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How to Make Killer YouTube Channel Art

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Call it channel art, call it a cover, banner or whatever you like, the fact remains that YouTube channel art is one of the key elements of any successful YouTube channel. Your viewers arrive at your channel to see your videos, but it is the channel art that can market your brand and products to them.

As much as creating great videos with personality can sell your YouTube channel, the way your channel looks and feels is equally important. Take a brief look around any popular YouTuber’s channel and you’ll see that they’ve invested time and thought into creating beautiful, eye-catching channel art for it.

If you’re still in the dark about how to create YouTube channel art; we’re here to help. Here’s what you need to know.

Quick Jump Menu

What is YouTube channel art [5 Elements Should Be Included]
YouTube Channel Art Dimensions & Size [Mobile/Tablet/Desktop/TV]
Why should you care about channel art
Tips for making channel art
Tools you need to create killer YouTube channel art
Download YouTube Channel Art Templates for Free
YouTube Channel Art Dimensions Cheatsheet [Infographic]

The Filmora team has made a video tutorial about how to master YouTube Channel Art, watch it before digging in. Remember to download the free Filmora Trial version to have a try.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

Part 1: What is YouTube channel art?

YouTube channel art includes thumbnails, banners, watermarks, and icons. Thumbnails will help viewers decide to watch your videos, and a personalized banner will tell people who you are and what your vlog is about. Watermarks both label your work as yours and protect it from theft. Your icon is the avatar you will use to communicate with your subscribers. You can totally change the look and feel of the page and the changes will carry forwards for the page display on all platforms. However, the elements might look slightly different on desktops, mobile devices, and TV screens.

A banner sits at the top of your channel, welcoming viewers to your videos and promoting your brand. Having your brand front and center here is a great plan, as it gives people confidence in who they are watching, as well as raising your brand profile on the platform.

Size: 2560x1440px recommended. Cannot be smaller than 2048x1152px.

Safe Area for All Devices: 1546x423px

File Size: 6MB or smaller

Do:

- Make sure all your text is in the safe area

- Include channel information like what kinds of videos you make and your upload days

- Add social media links

Don’t:

- Use a font or font color that’s hard to read at a glance

- Put a busy background or photo directly behind your text (put a solid background in-between)

How to Upload a YouTube Banner / Channel Art

Go to My Channel and select Add channel art near the top of the screen (if this is the first time), or hover over your existing channel art to make the edit icon show up.

2. Watermark

Watermarking your videos, banner and other content you produce can help protect your hard work. Sharing should be encouraged on YouTube, but you should absolutely get the credit for your content. A watermark ensures your brand is being acknowledged whenever someone hits the share button.

3. Thumbnail

Developing unique thumbnails can really encourage more video views. Rather than just using a still from your actual video, you can create unique art to accompany each upload, describing what’s within the video and motivating people to watch.

Size: 1289x720px recommended. Width cannot be less than 640px.

File Size: 2MB or smaller

Format: .JPG, .GIF (no moving GIFS), .BMP, .PNG

Do:

- Use colors that stand out

- Have a consistent format (all your thumbnails should have the same basic layout)

- Include your face (or a character’s face, if you’re a gamer)

- Show viewers what your video is about

Don’t:

- Include anything sexually suggestive or violent.

- Write more than 3 words or use a small font

How to Upload a YouTube Thumbnail

In the screen right after you’ve uploaded a video (in your Creator Studio), select Custom thumbnail under Video thumbnails after you upload a video.

Select Edit next to your video in the Video Manager/Creator Studio. In the preview screen, click Custom thumbnail.

4. Icon or logo

If you’re building a brand on YouTube, you should absolutely have a recognizable logo or, at least, an icon that is unique to you. This way you’ll start to be recognized whenever people stumble across your footage, even if it’s on another platform such as Facebook.

Size: 800x800px recommended. Can be square or round, but must render to 98x98px.

