Special thanks to Raycon for continuing to throw around money during these tough times.
 http://buyraycon.com/emplemon

It's good to finally upload a shorter video for once. I'm gonna try to do a few more like this before I tackle the next big project.

Me : some of the worst thumbnails on YouTube to date

That Segway oh my God that Segway. 10 out of 10

That Segway oh my God that Segway. 10 out of 10

raycons are overpriced. in the sense that you can buy better earbuds for a LOWER PRICE!

I always like the thumbnails that convey the video like a documentary or a movie, like Vivziepop or Kraut.

What's the YTP name at the end I liked it...

What's the YTP name at the end I liked it...

raycon is pulling a soulja boy did you know that

raycon is pulling a soulja boy did you know that

JP braking was able to get over 1.1 million views by changing the thumbnail twice, after the views for the video had flatlined...

I also see Brew using this tactic alot.

The AVGN changed his thumbnails around this year. He gained a bit of views.

My wife left me and my children Don’t like me

Why won't you talk about Leafy's return?

Why won't you talk about Leafy's return?

After your next big thing, try do this once you feel like it:<br>There will Never Ever be another Let's Player like Chuggaaconroy

After your next big thing, try do this once you feel like it:
There will Never Ever be another Let's Player like Chuggaaconroy

Raycon ear drums are trash. I bought them a few months back and they did nothing but hurt my ears and randomly disconnect from my phone. I had to return them and strangely enough their website only shows good reviews. In order for me to share my experience I had to rate their products five stars just to have it pop up.

Emplemon this is a very interesting video and I can tell you that yes changing your thumbnail does change your position in the algorithm because the program can not verify the difference between them. This is because it inputs the thumbnail in its equations. You YOURSELF has seen this. Do you remember when mumkey and rusty posted the same video but with slightly different editing? One of the reasons (but small compared to the other one)  rusty’s got demonized was because of THIS reason.

I got some Ray cons recently. Then one of them split in half and the other one’s bass is garbage compared to the now almost unusable one. <br>My biggest problem was that I was hoping they would fit into my ears better than many other earbuds do, but the size of them was too uncomfortable.

I got some Ray cons recently. Then one of them split in half and the other one’s bass is garbage compared to the now almost unusable one.
My biggest problem was that I was hoping they would fit into my ears better than many other earbuds do, but the size of them was too uncomfortable.

People have been mocking Youtube thumbnails for over a decade now.

Ironically this is the only way Raycon are making money at all. Their headphones are shit lmao.

You play melee competitively my guy if so who you main

I have fallen for watching old videos with new thumbnail on various videos so I do believe it does increase views

The moment you brought up airpods, I knew the raycon ad was coming.

Please make a video on never will there ever be an album like Madvilliany ever again

your videos calm me down in a way. the topics you talk about are very grand and sometimes anixiety inducing (the never ever spongebob one made me rethink A LOT of stuff) but yet you manage to create this calm atmosphere. great work!

Sounds good to me! I'm learning a lot today!

Sounds good to me! I'm learning a lot today!

Does that mean we finally get Frying Dory?

Does that mean we finally get Frying Dory?

cool vid electro magnetic pulse lemon<br>been watching since 2013

cool vid electro magnetic pulse lemon
been watching since 2013

I got recommended a bunch of avgn episodes because Mr. Rolfe recently changed a lot of the thumbnails for the older vids of the series

been trying dozens of apps and games for research purposes- was going to try make a real video like a real youtuber person

When did you start watching Plinkett? I love those videos.

Cool, I’m looking forward to it! Your production value is rather high, yet at the same time the content itself feels extremely real.

[89thAH] ArmA III:Optre Shenaniganus Maximus

I would buy framed prints of your video thumbnails.

What prerequisites did raycon have for the sponsorship?

I would buy a pair of Raycons if there was one in orange.

Lets put a happy little red circle down there over the easter egg. There we go that we'll just be our little secret that it doesn't really mean anything.

glad you too watch asumsaus <br>sad the comments are gone due to the demonetization tho

glad you too watch asumsaus
sad the comments are gone due to the demonetization tho

Yes as you explained everyone losing stocks

only the juice sold they knew and sold
THE BOG IS WATCHING

BOGDANOFF  X SUZZANIO DEMONitzation

4150 Subscribers Before He Leaves Earth?

Is there a full version of the video at the end? The edit/cut one.

When is the next State of the YouTube coming out? 🤔

Never Ever idubzz filthyfrank leafy(nice video) etc.

Golden age of youtube

Coronavirus Graphic Design is my Passion - Wuhan 713

The hours of entertainment have been amazing!

The hours of entertainment have been amazing!

thanks again for the sick videos emplemon!

thanks again for the sick videos emplemon!


I definitely had a good experience changing one of my thumbnails. I have a video called "Recycling is a scam" that originally had a much more complicated thumbnail. Now, it's a very simple thumbnail that focuses mostly on a single image: a recycling bin. And after the change, the views of that video skyrocketed making it one of my most popular of 2019. Now that said, I also dramatically changed the title of the video, so it's hard to know how much credit to give the thumbnail.

JJ, I like your thumbnails because you often include your own illustrations in them. Your art style is eye catching and recognizable and matches the tone of your videos.

@J.J. McCullough theres a problem though, this isn't a conversation. Its the same thing we've had since the advent of television, talking heads giving a lecture. Except now anyone and everyone is a lecturer on this electronic platform. The material should be strong enough to stand on its own, without having to constantly look at the speaker's face. The best video essayists on youtube do this well. The most devoid of substance are usually just filling in runtime with idle chatter, and are usually the most popular as well. The majority of viewers have no discerning taste, they just want fast, simple & fun information. Just look at everything on TikTok. So anytime I see thumbnails with big emojis or YouTubers with exaggerated faces like mimes, I know to stay clear. There's nothing being presented worth learning.

@sublimeade what’s wrong with people explaining things? It’s the oldest way humans communicate information to one another — talking face to face.

Personally i avoid any YouTuber whose videos feature a thumbnail of their face. It looks generic and cheap and effortless and tells me all I need to know about that content, theyll be explaining something into the camera.

Branding a people who are persecuted as a cult as a violent and possibly evil group ,  was a master class chinese useful idiocy JJ.

aye its JJ i love seeing other youtubers I watch watching the same content as me ! also great stuff lately JJ I really like what you do and think you approach concepts from a great neutral approach focused on showing the topic or its differences not convincing anyone of anything!

Can you prove correlation and not just causation?

I never expected to see you here J.J. But it's a welcome surprise


After seeing your video, honestly, if he ever comes back and say "nah, I just did it for the lulz" I would still believe him. Would even say that's some grade-A level of trolling.

@Khris Kranko Grade A Under A. Never heard of this youtuber?


I'd like to see someone explore the best bad thumbnails. Like Keemstar's videos. They look terrible, and he could easily afford a graphic designer, but they are recognizable and they work.


When I see - "Eccentric facial expression on an oversaturated background" I just think... yep, next.

You have to circle something or at least have a red arrow.

@Melody because this one is less clickbait and much more his art choice. It doesn't scream "OMG, LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS HERE! CLICK ON THIS VID!1!1!1". You obviously see the difference.

@MC-PS-PLAYA and the parents allow this crap....sad

My reaction: if I click this youtube will think im part of the Paul brother fandom and begin recommending videos accordingly<br>* clicks 3 dots then aggressively selects option  “🚫not interested” *

My reaction: if I click this youtube will think im part of the Paul brother fandom and begin recommending videos accordingly
* clicks 3 dots then aggressively selects option  “🚫not interested” *

Indeed. I can’t see the drive to make your thumbnail look as obnoxious as possible


The red boarder also hides the red ‘watched’ bar YouTube puts on previously viewed videos making you question if you’ve seen the video before and thus more likely to click on it again. Evil genius.

are other people being recommended the red herring video because of this comment too

Not if you turned of your search history

It does work on me I rewatch them cuz I like their content more than new bad content

@art if people saw the red in the bottom they would also see the red border so they wouldnt know

I actually hate this, if I recognize a thumbnail but I think I may have seen it before I just block the video lmao

Such a pet peeve of mine. Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Tbh, I never even thought about that. I should probably edit any red borders I have to make sure people can still see that bar. I honestly barely pay attention to it and I didn't realize people cared about that bar so much.

Really? I always see the red border and think it's a red bar and never click on them.

I've seen the case of a youtuber who uses red in the thumbnails and added a white bar at the bottom so that people can see the watched bar.

I only ever fell for that once, and then I started ignoring videos with that because it's scummy. Only reason I watched the Red Herring video was because I noticed who uploaded it.

>red boArder

Communist pirates, always causing trouble on the youtube high seas

I tend to remember every video I've watched

@Ignat Remizov the like number limit is 5.000

Personally speaking if I see a video thumbnail that's all red, I actually think that I have watched it before at some point and am mostly interested in seeing things that I haven't already so I overlook them.

@tenacity25 it's because the watch time history only goes back by about 5000 videos. As you keep watching new videos, YouTube looses track of those earlier watched videos. Because why should they keep data about something you saw a month ago? The only permament personal metric is comments you've left and likes/dislikes on videos.

@tenacity25 Oh boy! A broken feature on YouTube. What's new?

tbh that thing doesn't show up for me half the time anyways

@art That's what we call a double edge sword

Ehh actually its the opposite. A bunch of people who use the red thumbnail outline thing unintentionnaly remove some of their views because of it, because subscribers thought they already seen them and thus leads to lower views.


2:00 Basic Graphic Design
2:53 Look at Album Covers
3:30 Visual Symbolism
5:10 RayCon ADVERTIZEMENT
13:40 V Sauce
13:57 EmpLemon's Thumbnail Process

can you also post the end of rayCon ADVERTIZEMENT for future viewers? cheers baws


@Max Richard True. Although I don't hate his content, his videos feel so corporate and cold. Whenever it got to this point in the past, he would do something like bring in new jokes. Now he does pathetic gimmicks like bringing his wife into the videos or making a video that's not even a theory and is more of a generic review. It's sad but understandable, Matpat is a smart man, and I guess he grew up and decided to put family first and just let his content stay at a component yet uninspiring quality. Little charm, but it works.

