A Youtube banner is a graphic that serves as a visual introduction to your channel. It is like you have put a big image on the door of your house that shows about you. And/or shows any important message you want to convey about yourself and your work to the outsiders. The youtube banner or the channel art is important because it attracts the eyes of the viewers towards what’s great and exciting about your channel. It adds credibility, a professional look and a strong visual appeal to your channel that can turn viewers into subscribers.
Correct Size For A Youtube Banner
- Maximum (recommended) image size: 2560 x 1140 pixels
- Minimum image size: 2048 x 1152 pixels
The maximum and minimum image size that you are required to upload is an image of approx. the dimension of your PC screen.
- Maximum banner size: 2560 x 423 pixels
When you have uploaded the image, youtube will ask you to select an area out of it, of a much smaller height (just 423 pixels as against 1140 pixels in the original image). And that area will be set as your youtube channel art.
- Maximum Safe area: 1546 x 423 pixels
Now when the viewers view your channel through different devices like PC, tablet, mobile, etc, the same banner will be adjusted to the sizes of different screens. Thus while entire channel art is visible on PC, the border part gets cropped out on mobiles and tablets and the width gets reduced. Therefore the safe area of the image is the part that will be visible even after cropping out. It is called safe because we should keep all the important texts, photos, shapes, icons, etc., in this area, otherwise they might get cropped out on tablet or mobile.
- Maximum File size: 6MB
See the above images for more clarity. The middle image is the original maximum size image that you upload. The left image is the full width banner that you select out of the uploaded image. The right image is the cropped banner as per the mobile size and the same is the safe area.
Tips For Creating A Perfect Youtube Banner
Now that you know what is the importance and what is the size specifications of a youtube banner; let’s discuss some important tips that will help you create a perfect banner for your channel.
- Show Your Brand Personality
A banner to a youtube channel is like a face and costume to a person. Like your face and dress reflect your personality, your banner should reflect the personality of your channel. And that is essentially what your channel is about and how you want your viewers to feel about your channel. Your choice of colours, images, shapes, text and other design elements must all reflect that. For example, if yours is a channel for education with fun, you can use bright colours and a cheerful face, but if your channel is serious education, you should use more metallic shades of colour and a mature face with a slight smile.
- Determine The Purpose Of Your Channel
What is the current purpose of your channel? Perhaps you have a lot of viewers, but few subscribers. So your aim right now is to convert viewers into subscribers. Or you may want to increase traffic to your website and promote your products or company. Or you may simply want to promote a newly launched video, film, or product. Determine your current purpose right now and design your banner accordingly. Use CTAs to boost outcomes.
- Keep It Simple
It is not always necessary to have great designing skills and come up with a complex design. Simple designs may work wonders as well. As long as it reflects your personality correctly and serves your purpose, simplicity is perfect. Also, another thing to note is to not include too many elements in your banner image. Otherwise, it may look cluttered and stuffed. If you need that, you should hire a professional graphic designer instead, as they know how to include too many elements without letting it look stuffed. Look at the below image to see how Urban Setter uses a simple design, using a black image, black text, with rectangle yellow background to give a professional yet elegant look.
- Background Images And Text
Choosing a good background image along with a good text font style and colour is the key to having a striking design. Look at the above image and also the following images to get an idea of how you can use different background images or colour and text fonts and colour together to come up with a great design.
- Don’t Forget To Add Important Links
Always add important links to your banners like those of your social media accounts including Facebook and Instagram. Also add if you have any other important links like links to your blog, LinkedIn, Spotify playlist, etc.