Format: JPG, GIF (no animated GIFs), BMP, PNG

Do:

- Use a close up of your face (if you want a custom URL: only channels that use photos as icons qualify)

- Use a simple logo (if that’s more on-brand for you)

Don’t:

- Use a full-body picture (it won’t look good shrunk down)

- Use a picture of a celebrity or an image that falls under someone else’s copyright

How to Upload a YouTube Profile Picture / Icon

Go to My Channel, hover over your existing channel icon, and click the edit icon (looks like a pencil). Then, click Edit.

5. Channel art links

Adding links to your YouTube channel is a no-brainer. After all, if people love your channel, why not get them engaged on your social networks and website too? Adding links is easy in the Creator Studio, and you can choose to have links overlaid on your channel art too.

6. YouTube Intros

Ideal Length: under 10 seconds is alright. Under 5 seconds is better.

Placement: within the first 30 seconds of your video.

Do:

- Use music

- Include colors and images that match your personal brand

- Include the name of your channel

Don’t:

- Make it longer than 10 seconds

How to Add a YouTube Intro

Add your intro before you upload using your video editing software. It’s best to create it in a separate project and export it as a clip you can re-use in all your videos. Click here to download some free intros

7. YouTube End Screens / Outros

Length: 5-20 seconds

Placement: the last 5-20 seconds of your video

Your video must be at least 25 seconds in order to add an end screen.

Do:

- Link to at least 1 video or playlist

- Prompt viewers to subscribe

- Include social icons and handles so people can find you

Don’t:

- Overcrowd the screen with options (it makes people less likely to click anything)

Part 2: YouTube Channel Art Dimensions & Image Size Checklist

Getting the sizing of your channel art right is crucial. If you don’t plan this from the start, then all the effort you put into designing your channel art will be wasted, as it will either not display properly or will just look terrible. YouTube has provided these guidelines for channel art designs:

The file size must not exceed 6MB
The image should ideally be 2560 x 1440 pixels
The minimum image size is 2048 x 1152 pixels
The maximum width is 2560 x 423 pixels

The ideal dimensions for different devices are listed below:

Mobile:1546px * 423px
Tablet :1855px * 423px
Desktop:2560px * 423px
TV:2560px * 1440px

You see, YouTube channel art 2560*1440 px is ideal for TV devices. If you’re not sure about the width and height of the channel art image, you can download the Channel Art Templates from YouTube Official Site to check.

Keeping in mind people will access your channel on a variety of screen sizes, you’re going to need to design channel art that fits within these proportions and displays correctly no matter how it’s viewed. Use the ‘safe area’ displayed on YouTube to ensure your logo and branding is correct on every screen size.

Part 3: Why should you care about channel art?

If you’re wondering if you should really be bothered about channel art, the answer is you absolutely should. Channel art is all about branding, and in today’s cluttered web world, having a strong, recognizable brand is crucial. Rather than simply having a place to upload some videos, your YouTube channel can become a powerful marketing tool for promoting your brand and values.

According to research, we are a highly visual species. 65 percent of people learn better visually, and when you’re thinking about retaining information, 90 percent of what we store in our brains is visual information. By presenting your viewers with visual content, you’re helping them take it in, retain it better and remember you for the future.

Part 4: Tips for Making Channel Art

1. Tips for Making Thumbnails

A thumbnail is an image that represents your video in YouTube’s search results. There are things you can do with your thumbnail that will make it more likely to get clicked on. Always upload your own thumbnail rather than relying on the one YouTube automatically chooses, and make sure the thumbnail you use is related to the content of your video.

One of the most important things to remember is that thumbnails are small. It is better if there is not a lot going on in them because details will be hard to see. If there is any text in your thumbnail make sure it is huge so that people can still read it once it has been shrunken down.

If you are making a thumbnail for a vlog entry then choose a shot that has you in it, particularly one where you are not too far away from the camera. It is also a good idea if the thumbnails for your vlog entries all look similar so it is easy for people browsing to recognize which videos are yours.

2. Tips for Making Watermarks

Watermarks work best when they are small and transparent so they do not distract viewers from your videos. If your watermark is colored, there should not be more than one or two colors. Unlike the full version of your logo, you do not want your watermark to be overly eye-catching.