@Staringcorgi6 it was literally a april 1st joke video

@Staringcorgi6 This. I wonder if like Kimmel, people only tolerate Mat's Theories instead of actually liking him and the theories.

5:23 when u visit the planet of demonitization

@Pop Fox 2 the "Luigi exposed" one.  Its at the start


The thumbnail you showed at 1:20 is an outstanding example. Recognized it instantly as the Majora's Mask video from Nerrel, there really is something about it that makes it stand out so much.


Kraut has the best thumbnails in my opinion hands down. Beautiful hand drawn artwork that actually convinces you to watch an hour+ long video.


EmpLemon : "Here's the why and how to make a thumbnail."
Also EmpLemon : Uses eyebleeding colors and unworldly unorthodox memetic designs

EmpLemon : "Here's the why and how to make a thumbnail."
Also EmpLemon : *Uses eyebleeding colors and unworldly unorthodox memetic designs*

Oh hey that’s a pretty cool fractal. My head is feeling kinda fuzzy

Doofus I mean, Scott <i>does</i> have a literal blue border around his videos and thumbnails.

Doofus I mean, Scott _does_ have a literal blue border around his videos and thumbnails.

They're not a mess of adjectives, arrows and surprised faces

@Doom58 Of course I do. Just because I make fun of his work doesn't mean I dislike it man. EmpLemon may use some sort of Aposematism or complementary color contrast properties to pop up in the flood of generic skin colored thumbnails and that proven to be working. Also his neon-like color choice advertises the hard-to-accept reality of his content quite well. Criticizing EmpLemon and getting roasted in return would just proves that he knows his Aposematism technique really well.

It's not eye bleeding.<br>Its actually well thought,,, purple and green,,, to opposites on the color spectrum

It's not eye bleeding.
Its actually well thought,,, purple and green,,, to opposites on the color spectrum

branding baby, yall really gonna tell me you can't recognize a game theory or scottthewoz video a mile away?

Well, they're both eye-catching (without being clickbait), and iconic.

ytp definitely influenced his style. It’s cool

Gotta know the rules to break them successfully


Every video that it's on trending be like: ➡⭕
😱

@I Hate minions Damn you did an excellent job recreating those thumbnails in text form.

don't forget titles including (GONE SEXUAL) (POLICE CALLED) (FREE IPHONE 12 GIVEAWAY)

There also needs to be some tears, and or an 18+ sign.

@I Hate minions It encapsulates the thumbnail trend perfectly. 😀

@Kaleb Carter thanks mate, its supposed to replicate the thumbnail of 3AM videos :)

@I Hate minions Thank you for this masterpiece.


You forgot to mention how often thumbnail designers make the mistake of putting text in the bottom right corner without realizing it will be partially obscured by the time/duration indicator and thus impossible to read. Never put anything in the bottom right corner!


This doesn’t only help YouTubers but musicians as well. Thank you.


Honestly this video is 10 million times more helpful, than what all these self proclaimed youtube experts would tell you. It's a shame that so many small youtubers get picked up by the heartless machinery they promote.


The changing thumbnail meta is as follows:
1. The first thumbnail you upload is focused on drawing in your current subscribers
2. After the first 24 hours change it to something that's more relatable to a wider audience
3. After 48 hours - 1 week, change it to a highly generic thumbnail that can capture a super wide audience.

The purpose is to change thumbnails based on Youtube's recommendation algorithm because it first pushes your videos to your closest fans and the video gets a high CTR and watch time it pushes the video to a wider and wider audience. This is why people change their thumbnails so much.

This seems like the most corporate, artificial thing ever.

Step 4 is for the special case whwn you become a meme and label it as offial video

Jesus Joestar clickthrough rate. if 10 out of 100 views watch the video, the CTR is 10%. 1 out of 8, 12.5%

@marco drem Good to know I'm not crazy! Some YouTube creators I watch have changed their titles after I watched the video, and I'll recognize the thumbnail but not the title. I only ever really notice when YouTube will recommend me a video again after I watched it. Wild how much they play this game 🤯

Hey, It’s the they are billions guy! Loved your stuff

@Mike C There is this red line on a video that you have watched. However this seems to disappear after some time. If you go to a channel that you've watched for many years, you can see that there is no bar on older videos.

Thanks bruh, I'm gonna use this strategy now.

How does this work if you only make niche content?

After reading this comment, I'm now seeing this everywhere and I can't stop noticing.

@marco drem Sometimes you change your mind, or find another title that better represents it or has more draw. I've changed a few when it's simply due to the fact that more content was released in It Lurks Below, and as such my boss killing guide no longer covered all the bosses... That was just adding a most to the title, not changing the whole scheme...
Based on the above, it can also be a marketing strategy to go after an audience outside your subscribers, not everyone is able to keep up with this methodology though.

@marco drem Sometimes you change your mind, or find another title that better represents it or has more draw. I've changed a few when it's simply due to the fact that more content was released in It Lurks Below, and as such my boss killing guide no longer covered all the bosses... That was just adding a -most- to the title, not changing the whole scheme...
Based on the above, it can also be a marketing strategy to go after an audience outside your subscribers, not everyone is able to keep up with this methodology though.

LInusTechTips does this constantly, it's actually REALLY annoying.

@Punocchio do you not have video history on? it should tell you that you've seen it

what if you have a thumbnail that seems like an absolute banger for all audiences -- is it still worth changing it? EDIT: I have been corrected, yes it is worth changing and no you do not have a perfect thumbnail. Might be close tho

thanks for the pro tims my guy, I might try this

Jesus Joestar CTR stands for Click-Through Rate. Basically, it's the percentage of people that click on a video and watch a considerable amount of it out of the total people Youtube recommended it to.

I also noticed that some people change the title of videos sometimes, i dont know why.

Hey, it’s kibitz. Your satisfactory series is really entertaining, and you got me hooked on satisfactory.

Sometimes I click on a video I haven't seen just to find out that I actually already watched it, but the title and thumbnail changed. That's why I'm not subscribed to Vsauce2 anymore

Some times when people change there thumbnails I click on it more than once then I learn Ive already saw it. Im not a fan honestly but it makes sense to widen audiences

Honestly I'm not even mad about that. I just wish thumbnail revisions were saved somewhere.

This is a perfect utilization of thumbnail changing, so much so that I might use this when I make a channel, thanks!


i always enjoy Ahoy's thumbnails, some of the best i've seen on the platform.


This is the only channel where I watch the videos all the way through, either it being 16 minutes long or an hour long. It’s always an amazing treat to hear you preach and talk about anything. You have an always will be entertaining <3


I’m so glad you showed asamsaus as an example. That guy not only makes really good videos, but also is incredible at his thumbnail game


I feel like you forgot something important about the meta, i know this video is specifically for thumbnails but this is an argument I feel like it's still worth talking about.
After someone has been enticed enough by the thumbnail, when their curiosity has stopped them from just scrolling your video away like the countless others they see, what will truly drive them to finally tap/click your video is the title.
The title has to be a compliment to both the thumbnail and the video itself, it's what chains them together and both tries to clean up any ambiguity between the two.
Its work doesn't stop there though, while we are becoming more digital and social media's shares have become more important, one of the first things an average person will use to share your video is 'voice'. They will read your title while in a discord call, while they are talking to one of their friends or whoever they want to share your video with. It is true that they wont use the full title, but by itself it can serve as a tool of entice and synthesis of your video, depending on its tone and the audience you want to gather.
For example a serious video can get away with a longer title that tries to pique at the curiosity of the viewers, as they are more prone to click on the video because of the arguments you are discussing rather than its 'fun value'.
Comedic and casuals videos like internet historian's use a short title, something that it's quick, easily recognizable and serves as a enhancement of the thumbnail itself. These titles give little context whose work is to just make clear that you are going to watch a fun video.
There are probably many more uses beside algorithmic value to a title, and if anyone else has tought of some more i'd be happy to ear


I think it's safe to say emplemon is our youtube historian.

noob2243 I can’t find most of those people at all

Drew Insur yeah he’s good but I like some ordinary gamers a bit more

FilthyFrank = died a hero<br>H3H3 = lived long enough to become the villain

FilthyFrank = died a hero
H3H3 = lived long enough to become the villain

He's one of them but, The Internet Historian is the Premier.

@Gabe Williams ur joke is very under appreciated

@Drew Insur also worth mentioning is a new up and comer named Barely Sociable, who is basically becoming the "creepy parts of reddit" historian.

For real though if you haven't seen his stuff I would highly recommend it.

There are a few of them, actually, if we were to get technical:
- Internet Historian
- Fredrik Knudsen
- Whang! and his Tales from the Internet
- wavywebsurf and "whetever happened to..."
- and Emp with his YT Geographic, of course
- plus probably few others I didn't mention

Many people doing seemingly the same thing, yet each with their own personality and presentation style. I personally respect the fact, that they all seem to avoid copying each other, and before making their videos, they check if anyone else didn't already cover the same topic.

anyone whos been on youtube for a decade is a youtube historian lol

@Egg T Internet Historian likes to talk about odd and pseudo-strange things on the edge of internet mainstream

He serves our specific niche very well that’s for sure

@Matt Hegarty and lets not ever forget, our brother in arms: "Fredrik Knudsen" he's our dark web internet Big Brother.

EmpLemon is a specialist for SuZzanio youtube like national geographic but like internet historian.

@Egg T He's the general internet historian. EmpLemons a specialist...in Youtube.


I like how EmpLemon wasn't a fan of YouTubers who were placing advertisements on their videos when he is immediately placing some in his videos even though it is much more forgivable in his.


Love it, absolutely love this channel. One of the few channels i actually watch consistently


Kitty0706 was included in this vid 🙏 may He rest in peace 🙏

@migel agnas where? Did you even watch the vid

Milking death for likes, absolutely lovely

I’ll send my condolences to your kangaroo wife

“You were good son, real good. Maybe even the best” - Solider (Rick May)

I mean by now it's pretty clear that Lemon plays TF2.

@Mr. Fancypants maxie died in a plane crash

@Aaron Glass you said boomer your opinion is invalid now.

@Bill Nill yeah he died of leukaemia about 5 years ago


These days I find that the short clip from hovering over the thumbnail tells me far more than the thumbnail itself.


