How to make perfect cover for YouTube (basic guidelines)

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To stand out on YouTube, it’s important to know how to make a cover for your channel that is attractive, and more importantly, perfectly aligned with the brand, content, and goals you want to achieve. Although you can set any image as a cover, the smartest thing to do is create your own.

In this guide, we explain how to make a cover for your YouTube channel, reveal the platform guidelines the user is advised to follow, and give you some tips on how to create an excellent image that will help you sell your fish.

How to make cover for YouTube: the basic method

The standard procedure for including a YouTube cover art is quite simple:

  1. Go to the YouTube website, click your profile photo and then My Channel;
  2. Click the Customize Channel button;
  3. Move the mouse to the upper area where your profile photo (if it exists) is found;
    • If there is no art, click Add Channel Art;
    • If there is an art and you want to change it, click the pencil icon in the right corner, then  click Edit Channel Art;
  4. You can use an image on your computer ( Upload photos tab ), choose a saved in your Google Photos account ( Your photos tab ) or use a YouTube suggestion ( Gallery tab );
  5. If you use a saved photo on your PC, click Select a photo from the computer and choose the desired photo;
  6. YouTube will display a sample of how the cover will look, depending on the device the user uses ( desktop, mobile, or TV ). Click Adjust crop to position the displayed area of the image as you wish best;
  7. Click Select.

Okay, your YouTube channel now has a cover.

Added an image? Now it’s time to put links to your sites and social networks:

  1. Still within the page of your channel, click Customize channel;
  2. Click the About tab, and in the Links section, click the pencil button to edit the data;
  3. YouTube will automatically include your account link in Google+, To place others, click Add;
  4. In the left field, enter the name of the site or social network, and in the right field, the URL of the same. You can add up to five links;
  5. After the changes are complete, click  Done .

And ready. If the included link is from a social network, Youtube will identify it only by the icon; otherwise, by the name of the site you chose for the link and icon, if it has one. All links will be placed on the banner.

How to make a cover for YouTube: Customization

YouTube recommends a size of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels for the cover art so that it is well-visualized on all types of devices where the platform is present. however, it is not enough just to put a cute wallpaper: presentation is important, and so it is essential to customize the image.

First, YouTube recommends that the content producer follow some guidelines to create a compelling cover that is appropriate for all platforms where YouTube is present:

  • The image can not have dimensions smaller than 2,048 x 1,152 pixels;
  • The minimum safe area for texts and logos, the region of the image where they should be positioned to be displayed correctly can not be less than 1,546 x 423 pixels. On the other hand, exceeding this limit may cause the information to be cut off;
  • The maximum width can not exceed 2560 x 423 pixels. In this way, the security area will always be visible, regardless of the size of the screen in which it is displayed; however, depending on the circumstances the sides may or may not be visible;
  • The image size can not exceed 6 MB, otherwise it will not be accepted.

The following diagram shows how the information should be positioned in a cover image appropriately. When uploading an image, the Fit Cut option already shows the maximum safe area in a predefined way, simply by adjusting the size and position of the selected area:

However, the most important step is to create a visual identity. The cover should reflect the channel’s goal, the personality of the creator of content and reinforce the brand being created, especially if the user intends to monetize it.

In this way, it is crucial to take some time to create a relevant brand and link it to the channel name, the channel description, the user icon, and the cover art as well.

Knowledge in graphic editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP and others are very important right now. Use the dimensions above to create a new image.

So, do not forget: a good presentation is essential to stand out from the crowd, so think hard about creating a cool cover art for your YouTube channel.

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