Pricing 

• Free tier 
• Premium: $9.99/month per user

Features 

• Firefly generative AI
  • Generative fill 
  • Stylized text effects 
  • Text-to-image creation
• Photoshop and Illustrator quick actions 
• Adobe Stock photos built-in integration 
• PDF editor 
• Content scheduler 

Ease of Use

Using Adobe Express is a streamlined and frictionless experience. It has thousands of templates, easy layer management, and links to other softwares seamlessly. However, it’s still relatively difficult compared to other tools on this list. We’d recommend intermediate designing skill-level for this platform. 

3. Piktochart

Overview 

If you regularly post informational videos on YouTube, Piktochart might be a good fit for you. It allows users to turn mundane and complex numbers into interactive presentations, documents, and graphics. For the corporate-driven or the education sector, this design platform also offers AI-powered features. Similarly, you can also edit large documents and PDFs with ease. 

Pricing 

• Free
• Pro: $14/month per user 
• Business: $24/month per user 

Features 

• Data-to-chart link (Excel, Sheets)
• Layouts are block-based 
• Interactive chart maps (colour-coding)
• AI studio
  • Create infographics, presentations, documents, and layouts from text prompts 
• Video subtitles

Ease of Use

Piktochart is not the easiest software to learn, given the corporate and professional nature of its design features. There is a slight learning curve to using it. We’d recommend it to those who have a general know-how of working with spreadsheets. 

4. VistaCreate

Overview 

VistaCreate, formerly known as Crello, is a design platform geared towards small business owners, social media marketing managers, and complete beginners. It offers easy-to-use templates and has a user interface similar to Canva’s. It also has a native integration with VistaPrint for any print-on-demand needs. 

Pricing 

• Free tier
• Pro: $13/month 

Features 

• Asset library 
• Print fulfillment 
• AI creative studio
  • AI image generator 
  • AI writer
  • AI background remover
  • AI object remover 
• Brand kits
• Animation and video elements 

Ease of Use

VistaCreate has a drag-and-drop editor and zero learning curve for beginners. It has features that make team collaboration as simple as an email invite. You can also use one-click resize to adapt a design into multiple formats.  

5. PosterMyWall

Overview 

PosterMyWall is an all-in-one marketing solution for people looking to brand and publish their designs from scratch to end. It offers basic yet important design necessities such as YouTube thumbnail templates, content scheduler, and an intuitive built-in graphic editor. Additionally, you can use its massive suite of AI features to get a headstart on your design. 

Pricing 

• Free tier 
• Premium: $9.95/month 
• Premium Plus: $29.95/month 

Features 

• Email marketing
• Event landing page creation 
• AI suite
  • Text-to-image generation
  • Video subtitles 
  • AI background remover
  • AI writer 
• Store signage generation 
• Multi-media editing
• Multi-platform publishing and downloads 

Ease of Use

This platform is built keeping small business owners in mind. It’s easy-to-use, generates high-impact graphics, and offers print-ready aspect ratios. It has no learning curve. 

How to Design An Effective YouTube Thumbnail

With a great online platform at your disposal, it’s time to learn some basics before creating your first YouTube thumbnail. Here are some tips and tricks for beginners to keep in mind:

1. Use HD Images

A blurry or pixelated thumbnail can make your content appear unprofessional and poorly designed. To combat this, use sharp, high contrast, and high-quality photos. Make sure that your thumbnail is clear on both web and mobile. 

2. Keep Text Limited

Overcrowding a thumbnail with text is an easy mistake to make. Users are most probably viewing it on a small screen, so it’s important to keep text in accordance with that. Use 3-6 keywords and choose large, bold fonts. 

If you’re feeling creative and want to decorate, prioritise readability first and foremost. Lastly, make sure there’s adequate contrast or white space between text and background so it’s scannable at first glance. 

3. Create Visual Contrast

To catch attention in busy and booming feeds, create contrast with colours. This helps your content get discovered in search results and recommendation feeds. Here’s what to do:

• Bright colours against dark backgrounds
• Bold text fonts and sizes
• Clear separation between different elements
• Visual hierarchy which is natural to the eye 

The goal is that the message of your thumbnail should be understood by the audience within seconds. 

4. Choose a Singular Focal Point

If you use too many elements, it can confuse and discourage viewers from pressing play. Instead, choose one primary subject to guide the audience’s eye to. It can be a person, product, result, or visual element. 

5. Consistent Branding

If recognition and visibility is a priority for you, keep branding consistent across all thumbnails. Ideally, you should use the same colour palette, similar fonts, repeating graphic elements, and logo placement (if appropriate). 

6. Create Curiosity

Your thumbnail should create a sense of intrigue and curiosity. However, it should simultaneously remain truthful to what the video content is actually about. ‘Clickbait’ thumbnails are popular, but drastically tarnish your YouTube channel’s name over time. Here’s what to include:

• Surprising result 
• Dramatic transformation
• Display key question 
• Reveal a small part of a story 

Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Misleading thumbnails can hurt audience trust and lead to negative viewer retention. 

7. Design for Mobile First

Most watch time is delivered by audiences watching on mobile, according to YouTube. Your thumbnail should be effective, visible, and readable even on mobile screens. Before you publish your thumbnails, remember to zoom out and preview the thumbnail on a smaller screen. 

If your thumbnail’s looking cluttered, remove unnecessary details. If your design is too complex for single glance comprehension, simplify elements and keep only what’s extremely important to the video’s content.