I was given the responsibility of creating all of the thumbnails for new videos on the How to Start an LLC YouTube Channel and replace some of the existing thumbnails. I was provided with photos and the title to the video with the expectation that the title would be different in the thumbnail image. In order to increase views I made sure to create thumbnails that included the following:
- A well lit photo of the host with a dynamic pose or exaggerated expression.
- A headline to identify what the video is about (identifier).
- A tagline to emotionally motivate people to click on the video (emotional modifier).
- Bold colors and layouts that use scale and contrast.
- Minimal graphics.
- Alternative thumbs with different headlines and taglines for A/B testing.
Duration: Nov. 2023 – Present
Role: Designer
Challenge: It was difficult to get well lit photos of the hosts, especially with the lighting constraints of our office. It was also difficult to get a large variety of poses.
Solution: I sent a shot list, examples and criteria to follow when taking photos. Once I received the photos I edited them in Lightroom.
Incfile Review
ZenBusiness Review
What is a Registered Agent?
Northwest Review
LegalZoom Review
LLC State Guide (template)
Process
I started by doing a competitive analysis. I searched the topic of the video to see which ones appear first in the results. This gave me insights into the strategies that other people use when creating thumbnails for that topic. It also made me aware of what thumbnails I was going to compete with in the search results.
To come up with a headline that went on the thumbnail, I would try to make it as concise as possible. The goal was to let the viewer know what the video was about with little effort on their part. This often involved making the headline different from the title of the video.
Each thumbnail also has a tagline. For these, I used a phrase that would emotionally motivate people to watch the video. I used Chat GPT to determine what the motivators would be for each subject. It took a lot of revising to come up with taglines that were actually successful. Chat GPT isn’t the greatest at human empathy, so I tried to ask questions with answers that were more logical. Example prompt: What are peoples biggest concerns when deciding whether or not to get a Registered Agent? I also asked for taglines specifically, but didn’t rely on that. It mostly helped to give me inspiration to start generating ideas.
After I had a short list of taglines to work with, I would create sketches to try out different layouts or elements. Then, in photoshop, I used a cut out of the host on the right and placed the headline and tagline on the left. Sometimes certain taglines didn’t work with the layout, so it was nice to have a list of options. I also created alternate thumbs with different headlines and taglines to be used for A/B testing. These haven’t been implemented yet, but we hope to test them out in early 2024.
Thumbnail sketches