This should be a "Youtube Metagame" series. Add in the 'empty subs' theory

I think Emp could do a full remake of that video, since it's pretty old-ish and I would like to see it taking into account the changes from then to now.

алексей Цыплёнков

That won't happen simply because of the videos he already made not being in the series, along with the idea of it being a 'series' limits Emp's creative process. Remember minute meme? Something so small, yet it never got more than 10 episodes. I say let him continue being our youtube historian, and let his channel be the playlist as a look into the life and times of youtube as a platform. -Plus he already has Youtube Geographic, Never Ever and maybe even Meme Theory as ongoing series, let him keep some content separate as he chooses.

Make your own playlist if you like, but let us not limit Emp's genius by making him paint within the lines of a series.

That won't happen simply because of the videos he already made *not* being in the series, along with the idea of it being a 'series' limits Emp's creative process. Remember minute meme? Something so small, yet it never got more than 10 episodes. I say let him continue being our youtube historian, and let his channel be the playlist as a look into the life and times of youtube as a platform. -Plus he already has Youtube Geographic, Never Ever and maybe even Meme Theory as ongoing series, let him keep some content separate as he chooses.

Make your own playlist if you like, but let us not limit Emp's genius by making him paint within the lines of a series.

he already talked about this before through :/

алексей Цыплёнков

You mean pile them up together with the Copyright Trilogy?


I'm so glad this video exists. When I first watched it I found it interesting but it didn't go anywhere farther than that. But after a couple of rewatch's, I started to take in the advice and it's helped me finally find a style of thumbnail that looks good while also being my own so thank you for that I guess.


When I was doing YouTube in the past thumbnails were one of my greatest abilities. It's always been my favorite part of making videos. People tend to underestimate just how important they really are


I feel like starting my own channel proper after watching this. Thank you Emperor Lemon!


Never seen someone break down a YouTube thumbnail like that before.  I think my brain is going to explode from my mind being opened up thanks to EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) Lemon.


Changing thumbnails 100% works. There have been many videos that I don't see as interesting, but as soon as a more interesting thumbnail pops up, I give it a chance and click.


That was the smoothest transition from video topic to ad read I've ever seen. The video would literally have made sense even without the sponsor


two recent shakeups to the meta I've noticed this year
1. Ditching the whole thing entirely and intentionally returning to that random, sometimes jarring image style
2. Asking a question in the title and answering it in the thumbnail, or vise-versa. Veritasium talks about this in his clickbait video.


You're the best, Emp! As an artist myself i HUGELY appreciate your continued approach to waking people's mind to critical thinking; in this video: symbolism. You're the only channel im truly subscribed to, as i genuinely look forward to every video you upload.


Virgin custom thumbnail vs. Chad auto-selecting a single frame from the video

❌ WRONG!!! ❌
It should be:
🤓 Virgin "auto-selecting a single frame from the video" vs. 💪 Chad "custom thumbnail"
(cue flame war)

@Not Telling critikal aka penguin z0 aka moist critikal aka moistest man alive aka Charlie

@a human being from the earth vs anprim eldritch god

Before custom thumbnails was a thing people flashs the thumbnail in the middle of the video

Virgin custom thumbnail=Matpat thumbnails

Vs. A S C E N D E D putting your thumbnails at the start

Ah yes, the way of our lord and savior, Cr1tiKaL, A.K.A. Penguinz0, the most humorous of YouTubers with zero fucks given about thumbnails.

@a human being from the earth not alive superhumans

@Binderston Keyes no internet super-gods.

a human being from the earth vs no youtube account monks


Cool info on the branding & visual theories. I'm struggling to write a paper about it & your explanation made it easier to understand. Thanks Emp!


YouTube is where I've spent the most time in my life, educational. funny, and interesting videos like these are what I love to see!


fantastic articulation, great idea for a video, amazing editing, this is caviar. Well done!


Dan 'the man' Gheesling has a face I never DON'T want to see😍

Best big brother player, nlss member, and streamer of all time. Pleasies


I think one good example of YouTube thumbnails is Ahoy's "Iconic Arms" series.  An outline of a firearm that is easily recognizable, both in reality and in video games, with both the weapon and the backround using a colour palette found on the weapon's country of origin's flag.

@Arman Zakwan <br>Usually the first half of the video is dedicated to a short history and specifications of the firearm while the second half documents it's appearance in video games and how the gun has grown to be popular as an appearance in video games.

@Arman Zakwan
Usually the first half of the video is dedicated to a short history and specifications of the firearm while the second half documents it's appearance in video games and how the gun has grown to be popular as an appearance in video games.

Ahoy is just a great example of a YouTube channel period. I genuinely can't think of anything to criticize him on, besides maybe I wish he'd upload more. But then you see WHAT he's been working on and you immediately get why it took 6 months.

@Arman Zakwan But the videos are about the real guns.

I agree his use of minimalism/different styles on thumbnail and videos gets me rock hard. The definition of quality over quantity.

Yeah but people who don't know what his content is about, may think his videos are about real guns not guns in video games

We don’t deserve Ahoy, he’s on another level

i would have to agree with you there what personaly drew me in to those videos was the outlines of firearms I either heard of and never seen or seen but never heard of

Why did I think of actual human limbs instead :^(


Absolutely love this channel. It always sparks my creativity. Thank you for the  enormous amount of time and detail in your work.


Emp is one of the few you tubers that is helping to keep tf2 in the public’s mind and I really appreciate that :)


Adam Neely has a really interesting thumbnail idea. Asking a question in the title, and answering the question bluntly in the thumbnail. It works very well. Gives you zero reason to click the video, and that itself draws you in for the explanation.


Love how you explained your Thumbnail editing style at the end! Great way to look at it!


Raycon's logo totally looks like it would fit as a character's game icon for Smash.

〘VERY R A N D O M D U D E〙 Raycon earbuds are literally just cheap Chinese earbuds sold at a way higher price than the original.

@Zenssei I think galaxy buds would be better... but more expensive

I dont know if they are better than Galaxy Buds because they are too bassy when i researched them

Raycon sucks Sony has better ones and ARE cheaper smh


I've been doing still-image composites in Blender, this was actually a nice crash-course in some graphic design basics. Thanks!


No way! 12:22
I always thought AsumSaus has one of the best editing styles and especially thumbnails.

Great stuff including him in your "how to do it right" examples 👍


4:22 Waldo is to the left of the red-striped stand, behind the man reading neswpaper.
Odlaw is hiding behind the second blue-striped stand on the left.

I just realized while reading this comment that Odlaw is Waldo backwards


Jeff the killer’s face is a thumbnail that I would never forget.


I remember a period in youtube history where people were seemingly getting away with the thumbnails being straight up uncensored family guy porn

YouTube ads still have nsfw images In them

Tidy Heidi that’s what emp did when he showed that Mario world thing.

orgḗ Rithux Name? I need it so i can see how uh bad youtubes moderation is

Oh yeah i remember there were also Simpson ones

Dem good ol days that was before our time!

You just unlocked a part of my memory that I didn't need to revist


This is the first video I've ever watched on your channel, it was a great introduction to your fantastic YouTube channel, keep up the good work!


Hey Emp, great job as usual! Love your videos, they're great! Honestly you've become very predictable because for the past few years, you keep on making great content. I'm just saying you should shake it up a bit. Just kidding, keep up the good work!

This one I find cool though because Thumbnail Design isn't a topic that is often discussed across YouTube. It is interesting how you compared it to album covers and movie posters, seeing how the former is usually in a square ratio while the latter usually is in a portrait ratio. Meanwhile thumbnails are in a landscape ratio, which helps differentiate it.

I also like how the first album cover you showed was The Velvet Underground & Nico, which is one of my favorite albums!


Emp as someone who grew around your roots, it's ever so satisfying to see you embrace and discuss similar and deserving content creators. Your content has come so far.


Rewatching this video after releasing a few episodes from my youtube series, and I definitely felt like I took a decent amount of time on trying to make a thumbnail in the form branding for the whole series. They were many designs I made but the one you see on my channel I think best represents what the whole series is. Now I hope I'll get more people to watch my show.


Guys I can attest to the fact that thumbnails are incredibly important. You won't believe how many people don't talk to me because I don't trim mine. They are about 5 inches long now

your name and profile pictures fucking perfect<br>wont make sense in a few years but damn

your name and profile pictures fucking perfect
wont make sense in a few years but damn

I'll pay you 37.63 to store me somewhere 😂😂😂😂😂

@WhyNotMini yeah I'm launching the IPO right now so nows a great time

ayylit666 id like to invest in this comment real quick


god you’re so great at video essays, genuinely make everything interesting


An amazing example of visual design on Youtube is definitely Ahoy. His simple geometric design is direct, striking and easily understandable. Same style transfers to the videos as well with motion graphics, paired with his deep voice and general vibe it works wonders. Kind of like Kurtzgesagt but much simpler in base design choices.


I just wanna express how awesome it is when Emp includes a full list of the music in the description. In a lot of videos, I'll hear a track and spend hours on a wild goose chase searching for anything close to that song before giving up and probably losing interest in the video halfway through. When I'm watching and EmpLemon video, it's literally just a few clicks to get the song then I'm back on his video.


I love the way Welyn does his thumbnails. He has an artist make it for him and the hand-drawn and colorful aspects really stick out and are how I started being interested in his stuff.


I swear the Racist Mario thumbnail always triggered me some feelings that even Azathoth the blind idiot god couldn't describe.

@The Good Mudkip "loathing, unadulterated loathing" imagine being at the point where you unironically loathe a video on the website called youtube dot com lmao

@Master of P A S T A Flashgitz is all edge and no funny. Most of their parodies can be chalked up to: "character from PG franchise does things/ gets into situations that are violent and immoral, before getting humped to death by furries or something. Warhammer space marines are also there for some reason." I just want someone to make a video criticizing their content, so they can improve, and grow beyond generic edgy parodies.

While I respect the time that does into animating this stuff, “Haha funny PG Video Game Character kill people and boobies and blood! Epic! XD! THIS AINT YOUR GRANDMA’S MARIO!” gets old fast. As proven by Dorkly.

Ha ha what if Pikachu he smoke the weed???????

