Hi everybody I hope you're having a great week so far. Today I'm going to be talking
about YouTube Shorts videos and thumbnail images. Specifically I'm going to show you
how to create your own YouTube Shorts thumbnail image using Canva. It's incredibly easy actually
and it will give your YouTube Shorts video a more polished and professional look
especially if you're going to be using them for your business. I've got a free Canva template
to give you which will save you a lot of time experimenting with dimensions and measurements
so keep your eyes peeled for that link. If you're new to this channel I'm Nicky Pasquier,
I'm a Canva Certified Creative and Canva Creator, so if you want to learn more about how to use
Canva for your business be sure to subscribe to my channel and hit that little bell notification so
that you get notified when I publish a new video. So before we dive into the actual creation process
it's worth just taking a few moments to remind ourselves a couple of things about YouTube Shorts
because it will help us make better YouTube thumbnails. The first thing to remember is
that YouTube Shorts were created to compete with TikTok so they are vertical videos.
The second most important thing to remember is that even though they're vertical videos
they are viewable on a smartphone as well as a desktop device, which means that the
thumbnails that we create for YouTube Shorts need to grab attention and get viewers to watch
your videos whether they're watching on mobile or desktop. Let me just show you what I mean.
When you upload and publish a YouTube Shorts video YouTube will automatically add them to a specific
section on your Channel for YouTube Shorts. If I pop over to my YouTube Studio and click on the
"customisation" section you can see where YouTube creates that particular section right here.
As you can see the thumbnail image on a desktop device is displayed horizontally just like all my
other thumbnails. On a smartphone a YouTube Shorts thumbnail can be displayed both horizontally in
browse features search and suggested videos, but it can also be displayed vertically in the
specific Shorts section of your YouTube channel. That sounds kind of complicated but don't worry because
I have created a Canva template for you to help you out. This section here is the vertical
thumbnail which I showed you was visible only on a smartphone in the Shorts section of your Channel.
The rest of the thumbnail is visible on a smartphone and desktop and is displayed
horizontally. So really all you need to do is ensure all the essential parts of your thumbnail
such as text overlay is included within this space here so that it's viewable on a smartphone and a
desktop. This is one I created earlier and you'll see that I've used a smartphone mock-up to create
my shorts thumbnail image. I've kept the text to a minimum, you don't need to use any more
than say 3-5 words at the most. Ensure that the text is big enough to be read on a smartphone.
Don't be tempted to neglect the rest of the thumbnail space because as you've already seen
the thumbnail is viewed horizontally on desktop devices, so at the very least use a branded
background colour. I've also added a YouTube Shorts icon in the corner so that it stands
out from the rest of my thumbnails. Once you've created your thumbnail go ahead and download it by
clicking on the arrow in the top right hand corner of your toolbar, selecting PNG and then download.
Okay so now I'm going to show you exactly how to add your custom thumbnail to a YouTube Shorts
video on mobile and desktop. So once I've uploaded a YouTube Shorts video to my android device
what I need to do is tap on the three little dots to the very side of my video, select "Edit Video"
and then tap on the little pencil icon in the top left hand corner of my screen. I can now
select one of the three stills that YouTube suggests from my video. But what I want to
do is upload that custom thumbnail that I created in Canva. So I'm going to tap "Custom thumbnail"
and then select my thumbnail image. Once that's done all you need to do is click on 'Select"
in the top right hand corner of your mobile screen and there is your beautiful custom
YouTube Shorts thumbnail image right at the top of your video. Now don't forget to click on
'Save' to confirm your changes. Adding a thumbnail to a YouTube Shorts video on a desktop
device couldn't be easier because you do it in exactly the same way as you would do a regular
video. So once your video is uploaded go down to the thumbnails section and add it right here
So that is all there is to creating a custom thumbnail image for YouTube Shorts. To get a
copy of that free Canva template that I was showing you earlier all you need to do is
type this URL into your browsers or alternatively I'll leave the link in the description box below.
If you found this useful please do give me a thumbs up to support my channel.
If you're going to be creating more videos for YouTube why not check out how to add
automatic YouTube captions to your videos, I can tell you it's going to save you a bunch of time
and save you typing out all those captions yourself. You'll find the link to the video
right here. If you want to learn more about Canva why not dive into my entire Canva playlist of
tips and tricks. You will find the link right here. Thank you so much for watching
as always I really do appreciate your support and I will see you next time