- Running a YouTube channel was hard work, am I right?
On top of the shooting, coming up with ideas and editing?
You also have to be constantly thinking
about how to stand out from the rest,
entice new viewers and perhaps most of all, be memorable.
Well, the first step is creating a logo for your channel.
It says you mean business,
that you're serious and professional.
It's also one of the first impressions a viewer will have
about your channel and the thing they'll remember.
Thankfully with Canva, it's pretty easy to create one.
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Hey, I'm Benny, a designer here at Canva.
In this video, I'll cover why you need a logo,
how to create and customize one using our templates
and I'll even show you how to create merch
for when your channel really blows up.
Think about your favorite YouTuber or YouTube channel.
What pops into your head?
Is it the channel's name, their video intros
or editing style or is it their visual branding?
More than likely, they'll all come together,
but for you to stand out
amongst the millions of channels on YouTube,
one of the first steps is to create a unique brand identity.
As you grow outside your niche,
your logo can help your community
of subscribers recognize you.
With an eye-catching logo, you'll effectively introduce
the tone and topic of your videos
to get people clicking over to your page.
So how do we do it with just a few clicks?
Let's jump into Canva and I'll show you how.
On the Canva homepage, search YouTube channel logo.
One of the best things about Canva is the templates.
There are thousands of them
and they make projects like this super quick and easy.
There are four popular types of YouTube logos.
The icon, the word mark,
the profile photo and the combination.
In order to explain this,
I need to develop a logo for a fictional channel.
Mark Twain famously said, "Write what you know,"
so let's apply that to YouTube.
I love design and tech and I also love,
no, I love tacos, so Tech Taco.
When I start designing, I normally go with something
that's a little more straightforward like a word mark.
It says what it is.
Then I might do a monogram, then an icon
and then with all that knowledge,
I might combine it and go back and forth
and then develop some combinations.
Check this out.
I found a template that's almost ready to go.
Type in the name, delete this graphic.
It would be too small to see on a thumbnail.
What color says tech and taco?
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Green for the avocado, the lime and the the lettuce.
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Over here, I'll find something geometric,
but also a bit taco-y.
It adds a little texture.
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This is looking pretty striking.
Easy to read, too, because a lot of the time,
your logo is going to be shown in a circle.
I'll just put a guide on it and see what it feels like.
Hmm, it's okay.
A channel logo that's guaranteed
to create a community of subscribers
is polished and recognizable.
Normally, a YouTube logo will appear incredibly small,
so discern how much or how little
will be seen on the thumbnail.
Especially those on mobile, those thumbnails are tiny.
So we need to work out how simple you can make it
with it still being recognizable.
It's almost like a puzzle and it reminds me
of Picasso's bull lithographs,
where each step, he removes elements
while still keeping it recognizable as a bull.
Okay, I'm inspired to try my next icon.
I'm starting with this template.
Search taco in elements.
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Oh, how cute is that?
Change the text to Tech Taco and make it a bit bigger.
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I'll change the outline color of the taco
by going here to the swatches.
Not all graphics will allow you to do this, but many do.
Next, I'm gonna change the text color
to match the outline of the taco.
Then I'll add a gradient in the background.
It will help it pop out a little.
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Finally, I want the design to look more techno,
so I'm gonna pixelate the taco icon
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and select more techno font.
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Like this one
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Drop the circle on to check.
Now, that's what I'm taco-ing about.
See what I did there?
I also played around with the monogram.
This is where you are using just the letters.
I quite like this one, but I worried it might take
some time for people to work out what it is.
I even did a few combinations.
What's your fave? Let me know in the comments.
I'm gonna go with the pixel taco.
That way, I can show you how we can add our logo to YouTube.
Once your logo is finished, you can download it as a PNG
and upload it to YouTube and resize it as necessary.
In your YouTube account, find YouTube Studio
and go to the customization menu.
Select the Branding tab and upload your PNG.
That easy.
You could also use it as a video watermark by going here
or upload a banner image here.
I'm gonna drop one in, I prepared earlier.
There, nice.
Ready for the likes to come pouring in.
Our logo looks great, but it's only one part
of our brand marketing we need for our channel.
We'll also wanna create some designs for our socials.
That's easy, thanks to the resize button.
With Canva Pro or Canva for Teams,
you can just hit this button.
Search for what you want, hit copy and resize.
That way, you'll get to keep a copy of the original version.
You might just need to make a few adjustments.
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And in no time at all, you'll have all your banners
and logos for your social media needs linked in.
It's something that will grow with you
as your subscribers increase and you start
to think about how you can take it to the next level.
Speaking of which, merch.
I promised you at the start.
Let's take a quick look.
On the homepage, hit this button here.
Depending on where you are in the world,
this will show you what printing products
are available to you.
Clicking on any of these will open a blank template
set out to the correct size.
Let's do a tote bag.
On the front, I could have the logo and on the back,
ah, see if you can work out what it is.
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Here's a handy little trick.
If you duplicate an element, place it in the right position
and then hit this duplicate button.
It will place it in the same distance away.
Perfect for when you want to copy and paste on locked.
Have you worked out what it is yet?
What about now?
Let me change some of the colors here
by using a duotone filter.
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Click here to see what the mock-up of it looks like.
I can see myself sporting one of these
or maybe a T-shirt or a hoodie for the colder months.
Maybe a mug.
So who's excited for Tech Taco? Anyone?
Feel there needs to be a bit more
of a focus on the eating of tacos.
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Did you find this video helpful?
If you did, check out some of our other videos now.
This one is perfect as a next steps for logos
or check out the playlist.
Oh, and make sure you subscribe
to our channel before you head off.
We'd really appreciate it.
We release new videos weekly
and I'd hate for you to miss out.
Thanks so much for watching.