Bro got so mad he started spoke the name of Azathoth

it absolutely drained my soul to look at it

@Danka Before or After, it's just as rage inducing.

are you referring before or after the coverup?

Paul 27/02 Christ's Soldier racist Mario is from like 2013

"Dude! What if Mario was violent lol"
"Dude, BOOBS"
The absolute state of YouTube animation


Should've had a moment to talk abot the titles of the videos themselves as well as the thumbnails. The Title is incredibly important as well to know what the video is and may help give the tone of the video. Wether it's sarcastic, serious, trendy, shocking, mysterious, or informational. Of course i did love the video, and I hope to see more along the way.


I really appreciate now how much work you actually put into your videos. From content to video to thumbnails. Awesome, job man.


The future of thumbnails could be the progression to moving gifs like what you see already when you hover your mouse over them for a second but instead it would be the default and would pause themselves as you watch other videos so as to not be too distracting. on mobile if you scroll down to a thumbnail the video will just start playing from the start without the audio but with subtitles when they're available and cohesive enough so you know the context, and when you click on it the video will start from where you left off a second ago. We might see this happen soon on the desktop version as more space and size is given to them on the home page with every update. Sure it might turn this place into a circus of moving parts and colors that is made to keep attention-deficit children here forever, but that seems to be right up Youtube's street these days.


I always enjoy good thumbnail design. Plus once you have a solid system in place, it can be a lot of fun making new thumbnails for videos!


Honestly I’m glad rebel taxi was mentioned because to me he’s the best when it comes to graphic design thumbnails, sure it’s not the best for getting clicks but it’s stylistically consist, establishing the style of the channel

Im really glad he mentioned rebeltaxi in general and showed his channel

I'm always on dark mode so I never noticed it anyways lol

Coolio M <br>Emphasis on acting. That cringe slips through the cracks beautifully.

Coolio M
Emphasis on acting. That cringe slips through the cracks beautifully.

Can always look at a r3beltaxi thumb and tell it’s his.

Too bad he's trying act as a normie while not embracing his goth body-pillows when he records his dim lit room.


Hey that was a really good video and I enjoyed that you taught me how YouTube is kind of an art thank you nameless faceless artist man.


Personally, thumbnails are more important for me to recognize videos that I have watched in the past and that I want to find again. When searching for something new or something specific, I find myself reading the titles and subtext more than anything to try to find the most relevant video to what I'm looking for.


Ahh yes, i remember the days when a custom thumbnail was proof of YT partner, RWJ-tier clickbait or other shenanigans.<br>Funny, I know you said it became available for everyone in 2013, but i wonder when exactly it was that the stigma of custom thumbnails finally subsided?

Ahh yes, i remember the days when a custom thumbnail was proof of YT partner, RWJ-tier clickbait or other shenanigans.
Funny, I know you said it became available for everyone in 2013, but i wonder when exactly it was that the stigma of custom thumbnails finally subsided?


After this, I wondered about how I remember your videos and your mascot, and I realised that you "sacrifice" branding through your thumbnails, but heavily emphasise branding on the actual video. With the long fireplace shots of your character as the only focal point, it kinda just burns it into my memory.


I'm glad kitty0706 was featured here. It makes me happy to see that even so long after he died people still come back to his channel to see how much he cared about it.

@snubcube he was an inspiration to the best gmod animstors, he made a new style of animating and the sheer chaotic nature of his videos are what made it funny

Every so often i go back to watch team fabulous 2. It's just formative content from my teenage years. To this day me and my brother still randomly quote "do you remememember vodka?" "yaes..."

snubcube he was special and really creative in his own way. But it’s your opinion and I respect that. People have their agreements and disagreements, so it’s all good.

@snubcube Just not special for you homie.

@Carson Troeh I don't see what makes his videos so special.

Kitty is someone who absolutely should not be forgotten. His career is extremely remarkable because he died before anyone had a chance to ruin his reputation or ruin his own by causing controversy. He was a pioneer and died a legend.

I don't say this because he died, I just think the course of his youtube tenure was as close to perfect as you get. Literally everyone loves him because he made amazing videos, not because he died.


It's only just specific types of videos that greatly benefit from a well designed thumbnail, something like animal videos can easily get millions of views with literally any one of the default 3 frames from the video itself, in fact a custom thumbnail would probably deter viewers heavily. Such videos rely more on quirky titles than anything, it's mostly just geek culture content that calls for special thumbnails with a lot of thought put into them.


A lot of this can be said about book covers. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but you should absolutely design the cover based on the assumption that people will.


Everyone spends time figuring out how to design their thumbnail while Techoblade being big brain here uses fan art


To be honest Emp
The Thumbnail barely affected my choice of clicking on to your videos.
The New Coke video got me into your entier channel as I recently watched a bunch of Analasys videos and story videos.
And after that,each video is been watched as they are equally fun to watch due to the amount of effort and entertaning factor you provide as an You Tuber.
But if it was a Thumbnail,the New Coke one is Simple and it made me click on it because I am curious to see what its about.
Too much colour and too much effects I tend to shy away,in case of Red Herring that has too much Red in it or Leafy Was Here is also too much in my opinion.
But both I watched em for the content you make,because it is so damn entertaning.


You know Emp, I don't always agree with your hot-takes but I always come back for more because your videos are so stylistic and you are so articulate. As far as I'm concerned your videos are works of art! This being said, I think your insight on thumbnails here is spot on!!!


I love how when you mentioned recognizing a creator by their thumbnail, saying it has done its job, you put AsumSaus' channel in, lovely channel


11:59 This is a great point that really re-orineted how I approach my YouTube thumbnails. I feel like recently I've been overloading information/'clickbait' into some of my thumbnails rather than my own personality or branding.


This has actually been incredibly helpful.

Thank you!


Hey Emp, could you make a video about when is the best time to do a face reveal? I think its a bit of an art, and some imprecise science, and you could probably get some mileage out of the sub boost people got after a face reveal.


Ahoy's simplistic and artistic pleasing thumbnails really hooks me in to watch a 1 hour video about a game i never heard of.

Tbh Ahoy is very gud


Always a treat when you upload. Keep up the good work.


how to make a good thumbnail:
step one: don’t put your face in the thumbnail
Step two: profit


What they show at 7 pm: internet historian
At midnight: emplemon

At 4 am: internet historian incognito mode

What they show at 7 pm: internet historian
At midnight: emplemon

At 4 am: internet historian *incognito mode*

@BigWheel A fellow Adult swim viewer I see!

Youtube may contain mature material
 some viewers might not find suitable
                                                                               [YouTube]
- - - - - - - -TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE - - - - - - - -
8:00 - The Engoodening of No Man's Sky
9:00 - Going Camping at the End of the World
9:30 - The Fall of 76
10:00 - Operation Red Herring | YouTube Geographic
11:00 - Leafy Was Here | YouTube Geographic
12:00 -  there may Never Ever be another man as powerful as Stanislav Petrov
1:00 - Tails Gets Trolled 101 - PCP University Lecture
2:00 - WingsOfRedemption | Down the Rabbit Hole
4:00 - DarksydePhil | Down the Rabbit Hole
4:30 -
Viacom Sues YouTube for a Billion Dollars | YouTube Geographic
5:30 - art.

Youtube may contain mature material
 some viewers might not find suitable
                                                                               *[YouTube]*
- - - - - - - -TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE - - - - - - - -
8:00 - The Engoodening of No Man's Sky
9:00 - Going Camping at the End of the World
9:30 - The Fall of 76
10:00 - Operation Red Herring | YouTube Geographic
11:00 - Leafy Was Here | YouTube Geographic
12:00 -  there may Never Ever be another man as powerful as Stanislav Petrov
1:00 - Tails Gets Trolled 101 - PCP University Lecture
2:00 - WingsOfRedemption | Down the Rabbit Hole
4:00 - DarksydePhil | Down the Rabbit Hole
4:30 -
Viacom Sues YouTube for a Billion Dollars | YouTube Geographic
5:30 - art.

24/7/365 at narcotics anonymous: ssethtzeentach

5:30 am king of the hill then it goes back to cartoon network

Sorry, but Emplemon < Internet Historian


Watching these videos already make you feel like you’re watching big brain shit but watching these high as fuck go hard the Simpson parts keep you glued


Not only are your videos entertaining, funny, and incredibly well made but you made me consider something deeply that I had never really put much thought into before, yet it was something right infront me this whole time. And what a twist ending! Thanks for making this videos during these times Emp, looking forward to the next one. Love ya


I really love this video it perfectly shows off the little things that matter so much in the end


The change in thumbnails actually allows videos that you’ve already watched or videos from channels that you’re subscribed to to reappear in your youtube feed.


for anyone wondering, the wingdings text at 2:42 says "downward spiral"

@SufferingKoala ok but "downward spiral" is two words, not one, bruh. CRINGE

if you look at the two words, the first and last letter of the first word are the same, and the 6th letter of the first word and the 5th letter of the second word are also the same, so presumably, downward spiral is the word

the hero we need, but not the one we deserve

I also got the question of from where the hell did "downward spiral" came from, since I'm watching this guys videos I'm hearing it more and more on other platforms

@s p e c t r a i got the reference! Nin was my very first thought.

@s p e c t r a Steve Rogers and I got that reference.

@Matchsticks Legends says, the return of Jesus Christ is shown by the one who can read and write in wingdings. We have our next Savior.

How did you find that out<br>Did you going into a word doc and experiment with windings?

How did you find that out
Did you going into a word doc and experiment with windings?


Very good video.

These videos are changing me from making mediocre videos to paying more attention to editing...


I use negative space in my thumbnails. I think it looks pretty cool. More people should use it.


My relative recommended me this video and I am so happy he did. This video is great and informative. Thank you so much for this information and Ill be sure to use it for my next youtube thumbnail that I make. Currently I am experimenting with showing branding without the need of a logo so I have more space to show the contents of my video. I didnt know about the rule of thirds rule, so Ill be sure to use that next time I make a thumbnail too. Thank you


As someone majoring in graphic design I really liked this video. Cause even I tend to click on flashy/colorful looking thumbnails


4:24 weirdly my eyes were already looking at the exact location where Wally was when that picture came up. So I technically found Wally in less than half a second.


