How to make thumbnails for YouTube in Canva

The video thumbnail is important, in the end it's the first thing we see and in most cases we decide whether the content is of interest to us or not based on what we see in the thumbnail, that's why it's important to be careful of the design. In this post we show you how to create thumbnails for YouTube in Canva and we give you some ideas to apply to your creations. If you don't handle this tool, don't worry, you won't have any problems creating your miniatures because it's so easy to use, I'll leave you here an introductory Canva tutorial for you to catch up.

Create a new document

We will start creating a document in which we will design our miniature, for that open "file", "create new design". Canva helps you When deciding which dimensions are appropriate for each section, all you have to do is open the search bar and write what you want to design. Canva will show you different templates and will also give you the possibility to work on a blank document . In the case of miniatures, the recommended web size is 1280px x 720px. 

Change background color

When you have the file created, change the background color . You just need to click on the sheet, and hit the colored square that appears in the top left corner of the photo. A panel with color options will open. If you have a logo, you can use the exact colors even if you don't save the code. For that just drag your logo file onto the screen , it will upload directly to Canva. When you add it to the file, go back to the color options panel and you will see that there is a new section, "Photo color palette" , there you have all the colors of your logo available. When you use it or write code, you can delete the image. 

Design great thumbnails for Youtube in Canva

The instructions we will give now on how to create thumbnails for YouTube, are based on tutorials. Those are just examples to serve as inspiration , but of course you can channel your creativity and create a more personalized design. Try to make it interesting the miniature must be very eye-catching so that other people are interested in your video. 

Add PNG image with transparent background

Photos help attract attention. If you are the person speaking in the video, e We recommend that you take a snapshot of the frame of interest and use the image in the thumbnail . Here, for example, we will use a screenshot of one of the videos from our Youtube channel.

We will remove the background from the image for optimal results. If you don't know how to do it, I suggest you take a look at this tutorial where we teach you how to create a PNG Image in Photoshop . In any case, if you don't handle the Adobe package there are also online tools that automatically remove the background. 

Once your photo is ready, upload it to Canva and paste it . If you click on the image, at the top of the screen you have the option "effect", you can use any of the available effects to give volume to the image, we have applied "Curved" in the "shadow" section. 

Add descriptive and attention-grabbing titles to your YouTube thumbnails

The next thing we're going to add to the thumbnail is text . Always try to add a descriptive, short, and attention-grabbing title. In the tutorial I've used a simple, but very effective  trick .

Go to "elements" and find the square shape . We're going to place it in the top left corner and we're going to turn it into a rectangle or. We will also change the color, click and press the color box available on the top panel. WE we have given it a very dark gray tone. 

When you have a form go to "text" and add a title . We've used the Raleway Heavy font, but you can choose the one you want, it's a matter of taste. Write a title, give it a background color , and resize it to fit the rectangle. The text will look like a hole carved into the shape!

You can add more text below , always trying to make it readable and the hierarchy well understood. Try combining different colors. 

Add more visual content

You can add visual elements that help understand the subject of the video. In this case like the "how to make thumbnails for YouTube in Canva" tutorial, we we've gone to "elements" and we've looked for the Youtube logo . By adding it you We have applied a "shiny" effect, in the "shadow" section . Before saving and uploading your thumbnail to YouTube, make sure all the elements align well.