3. Tips for Making Icons

Part 5: Best Free & Paid YouTube Channel Art Maker [2021 List]

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a renowned artist or graphic designer to get some swish YouTube art ready for your channel. With some of the easy-to-use, powerful tools that are available out there, you can make some beautiful, professional-looking channel art in no time at all. Here are six of our favorite tools for creating amazing youtube channel art:

1. Photoshop

Produced by Adobe, Photoshop has been leading the way in professional design software for many years. When it comes to creating logos, banners, editing photos and more, nothing really comes close to the power of this software. While the professional version of Photoshop can set you back several hundreds of dollars, Photoshop Elements is much more affordable at around the $100 mark, and has enough functionality to do most things you’d need for your channel art.

New from Adobe is Adobe Spark Post, a free-to-use web and iOS app which has been specifically designed to help you create beautiful channel art. Although it can only provide basic channel art without much in the way of editing tools, if you’re new to graphic design and want a free, user-friendly way to create your art, this could be worth considering.

2. Wondershare PixStudio

Wondershare PixStudio is an all-in-one and powerful online graphic design maker for everyone. This online platform provides a wonderful creative design solution for you. Just through drag and drop templates, and then use photos/text/elements to design. After the simple and fast design, One-Click to download your creations, and share to your Facebook, Instagram Story, and YouTube Thumbnails, etc. immediately.

This online platform empowers anyone to create a beautiful design within a few steps. No professional skills required! By simply dragging and dropping the creative elements and templates, you are capable to release your imagination and convert it to stunning artwork.

3. Fotor

For a good, user-friendly way to create professional-looking YouTube channel art, Fotor is a pretty solid choice. Using a simple drag and drop interface, users can create a unique channel banner using preset designs or even uploading their own artwork.

The developers of Fotor have built in a bespoke banner maker, preset to the exact size required for YouTube channel art. This makes it easier than ever to ensure you develop excellent channel art which will display correctly on any device. Editing is limited, so advanced designers will probably find it all a bit too simplistic, but for the man on the street, this is a perfect choice.

4. Canva

Canva really stands out from the competition for the number of customizable design elements present on the website. From shapes to backgrounds, images to text, there are thousands of awesome, professional-looking elements to choose from to create your unique channel art.

Similar to Fotor, those who know what they’re doing in the design field will find it lacking in functionality, and there’s an irritating glitch where you can’t stretch more than one image to the ends of the canvas. Watch out for premium design elements too, as lots require payment, although usually not more than a dollar or two.

5. PicMonkey

For a good middle ground between expensive but powerful Photoshop and free but limited options like Canva and Fotor, PicMonkey is a great solution. It has plenty of design functionality, from working with layers to performing tasks like blending, and you can free draw and erase parts of your image too.

We found PicMonkey capable of pretty much everything you’d need to create a professional YouTube banner, and it’s a fair bit more user friendly than Photoshop too. It’s not free, but at a cost of $7.99 per month, it’s pretty affordable for what you get.

6. Snappa

Another web-based freemium service, Snappa has the added advantage of coming pre-loaded with all the dimensions of popular social channel’s banners, profile images and more, including YouTube. That means you can work on your channel art directly, seeing clearly which parts will be displayed on what devices.

The drawback to this particular platform is the sheer volume of stock images already on the site. There are some nice ones, but due to the lack of organization you need to scroll through quite a few mediocre options to find them. There’s also a fairly ungenerous limit on how many items you can create and save without upgrading, but the pro version is fairly affordable at just $10 a month.

There are many other services out there to help you create your YouTube channel art and what’s best for you will depend on the type of channel art you’re looking to create, as well as your own abilities with graphic design. Try some of the free versions before you jump in and pay for things, as some are actually really rather good.