Recognizing video by thumbnail using Kurzgesat as an example is perfect!<br>The first time I saw the art, I was intrigued and every time seeing their thumbnails after was instant recognition and clicking before recognizing the subject matter.

Recognizing video by thumbnail using Kurzgesat as an example is perfect!
The first time I saw the art, I was intrigued and every time seeing their thumbnails after was instant recognition and clicking before recognizing the subject matter.


On the topic of symbolism, I think it's pretty interesting how the yellow 'demonetized' icon  became iconic just because of how often creators throw it up in thumbnails and in graphics. I don't know that most creators realize that, as viewers, we never actually see that symbol on videos.


Empleomon sounds like a modern artist explaining a fully black canvas to people.


"You may not have noticed it but your brain did" is such an iconic line that proves RLM's branding in a video all about branding. Well played Emp


Every time I hear the Gran Turismo 4 soundtrack in your videos, it's a subliminal shot of calming nostalgia. Keep usin' the good tunes, man.


This video was very educational, and I think I'll use some of its mantras for my own channel. What I found surprising was that thumbnails have a lot in common with shocking ads.
1. Both don't need to sell anything to its viewers, but just make them remember.
2. It should be distinct but, still, represent your brand.
3. Not everything works twice or works at all.
There are probably more, but these free are the most striking.


I’m surprised how many of these channels I recognize, like Down the Rabbit Hole and Nirrel. I’m glad that they are getting recognition, they make amazing content!


My own brush with the algorithm was, I'm certain, entirely dictated by a thumbnail I put zero thought into. A wall of text made in photoshop that simply read "You are a horrible person", which lead to a CTR capping out at 50% (closer to 15 on average).


I always find that I tend to click on thumbnails when the text in the actual image is related -- but not identical -- to the video title. For example, Adam Neely's video thumbnails always include what he calls "anti-clickbait", where the text in the thumbnail technically answers the title's question in as few words as possible. Even though you would think that answering the premise of the video before you've even watched it might be counter-intuitive, it actually makes me wonder what the explanation for that answer is, so I click. So in my opinion, the thumbnail should go directly hand-in-hand with the title, as the two elements are the first impression of a video. Including legible text that compliments the title gives you double the amount of space to let the viewer know what to expect.


As a musician who does freelance graphic design and a new YouTuber, this video is super informative. Should be part of a communications course.


Unironically one of the best resources for thumbnail creation on the site.


An Emplemon video is just one of those things that you have to put everything down before watching.

I think it's a general rule for creators who write good scripts. For example, I don't like Recommended tab and just use my subscription box, and when I see a new video from someone who makes good, coherent and compelling arguments, I feel enticed to watch it right away. In other words, something that's likely to make you think.<br>But when it's something from a creator I that watch casually, like a reaction video, commentary stuff or some off the cuff rambling, I tend to put it off (or just throw it into "Watch later" for eternity).

I think it's a general rule for creators who write good scripts. For example, I don't like Recommended tab and just use my subscription box, and when I see a new video from someone who makes good, coherent and compelling arguments, I feel enticed to watch it right away. In other words, something that's likely to make you think.
But when it's something from a creator I that watch casually, like a reaction video, commentary stuff or some off the cuff rambling, I tend to put it off (or just throw it into "Watch later" for eternity).

Same, I was about to play Saints Row; but I had to put it on hold once that notif popped up

I was in the middle of modding a game, and when I saw a video notif from EmpLemon, I immediately clicked on the video without thinking about it


I think I've never left a comment in your videos before, but I wanna say that you're one of my main inspirations at making videos and you're one of the few people who really get YouTube to an in-depth level. I've been on the site for as long as you I believe, and even though I didn't get to know you because of your YTPs,  it shows how much that personal background on the site translated into your knowledge of it and the skill  that video making actually takes. You care about YouTube and its community, I should know as (for me) one of the most rewarding aspects of it is reading the comment section of my own vids  (which I also recall you saying at some point in other of your videos).<br>My point is, much respect, my dude, and as I coincidentally am listening to Nine Inch Nails now, let the spiral keep on going down, down, down.

I think I've never left a comment in your videos before, but I wanna say that you're one of my main inspirations at making videos and you're one of the few people who really get YouTube to an in-depth level. I've been on the site for as long as you I believe, and even though I didn't get to know you because of your YTPs,  it shows how much that personal background on the site translated into your knowledge of it and the skill  that video making actually takes. You care about YouTube and its community, I should know as (for me) one of the most rewarding aspects of it is reading the comment section of my own vids  (which I also recall you saying at some point in other of your videos).
My point is, much respect, my dude, and as I coincidentally am listening to Nine Inch Nails now, let the spiral keep on going down, down, down.


A lot of good info here. I definitely need to put more thought into my thumbnails.


You should go through your videos and explain how you presented them / laid them out the way you did, think it'd be real interesting hearing about your creative process, specially with how you went through what you think about thumbnails.


honestly your thumbnails for Never Ever are half the reason i started whatching you, they really drew mw in. good job!


“But your brain did”

Quality reference right there.

Is that the guy from the smiling friends pilot?


I myself draw my thumbnails every day. It's a bit of a challenge but I think its worth it.


the thumbnails with the "shocked" faces are useful af, as you can directly click the three dots and pray that Susan respects you not being interested in that channel.


Honestly this is something I've always thought about and that something people really take for granted, thumbnails should be looked at the same way as art. Think about it: you have to have a good composition, you have to convey a message with limited means, you need to use varying elements in order to bring certain elements more focus. It's literally just making art!


I think Emp and InternetHistorian are really good examples of good thumbnails


Thank you for this help! I noticed similar patterns with my thumbnails too


Something that you might wanna look at for thumbnails is Magic the Gathering cardart, they have a similar issue in terms of low space to work with and as a result find ways to work around the limitations.


He did it

He changed the thumbnail after sometime to fit a broader audience

What a legend


I always thought YouTube and it’s Thumbnails were an elaborate hoax


Yooooo. I was looking for someone to acknowledge Dan and I find the man himself

I was personally offended by this until I realized that emplemon knew who Dan Gheesling is...

Just commented about that and saw you were here lol

Dan Gheesling focus on beating nl in Mario maker instead duuuuude

tfw you step outside of the nlss meta for one second and lose your D N A status

Don't worry, Dan. Emp is just sleeping on the greatest content creator the world has ever known. He'll come around. They always do.


What is very funny, YT tried to increase the size of all thumbnails recently. The issue was, the thumbnails in landscape (horizontal) mode were then bigger than most phone screens. While it is a good idea, to increase the profile of the thumbnails, it is straitup shit, if you cannot even see one at a time. Regardless of how it made browsing extremly tidious.


“Your face is just a waste of space.”

Yeah. I know.


Overthinking the thumbnail is a good thing, because ultimately you will be more satisfied


Honestly came just to comment about how repulsive the thumbnail is. Which, I guess, means it’s working.


Whilst using mobile I found out that you can actually make a thumbnail transparent. I found this out by swiping up whilst watching a video in landscape mode and I saw that the thumbnail for one of the recommended videos was not a rectangle. I'm not actually sure how this was done but it's definitely possible


I think VSauce has talked about the importance of YT thumbnails and how he thinks of them as super important visual headlines (thinking about the title and thumbnail even before the script is finalized) in his ted talk so certain segments within the yt community definitely know about his style and appreciate it


Adam Neely is great at designing thumbnails. He employs the same "raise a question" tactic that was mentioned, but unlike others, he tries to avoid making you sit and wait through a 15 minute video for a 2 second answer. His best thumbnails simultaneously raise and answer simple questions and spends the video giving great explanations about how he came to that conclusion.


It blew my mind when I found out that the little tic tac toe board that appears on the cropping tool is a composition tool


If only kitty could live till this moment to see his video being a part and subject of a video essay... True legend, you'll stay forever in our minds.

@ScaffleBun <br>Oooohhhh, oh jeez I just remember Team Fabulous 2 :(

@ScaffleBun
Oooohhhh, oh jeez I just remember Team Fabulous 2 :(

@#justiceforjoggers it's the guy who made that team fortress gmod thumbnail near the 1/3rd mark of the vid, he died almost a decade ago.
Both the gmod and tf2 community loves his videos and he brought a lot of joy

The video thumbnail is for the video named team fabulous 2


the whole “changing your thumbnail boosts performance” thing is true and it haunts me like i’ll see a video i’ve watched before or seen in my Feed™ but it will have a new thumbnail and it freaks me out


I change my thumbnails from time to time and it gives a small boost but nothing I can really say for sure helps a lot


I think Anklespankin might have an interesting approach to actually marrying branding and visual design by photoshopping his face onto the the characters, the goofy appearance showing his style while also having some efficiency bonuses


Raywilliamjohnson really was a pioneer in many respects...truly ahead of his time


Dude, I discovered this channel due to the amazing thumbnails!


Did Emp just make a 16 minute video to flex on us with his process for making thumbnails?


I wish I had the specific video to link you but the recently rising youtuber/twitch streamer Ludwig is pretty open about what he does and how it works.  I noticed he changes his titles and thumbnails sometimes from push notifications not matching on my phone.  Later he explained that after ~1 hour if his video has lower than average traffic he will change the title for sure and sometimes the thumbnail.  While he doesn't understand it exactly the best way to put it would be like hoping for a rare drop in an RPG.  I don't think it necessarily promotes you more to do it but it seems like it gives you another "roll" to be favored in an algorithm.  It's similar to uploading a new video in a way.


Netflix changes the thumbnails every once in a while and it really does help me rethink on watching a show.


i never even noticed that the radial pattern had that effect. Honestly the youtube wake up is a lot clearer than that and in my opinion the current design is a bit too ambiguous


Emplemon: talks about how to make your thumbnail stand out while taking size into consideration

YouTube 1 day later: makes thumbnails fucking giant.


9:11 Damn it is so nice seeing Wrestling with Wregret in an Emplemon video. Love that guy, very underrated


Vagrant holiday has some pretty eye-catching and memorable thumbnail designs. Even tho he has only 8 videos and I've seen them all, Everytime one pops up in my feed I have to click on it!


I like the thumbnails that use the first frame of the video as the picture, so when you click on it its like a robot unfreezing and then talking to you


I really like how Adam Neely goes against the meta in his thumbnails. The video's title asks an open-ended question and the thumbnail straight up answers it but you as a viewer left wondering about how he arrived at that answer so you can't help but click the video!


Great video, also I love the use of Mario Paint/RPG/Kart music, kudos.


My favourite thumbnail has to be of Jontron crying, that stuff’s pure gold


for me it's actually a mix of thumbnails and especially titles, they can both single handedly dissuade or persuade my ape brain to click and a mix of the two makes a video stick out among the ones i might possibly click on using ape brain. You have to learn to manipulate the ape brains of your general audience.


Yet again another video from the legendary meme expert Emplemon


After hearing this intellectual discussion of thumbnails, it was funny to go back and see what thumbnail this video actually used.


Yeah thumbnails are a double-edged sword for content creators.  Once you start getting creative, you could be driving away potential viewers because of an ugly thumbnail.  That's pretty much how I am with any video from Vanoss.  I actually found his videos to be quite funny, but I stopped watching him because I developed a seething hatred for his horrific thumbnails.


Hello Emp.

At 1:49 in the video, I admire your usage of Wingdings to create the text "downward spiral."

Bravo.

DaggerFine Gaster claps his approval

FROM SOMEWHERE


It's funny that you mentioned about adding the thumbnail image into the video itself, because I used to do that exact thing back in 2012.<br>I remember someone mentioning an apparent glitch where you have the thumbnail at the end of the video for about thirty seconds, and then cut the majority of the length of that image off in YouTube's very own editor to mask that you had done this. It never worked for me, however.

It's funny that you mentioned about adding the thumbnail image into the video itself, because I used to do that exact thing back in 2012.
I remember someone mentioning an apparent glitch where you have the thumbnail at the end of the video for about thirty seconds, and then cut the majority of the length of that image off in YouTube's very own editor to mask that you had done this. It never worked for me, however.


The argument about stylization is actually why I really like daily dose of internet. I love watching a video for a certain thing and it being shown very early in. and since I'm satisfied I tend to stay longer and finish the video completely because I'm not frustrated by skipping for the thing I click for.


I treat most of my thumbnails as a graphic design project. If the thumbnail looks good, people are more inclined to click on it obviously. They will also have a more positive outlook on the video in they notice you put work in the thumbnail


Hey emplemon hope you’re able to read this comment but recently I took your advice and decide to change up my thumbnails on older videos to see if it would improve viewership and I can confirm that it improved my viewership when looking at the analytics in the YouTube studio when I changed my thumbnail


"The old days of YouTube" as I hear Forest Maze in the background. The most appropriate song to accompany the segment.

Clearly old days because I don’t remember it AT ALL

Mr. Fancypants sure but then it gets taken down and replaced with 009 sound system dreamscape

I was thinking more of either "Through the Fire and Flames" or "Hey There Delilah."

@Mr. Fancypants Sorry to tell you this, but that would be a really bad decision not gonna lie.

Really? I would go with; " Let the bodies hit the floor "


YouTube is filled with a seemingly unending supply of "channel gurus" purporting to have insight into the thumbnail phenomenon, but your video is the first one I watched that I felt like I learned something from. Thank you.


One interesting take on the thumbnail metagame (which you could consider a form of your Information Flow example) is Adam Neely's thumbnails. (Adam's channel is music- and music theory-focused.) Some of his videos are titled with a question (one of my favorites is, "What Key is 'Sweet Home Alabama' In?") and the thumbnail itself contains the answer to the question ("it's in d.") That succinct question-and-answer format is juxtaposed with the length of the video (if I remember right, that Sweet Home Alabama example is about 7-8 minutes long) which then prompts the viewer to say "but <b>why?</b> Why is that the answer? Why is this a question that needs to be asked?" and draw them in to watching the video.

One interesting take on the thumbnail metagame (which you could consider a form of your Information Flow example) is Adam Neely's thumbnails. (Adam's channel is music- and music theory-focused.) Some of his videos are titled with a question (one of my favorites is, "What Key is 'Sweet Home Alabama' In?") and the thumbnail itself contains the answer to the question ("it's in d.") That succinct question-and-answer format is juxtaposed with the length of the video (if I remember right, that Sweet Home Alabama example is about 7-8 minutes long) which then prompts the viewer to say "but *why?* Why is that the answer? Why is this a question that needs to be asked?" and draw them in to watching the video.


Has anyone noticed that videos with no thumbnails are just overall more entertaining?


I think the best thumbnails are from the video. You think its click bait then but its not because that wack ass thumbnail you saw is in there.
Then it becomes an easter egg hunt to find the thumbnail. When you finally find it you feel a combination of shame, self fulfillment, and horny

I think the best thumbnails are from the video. You think its click bait then but its not because that wack ass thumbnail you saw is in there.
Then it becomes an easter egg hunt to find the thumbnail. When you finally find it you feel a combination of shame, self fulfillment, -and horny-


What about Cr1tikal (penguinz0): he uses default frames for thumbnails, but since he is great at putting titles on his videos and he's known for making good content it doesn't matter

He's also the most unfunny person ever, he's a testament to the trope of good artists are all depressed. He got happy and boring af but still good for him

I mean...  If you look like a clone of Keanu Reeves then of course people will be drawn to your thumbnail

His strat was branding offset by the funny title

He's so hot that we just click on his videos because that's how hot he is.

I think that he’s famous enough that his face is immediately recognizable; also, the default thumbnail is more of a unique style nowadays, because most YouTubers put effort into their thumbnails to make them look brighter. Tie this in with the idea that your thumbnail should represent your video- which it does perfectly; both thumbnail and video have little to no editing and feel more casual- and you have a good thumbnail there.

There is always exceptions to the rules.<br>But yes the main eye catcher are the titles not the thumbnail.

There is always exceptions to the rules.
But yes the main eye catcher are the titles not the thumbnail.


AVGN is an example of someone who went back through their old videos and updated their thumbnails with modern renditions and boosted the view count tremendously from doing so


I remember watching you when you made YTPs they were brilliant


Your content is so addicting that I'm on a downward spiral.


As thoughtful as your video is I’m surprised you missed that YouTube closest relative isn’t anything you mentioned... it’s SKU space in retail.


imagine a "They will never ever be" a game like Team fortress 2

he'd probably never give quake credit for starting the series

I mean you could just watch lazypurples and funke's videos on the subject. They kinda get the same point across

Tony_ δυτικός αμυντικός

@Late Night Specialist Tf2 is official safe now :).

I think that video might come soon as the game’s source code has been leaked. And you can only play if you want viruses.

I just started playing and I'm very paranoid the servers are gonna get shut down like tomorrow or some shit lol.


That Raycon ad was classy, relevant within the video, and I’m happy I watched it. Classy 👌


"You may be wondering if I'm overthinking all this."

You clearly don't know me - the word "overthinking" is not in my vocabulary. Loved hearing the thought process on your thumbnail design.


Used to work at a Best Buy return center, and can indeed confirm that airpods are FUCKING TAT


Adam Neely has another twist on the question thumbnail for some of his Q&A videos - the video title is in the form of a question, with the thumbnail showing the answer very clearly, and in a distinctive visual style that I think effectively mirrors his presentation style.


See when you showed Dan Gheesling's thumbnail in the section where you talk about the face's recognizability, I recognized him immediately.

I saw the thumbnail and immediately heard dan crack open a cold one and say 'let's go'

I was kinda shocked when I saw that honestly.

@Jkoz I wouldn't know him if not for NL. Give the guy credit, yes, but also give the other guy credit.

@Jkoz/videos nah, never heard of him apart from nl

@Zane Powell Or you know, his own streams/videos...

Both from BB10 an northernlions streams/videos


So far my favorite new experimental source of thumbnail design hails from channel Stimpee. For months now every single one of them is ripped straight out of some gay porno and photoshopped to appear relevant to the video. Scrolling through his videos is like wandering through some modern art gallery.


your most obnoxious advert yet, but the overall video is great. keep up the  good work. love some more yt geographic the soundtracks alone are something special


Thumbnails are like postage stamps paying for digital video delivery to the viewers' eyeballs.


"For smaller channels, your face is kind of meaningless"
>shows thumbnail from Dan Gheesling, actual reality TV celebrity

I like it


That Battlefront 3 video brings back memories. It was the first time I got rick rolled, but I still remember being so disappointed to learn the game was cancelled. More than a decade later and it still isn't here. RIP


There are apps that switch the thumbnail automatically and count the views each one gets. People use it and homemade, flashy thumbnails with pictures of faces and boobs just work. They get a lot of views


YOU KNOW WHAT THIS VIDEO ACCOMPLISHED?To make me re-watch that amazing Team Fabulous 2 video.<br>Thanks!

YOU KNOW WHAT THIS VIDEO ACCOMPLISHED?To make me re-watch that amazing Team Fabulous 2 video.
Thanks!


They've scaled up thumbnails on mobile, so now it's a bit less of a concern considering that most viewers are on mobile anyways


That was one of the sneakiest ad placements and transitions ever. Gg

That felt like being hit by a truck you were directly looking at, but not expecting to be hit regardless.


good thumbnails are great! but tbh i personally prefer a random frame from a video as a thumbnail over a bad one


I’ve seen older Chadtronic videos that recirculated into my recommendations with newer thumbnails, since he seems to have an artist on hand to make his thumbnails.


Your thumbnail for there will never be another player like Hungrybox kept me watching the video for 2 weeks until finally got sick of scrolling past it and found out it was actually a good video.


changing your thumbnail <b>does</b> boost the video's performance. Thoughty2 makes brilliant videos (the type best to watch before bed btw). He changes it 3-5 times within the first 5 days.

changing your thumbnail *does* boost the video's performance. Thoughty2 makes brilliant videos (the type best to watch before bed btw). He changes it 3-5 times within the first 5 days.


after making what is essentially full length feature films I'm glad Emp was able to get a sponsor with something that isn't raid garbage legends.


Dude I fucking promise I noticed the thumbnail work you did. I spend so much time scrolling through YouTube and sometimes a thumbnail blows me away. I loved your Matt Watson thumbnail, and while I didn’t say it was in that category, it almost was. Very good design work, Emp


I've personally noticed a lot of channels, mainly educational ones like Sci Show and PBS Eons do this a lot,  switching out old thumbails, sometimes within weeks or sometimes in a couple of hours. Its gotten me a few times absentmindedly thinking it was a new video by them.