Part 6: YouTube Channel Art Templates Free Download

If you don’t know how to make youtube channel art, don’t be worry, because in the following part, I’ll share with you some free youtube channel art templates. The Filmora team has a community and forum for YouTube creators and it has designed some stunning YouTube Channel Art templates for different genres channels such as gaming, beauty, travel, comedy and education. Click here to download 50 free YouTube Banners, JPG & PhotoShop files. Examples:

Part 7: YouTube Channel Art Dimensions Cheatsheet [Infographic]

Usually, a viewer won’t visit your channel page and see your channel art until after they’ve watched one of your videos. The reason they’ve clicked to see your channel is that they want to learn more about you – do you have more videos like the one they just watched? Do you post a lot? Are you worth subscribing to?

If a viewer who is on the fence about subscribing to you arrives on your channel page and sees that you haven’t bothered uploading channel art, or that you’re using something that looks sloppy, odds are they won’t subscribe. This ‘Channel Art Cheat Sheet’ will help ensure you aren’t losing potential subscribers.

Part 7: YouTube Channel Art Dimensions Cheatsheet [Infographic]

YouTube’s Most-Followed Fashionistas & Cosmetic Experts

10 Most Popular Beauty Gurus on YouTube in 2024

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Before the YouTube era learning makeup tricks or finding out useful skin care tips has been much more difficult. Today, you only have to do a quick search on the world’s largest video sharing platform and you can get the result instantly.

Besides knowing who to ask for a bit of beauty advice, you also need to trust the source of information. Instead of browsing through thousands of beauty videos on YouTube, you should listen to what top beauty gurus on YouTube have to say about the topic you’re interested in. The beauty vloggers we featured in this article have millions of subscribers for a good reason.

Let’s have a look at some of YouTube’s most influential beauty gurus.

Wanna making your beauty video and makeup video more attractive and get more views? Try to use some cool beauty effects in the Filmora video editor and add some stylish filters and overlays, change the speed video to fast forward some unimportant frames, or slow down the clip to show more details.

Top 10 Beauty Gurus on YouTube You Should Know in 2024

Bethany Mota
Zoe Elizabeth Sugg
Rachel Levin
Nikkie De Jager
Eva Gutowski
Marzia Bisognin
Jeffree Star
Carli Bybel
Mindy McKnight
Promise Phan

1. Bethany Mota

The American vlogger started her YouTube channel that currently has over 15 million subscribers in 2009. Bethany is more than just a beauty guru, even though she first became famous for her makeup and fashion videos because in recent years she started producing videos that cover a wide range of topics.

Eleven months ago, she released a truth or dare video with Logan Paul that has 4,6 million views which shows how popular the 22-year old beauty vlogger has become. Besides being an award-winning YouTube star, Bethany is also an accomplished singer and an aspiring actress.

2.Zoe Elizabeth Sugg

Zoe is better known for her online pseudonym Zoella. She started her career as a blogger in 2009. By the end of the same year, her blog had thousands of followers, which gave Zoe the idea to start her own YouTube channel. A little less than a decade later Zoella channel has 12 million subscribers and it is widely considered as one of the highest beauty and fashion authorities on the Internet.

Besides producing informative and captivating beauty tutorials, she also frequently uploads videos about food, lifestyle, fashion, and traveling. However, her skincare and makeup product reviews are what Zoe is famous for.

3. Rachel Levin

Rachel’s YouTube channel Rclbeauty101 has over 13 million subscribers and a few years ago, she has landed on the number one spot on Zefr’s Social Media Influencer Under 21 list. Today this 23-year old Philadelphian focuses on DIY beauty tutorials, although videos on her channel often cover a range of different topics.

Levin started her career with a video titled ‘How to Conceal Under Eye Circles’ in 2010 and in the next few years her YouTube channel was one of the fastest-growing channels in the world. Rachel’s most viewed videos combine humor with beauty and fashion which makes them a joy to watch.

4. Nikkie De Jager

A beauty guru from the Netherlands gained worldwide recognition when her video ‘The Power Makeup’ went viral in 2015. The Nikkie Tutorials YouTube channel has over 10 million subscribers 820 million views. The best part is that the rapid growth of Nikki’s channel is likely to continue in the foreseeable future.