I was already thinking about how you can use white to make the borders look like a different shape than a square, "negative space" is a perfect term for it. Surprised it isn't used more often, since anything that isn't a rectangle just screams "LOOK AT MEEEEEE!!!!!" I guess you'd have to be reserved with it since it reduces an already limited space.<br>Gonna go look up "graphic design" in the search bar to see what actual professionals make lol

I was already thinking about how you can use white to make the borders look like a different shape than a square, "negative space" is a perfect term for it. Surprised it isn't used more often, since anything that isn't a rectangle just screams "LOOK AT MEEEEEE!!!!!" I guess you'd have to be reserved with it since it reduces an already limited space.
Gonna go look up "graphic design" in the search bar to see what actual professionals make lol


This video comes out just as I am starting YouTube! I’ll be thinking of this for my next thumbnail!


Thumbnail-changing absolutely works. I've had several videos that caught massive second winds months or even years later within a short period after I changed their thumbnails to look better. I would say it's always worth reworking them if you think they might suck.


Have you seen WayneradioTV's "Half Life VR with AI" video thumbnails? Absolutely gorgeous art. Probably part of the reason why it got so popular. They're unlike any thumbnails I've seen before.


Your thumbnail for this video is as meta as the video. Nice work.


mid-tone solid color blocks to stand out from both muddled real life and generic bright eye-catchers, combined with a wrapping frame to brand all videos consistently without obscuring the content image, it doesnt have to be that complicated honestly, the single most outstanding thing you can do is apply even a lick of aesthetic sense


Adam Neely is a great example of a different meta. He uses the ‘anti-click bait’ method through answering the video title’s question in the thumbnail of the same video


The old "Gran Turismo" music gets me evertime

Yeap. Watching your car slowly spin around as calming, chill menu music plays in the background.

I hate how I recognised what your profile pic is immediately

@Niklas K. Oh, didn't notice the gt2 music since I haven't played it.

@No Memes Allowed i was 4 when GT2 released. Tbh there was some GT4 today.


The optical illusion at 13:33 still confuses me after staring at it for 5 minutes


There will never ever be another Youtube group like The Sidemen.


I consider Vsauce's thumbnails the peak. No text, just pure captivating art.


Ladies and gentlemen, the perfect archived image of the thumbnail exposing Luigi's plunger. Wow. Here of all places...


I think the "changing thumbnail to get more views" thing might be true, not only because I see a lot of YouTubers do it nowadays, but also because Netflix has been doing it for a few years now and it seems to be working. Netflix has different thumbnails created for their titles according to people's interests and location. Over the years, I've seen at least 6 different thumbnails for Breaking Bad.


I've been liking your thumbnails for a long time. Now I know why :)


I think the thumbnail I put the most effort into was my Chipspeech Buzzfeed one, and that was literally just the wheeze meme over a picture of a salad <br>I guess being a speech synthesis YouTuber doesn't really require that much energy

I think the thumbnail I put the most effort into was my Chipspeech Buzzfeed one, and that was literally just the wheeze meme over a picture of a salad
I guess being a speech synthesis YouTuber doesn't really require that much energy


Internet happy merchant here.

I sold on multiple e-commerce platform before, dropped a few and move to full digital delivery, but principal remains the same, only thing people actually check is the thumbnail of your products. That's why you actually have 1/5 products with six 1/5 reviews. Even bad reviews do not deter people from buying a bad product if the product thumbnail/picture is polished. About 10% of the people will actually read what you write on the product page or realize they are being upsold/dropshipped and will go shop elsewhere.


The Jerma Rumble 3 thumbnail is one of the most iconic thumbnails as well. Up there with Team Fabulous 2's thumbnail.<br>It has Jerma's branding AND it's interesting.

The Jerma Rumble 3 thumbnail is one of the most iconic thumbnails as well. Up there with Team Fabulous 2's thumbnail.
It has Jerma's branding AND it's interesting.


oh my god I just realised that the dumpster gag is continually piled up with stuff from previous videos

thats amazing!


Nerrel's majora's mask 3D video's thumbnail is the best thumbnail on the platform.


I've literally scraped entire videos just because there was no good screen cap to pull for the thumbnail; which unfortunately is more important than even the video itself.  Fact of the matter is that you can have a fantastic story to share with your audience but it's meaningless if you can get them to click on the story in the first place.  Yet most YouTubers seem to treat the thumbnail as an afterthought.  It's easily the second biggest mistake small YouTubers (first being not giving their content something unique to set them apart from the competition).

weird, a youtube channel with a checkmark who hasen't uploaded since a year ago.

@gloverelaxis look at their channel, it's also fairly cringe. Resembles one of those elsagate tier moneymaking scam "child friendly" youtube channels, although maybe a few steps above.


Thank you for teaching me about graphic design and marketing.


Emp, are you gonna do more Never Ever documentaries? Because they are amazing, the Stanislav Petrov one is one of the best things I've seen on YT.

There will Never Ever be another Never Ever video


Just happened to be binging Emp's older vids and clicked to this one only to realize it was posted two years ago on this very day. God, time's passed that quickly already?


I love how he has TP hoarded in his living room.


*_"Make yourselves comfortable" - EmpLemon 2020_*


I swear emp, your music choices are so good they're distracting


Because of you, I'm gonna focus a little more on thumbnails.


Figure-ground principle:

Emplemon: yeah we don’t do that here


A good case of good thumbnail design comes from KaptainKristian. The thumbnail alone is visually striking, but looking at his channel as a whole, you’ll see that the videos are color-coded to create a rainbow type of look.


Please do a "never ever" on TF2 one day. I wish there were more casual shooters like it.
Every FPS seems to be going the route of being competitive in a game design sense.
I can hop into a server midway through a match, rocketjump around like a lunatic, getting only one kill, lose the game, and still have a great time.
Any other fps; You start at the beginning of a match. Your team is not as good as the other team. You lose. You have a bad time.

@Quambas Quambillion You've got to think about how games are being designed.
The common trend is to get player investment by showcasing their performance with a badge or some other ranking.
aka; you get enjoyment by improving / being better than your opponents.
There may be a few small titles that achieve a different investment, but TF2 appears to go a different route, wherein all that really matters is that you had fun in that one server. If you are not having fun in a server, you leave and join a different one.
If you need more clarification, compare other recent FPS games. I can definitely elaborate.

I was thinking the same thing the other day i want a new tf2 there are way too many tryhard games these days tbh gaming became boring

@Marc DiMartino you should its easy to understand but hard to master

Valve has said that it's no cause for concern now, so playing it shouldn't be too dangerous

I never played TF2, but I agree with you.


Ayy AsumSaus. He's one of the best Melee-related channels on the site.


My fave thumbnails are from the T.U.G.S. by Ricky & Elliot (Now internet today before i don't know what they were).

They almost always featured this stock image of this kid gamer with exaggerated eyes photoshopped on top, and it almost always interacted with the largest topic on the video.

Lovely.

Contrapoints, while being an opinionated boring asshole with an upload schedule, has an actually impressive production quality, and it directly translates to the thumbnail/ title game, with just a shot of themselves in full makeup on the set they built.


This should be played in english class when covering the symbolic meanings of the film posters. 100% more interseting


dude, your thumbnails are so memorable i immediately knew who you were by that hungrybox thumbnail


8:32 Nick Robinson's been pulling this tactic for the past year or so to great success.

I don't think it's directly affecting the algorithm, but it definitely effects who clicks on the video itself. People who weren't interested click on the video with the new thumbnail, and all of the sudden traffic makes youtube push the video a little bit more.

8:32 Nick Robinson's been pulling this tactic for the past year or so to great success.

I don't think it's _directly_ affecting the algorithm, but it definitely effects who clicks on the video itself. People who weren't interested click on the video with the new thumbnail, and all of the sudden traffic makes youtube push the video a little bit more.


Good advice video and honestly your thumbnails are top tier.


As a dark mode enthusiast I sure hope negative space doesn't take off lol


3:01 Good album covers are like good thumbnails.
They can convince people that the album/video is something that it isn't.
And that's why I assumed that Radiohead's music would be interesting.


Pyro is one of the few people with great thumbnails


4:40 lmao the comment "unique results" is literally hilarious, I would call it either "different to weird results" but eh unique is just as good.


The changing thumbnail trick is 100% true. I can' tell you how many videos I've seen pop up in my recommended with the comments discussing how the thumbnail changed.


I must say that i'm attracted to 2 kinds of thumbnail.

Either one so weird and outlandish that i have no idea what hell it is and i feel like i need to uncover the mistery.

The other one is the kind that pushes a really interesting subject matter through a intriguing question that is geniunely smart, not at all an obvious clickbait. Bonus points if the wording is funny.

  History, science and technology are one thing, but also sociology, economy or any field can be interesting to anyone depending on how you present it.

 Tom Scott is a genius at it.

 I FUCKING DESPISE VIDEOS WITH FACES AND EXAGERATED EXPRESSIONS. They are not funny, i avoid them like the plague.


Mista GG comes to mind. It was very common to see comments praising his videos back in the days of his "The Predator Chronicles" series, saying that they were shocked that someone with such seemingly cringey thumbnails would be so funny otherwise.


I know you won’t be reading this emp, but I just want to let you know that you’re a really big inspiration for me, and I mean that genuinely <br>Thanks man :]

I know you won’t be reading this emp, but I just want to let you know that you’re a really big inspiration for me, and I mean that genuinely
Thanks man :]


yes, because “DEMONIC MINION SUMMONINGS GONE WRONG AT 3AM! COPS CALLED!” is worthy of a view


I can confirm the thumbnail change theory. I once changed all my thumbnails on my channel in 2018 and I got more than 100k views views on 1 year old videos.


This is probably the first Raycon sponsorship I heard where someone is openly saying AirPods.


"Your face is a waste of space"<br>-EmpLemon 2020

"Your face is a waste of space"
-EmpLemon 2020


Vsauce has the best thumbnails, hands down. No small contributor to his size and success.