Unlike many of her fellow YouTube beauty gurus, Jager is a professional makeup artist who frequently features the commissioned work in the videos she uploads to her channel. The young Dutch star is only 24 years old, and she is already one of the best sources of beauty tips and tricks you can find on the Internet.

5. Eva Gutowski

The MyLifeAsEva YouTube channel was started by Gutowski in 2011 and for the last seven years, it has steadily grown more popular. In June 2018 Eva’s channel had 8.6 million subscribers and her unique beauty videos frequently attract millions of viewers.

The California-based beauty guru is praised for her entertaining videos that cover a wide range of topics, from date tips to step-by-step DIY makeup tutorials. Eva also has a successful acting career as she has appeared in a number of TV shows and she has a YouTube Red show titled ‘Me and My Grandma’.

6. Marzia Bisognin

Books, movies, vlogs, beauty, or makeup are just a few topics Marzia or CutiePieMarzia covers in her videos. The Italian YouTube superstar has been dating Felix Kjellberg or PewDiePie, the owner of the most subscribed channel on YouTube, since 2011.

Although her boyfriend may be more famous than her, Marzia’s channel still has 7.5 million subscribers and nearly half a billion views. Her fashion style is appealing mostly to younger generations, although her makeup tips can be applied by anyone regardless of their age. Marzia designs clothes and shoes that can be purchased at her online store.

7. Jeffree Star

Besides being one of the most influential beauty gurus on YouTube Jeffrey Steininger is also a songwriter, singer, fashion designer, and model. He first rose to prominence by publishing music on his MySpace page, which soon resulted in his first solo album ‘Beauty Killer’.

His style may be unorthodox since it resonates better within a younger, more open-minded audience, but the makeup tips he provides in his videos can be used by anyone to get the look they always wanted. Jeffree Star’s YouTube channel has 7.4 million subscribers which shows just how popular this Californian really is. Jeffry also has his own fashion and cosmetics line.

8. Carli Bybel

Most of the videos you can find on Carli’s YouTube channels, the one with the most subscribers is named Carli Bybel, are centered around different cosmetics product reviews, makeup tutorials, and fashion tips. She started producing YouTube videos in 2011 and over the years she reviewed some of the most popular makeup lines, including those released by Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.

Some of her videos have over a million views while one of her most popular videos ‘How to Grow Your Eyebrows and Eyelashes’ has over 7 million views. Carli’s is undoubtedly one of the top beauty vloggers today and her popularity should continue to grow.

9. Mindy McKnight

A great idea for a new haircut is hard to come by, which is one of the reasons why Mindy’s Cute Girls Hairstyles channel is so popular. The idea to create hairstyle videos came in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2008 that Mindy realized she wanted to produce vlogs. She has been posting videos to YouTube since 2009, and she currently has 5.5 million subscribers.

Her videos offer quick and creative hairstyle solutions that will make any women look amazing. Mindy’s twin daughters, Brooklyn and Baily have their own YouTube channel with a substantial amount of subscribers.

10. Promise Phan

Since 2009, Promise has run her incredibly popular dope2111 YouTube channel that has over 5 million subscribers. Her makeup transformation techniques which she presents in the videos posted on her channel have stunned the world. Promise has disguised herself as Johnny Depp, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Jackson, or Angelina Jolie to mention just a few celebrities she covered.

She got the idea to create makeup videos after watching the movie Avatar and trying to recreate the Naa’vi looks. The video went viral and made Promise a YouTube beauty guru and one of the most respected makeup authorities on the Internet.

Conclusion

Coming up with ideas for a new look is not always easy. So in order to get a fresh perspective, you should check out the top beauty vloggers we featured in this article and discover useful makeup tutorials or fashion tips that will help you to always feel confident about the way you look. Leave a comment below and let us know who is your favorite YouTube beauty guru.

If you’re a business holder and want to find YouTube influencers for collaboration, you can check out InflueNex, which is a helpful influencer marketing platform for you to find, manage and contact the social media influencers.