So I download a lot of videos.<br>If I actually see a video with a good thumbnail, I go through all the additional trouble of downloading it and integrating it into the video's metadata just to have it where it belongs. Thumbnails are important.

So I download a lot of videos.
If I actually see a video with a good thumbnail, I go through all the additional trouble of downloading it and integrating it into the video's metadata just to have it where it belongs. Thumbnails are important.


I was watching some reddit videos of a guy just reading on one topic fe. choosing beggars.

And he started making low key no standard red circles on the whole thumbnail.

It worked.

The ones with no standard red circles had a lot more views.
I mean from single k digits to double or triple ones.


Just bought Raycons with your code and the joke's on you! I wanted Raycons before this video! The 15% was a nice bonus!


"Your face is a waste of space"
Emerorlemon 2020 (year of the bat)

"Your face is a waste of space"
*Emerorlemon 2020* (year of the bat)

I bet that pun was intended, because something happened from a dude that ate a bat.


Thumbnail creation is basically painting if the painting is supposed to grab your attention.


9:10 The fact that I now know EmpLemon watches Wrestling With Wregret gives me so much serotonin


I appreciate the avid use of TF2 in this video. Keep it up!


Whenever I see a great thumbnail with a long video length:

“This is gonna be a good one”

@Matthew Is Cool bro, that is pretty cringe of you, saying cringe.

Matthew Is Cool "cringing" is a symptom of lack of self confidence. Just saying

I watch part of it and watch the rest later.

@Matthew Is Cool I did not cringe at this. I do not agree with you in saying this is cringe. I think it is very cringe of you to say that this is cringe. I will now proceed to be cringe. XD


1 year and 4 months later and I'm still laughing at "vore world"


It's funny that you picked Dan Gheesling as a lesser-known creator, since, while he definitely is, his face is actually somewhat recognizable to some people because he was one of the most successful and popular winners of Big Brother.


And then we have moist critikal’s thumbnails...


What's ironic is that this is one of your weakest thumbnails. Nearly all of your thumbnails have one distinct, standout subject that's easy to remember (Matt Watson, the color inverted Leafy, that guy from Futurama, etc.) This one has so much stuff on it that it just doesn't have the same appeal. As a YouTube viewer, the small compulsive urge to watch the video is weaker with this one. Ironically, the video with more clickbait on it is less appealing.


I will absolutely listen to The Downward Spiral... my favorite song is Ruiner!


I think Adam Neely's thumbnails are a good example of what a GOOD thumbnail should be. His Q&A video titles are questions from his viewers, and thumbnail just a pic of him, and a simple response text to the question, like "Yes." or "No", or even "Maybe" on the thumbnail. And the actual video answers the question fully. It's like reverse click-baiting(?) idk lol


Having a home made looking thumbnail is a benefit really


And just like that, thumbnails became much bigger on mobile. Quite a coincidence.


this man actually has the best ad reads in the fucking game, how does he do it


minime has some of the funniest thumbnails in the review scene


The majoras mask thumbnail is so fucking iconic


Look I’m just saying if you’ve so much as seen an emplemon thumbnail, you instantly know you should never ware headphones in the video. <br>Now that’s art.

Look I’m just saying if you’ve so much as seen an emplemon thumbnail, you instantly know you should never ware headphones in the video.
Now that’s art.


Eventually the meta will just be a return to not using custom thumbnails again.


Man, I love the choice of BGM you put on the Video!


That transition to the ad really made me say "bruh, come on" out loud


The wingdings in your example thumbnail translate to DOWNWARD SPIRAL. Neat touch.


"smaller channels [...] face is meaningless"

*shows thumbnail of Dan Gheesling, winner of Big Brother*

Good one, Emp

"smaller channels [...] face is meaningless"

**shows thumbnail of Dan Gheesling, winner of Big Brother**

Good one, Emp

I used to like emplemon but then he insulted red shirt daddy.


Dude I’m so glad you mentioned rebeltaxi because I went to the channel to see what it would look like on dark mode since I hadn’t seen a video show up in my notifications for a while and (which I’m bad at paying attention to or keeping up with basically it’s a second subscription tab for me so I figured that was on me however) low and behold somehow my notifications were switched from “all” to “none” and I definitely didn’t manually do that myself youtube or should I say youtrash 😒

Dude I’m so glad you mentioned rebeltaxi because I went to the channel to see what it would look like on dark mode since I hadn’t seen a video show up in my notifications for a while and (which I’m bad at paying attention to or keeping up with basically it’s a second subscription tab for me so I figured that was on me however) low and behold somehow my notifications were switched from “all” to “none” and I definitely didn’t manually do that myself _youtube_ or should I say *youtrash* 😒


Thanks now I can’t stop analysing every thumbnail


I'm a simple girl. I see an <b>appealing video,</b> I click.

I'm a simple girl. I see an *appealing video,* I click.


I just wanna acknowledge the genius of the "you might not have recognized it, but your brain did" line. Immediately showing that image of the hand pressing down on the brain, which was in the thumbnail of this video. Proves that your brain is influenced by the thumbnail since that image was instantly recognizable, as well as being an illustration of the Vsauce technique mentioned in the video. All that in 2 fucking seconds. Genius.


9:51 that's a funny example because I know Dan Gheesling won Big Brother and is considered one of the best players, so he at least has a leg up on name recognition compared to other people


Noticed that Veritasium normally changes video thumbnails at least once for most videos now


I don't know if that was the case back when this was published (it didn't appear so) but nowadays I can definitely tell there are a lot of old videos I didn't watch (but remembered the thumbnail) being recommended to me again a couple weeks or months after it was published and their thumbnail was different. Now this could be survivor bias or confirmation bias but it's at least noticeable


Ive just watch things that are worth clicking ,decent point very according to the human prospect. Keep the good work.


If you play with negative space around the thumbnail, you might look like an advertisement.

To all content creators, If changing your thumbnail results in higher views, it's because you tricked me into clicking a video I've already watched. Do it once and it might just look like a harmless adjustment, but do it more than once and you will earn dislikes from (hopefully) a lot of people.

I am very able to dislike a video on principle, even if I really enjoyed watching it.


I doubt thumbnails makes for any interesting content. You can have the best thumbnail in the world or the best title, but if your video is clickbait or just boring as fuck to listen or watch, i doubt it makes any difference. Some youtubers made it big without giving a single care for thumbnails.


One of my favorite thumbnails from Yt is Captain Disillusion's "Highly engaging thumbnail"


"This Guy Edits" a professional video editing channel shows his analytics and proves in his video, "Unfair Advantage: 5 Ways to Get More Views on YouTube", that changing his Title and Thumbnail got him more traffic. On one he changed the thumbnail 6 times to strike gold.


I remember most clips and audio samples from Emp videos but I can’t for the life of me remember where the “More fucking pain,” clip came from.


I love that Nerrels thumbnail was given spotlight


I’ve gotten in the habit of purposely avoiding all content with the “attractive lady” clickbait in the thumbnail. I don’t want to reward that kind of thing, however weird that might sound. I just kind of roll my eyes when I see it. So, I passed this video four times in my feed today before I realized it was you lmao.


Shounic has the best thumbnails I've seen on YT as of now.


He showed my boy Dan Gheesling, this video is so blessed!


I don't know if the thumbnail changing trick works, but...
CallMeCarson changed a thumbnail on one of his older videos to simply being called "The Illegal Game", and it certainly caught MY attention.
So, who knows. It might work.


All the good YTP's have been claimed by Viacom and shit i want to cry.


Tbh, the title or uploader is what gets me to watch a video 99% of the time.


Me: Haha pretty picture go click

My brain: To be fair, you need a very high IQ to understand the subtle humor of thisbthumbnail


Thoughty2 changes the title and thumbnails of his videos all the time. And I presume it works.


I never noticed rebel taxis thumbnails were supposed to be like that, my mind just sort of added the square around it lol


If the thumbnail is representative of the video, then my thumbnails on my videos are perfect. I put zero effort into my videos, and my thumbnails reflect this.


9:51
Is that two time winner of big brother, co-member of Team Unity, world premier Dark Souls player, Daniel (Ryan Gary AL Fox Letourneau) Gheesling?


EmperorLemon: YouTube Thumbnails are important

All viewers: Ah yes, my fellow genius, you raise an excellent point! I'll be sure to experiment with my thumbnails in the next video :smirk:


im starting to think emplemon is a genius


Boy I remember those 3 pregenerated thumbnails. Also thanks for Beware the Forest's Mushrooms


Watching this bad boy right before I start sketching a couple thumbnails for videos I plan on making


if you thought i would miss that hyuna cameo at 4:38 you've got a big storm coming


How dare you disrespect the national treasure that is Dan Gheesling. Have you ever seen that man crack an Egg? He’s a master

The Great Goat King. King Of All Goats Baa of Baas


Honestly, Internet Historian's thumbnail for the Harold Camping video is probably one of the top 10 thumbnails on YouTube


Roses are red
My soda is fizzing
You also looked up
“My First Time Jizzing”

+Gemmatale You saw it in the video, right?


Great video! My advice: Put a F-reaki-g logo on your thumbnail, your face, your tiny logo, anything,anything with continuity and I'll click on it from my subscribe box if I like your content


You've been knocking it out of the park with all your recent content Emp, I always love watching your videos!


I'd like to acknowledge Adam Neelys thumbnails: If the video has a baity title like "What is the slowest tempo where music is still enjoyable?" he will answer the question in the thumbnail "it's around 33 BPM". That way he gives you the answer but makes you curious for the reason why.


how to 99% youtube thumbnail. step 1: have a face. step 2. have some text. step 3. make sure that face is in an "attracting" pose. (looking scared for a SpOoKy game, showing some kind of shocked emotion, something equally stupid). optional step 4. have an arrow pointing at the thing alluding to what may or may not be covered in the video. ... it's the 1% that are memorable.


Bro, kurzgesagt has probably the most iconic videos and thumbnail style that you know it's a kurzgesagt. You don't need to look at the face to know what's up.


Everything about Team Fabulous 2 is perfect and you can’t tell me otherwise


Watching EmpLemon Video: This is fine. Informative.

Hears Gran Turismo 4 music: Ok, now you get a like.


I love it that YouTube app will play the video when I stay on the thumbnail for a few seconds