I think ourthumbnails might be too wordy, what do yall think?
also of our thumbnails in general i suppose
#Are my thumbnails to wordy?
elder flame
There's a lot of words on there. Thumbnails are shown tiny. Viewing in Discord, those in the screenshot show about the same size as the sidebar recommended videos I see on my second monitor. Opening in browser shows about same as Home page or subscriptions feed which are a bit bigger. Still too dense.
Ideally thumbnails have a very small number of words to reinforce or add to the video title without repeating it.
Take my advice with a grain of salt since I'm not a gaming creator and have limited knowledge of some of the games.
First one:
SHADOW vs. AMY with the character PNGs, over an action screenshot from the game (maybe the moment of the frying?). Maybe title: Shadow FRIES Amy | Sonic Robo Blast 2 Race Mayhem ?
Second one is better. Shows what's gonna happen and backs up the title. "Sonic and Tails" not needed to be spelled out in thumbnail since they are right there about to get jumped by the buzzy bois.
Try to trim down to a handful of words or less. Redundant words and names aren't needed, especially with highly recognized characters. Have the images more clearly show what game is being played at a glance so the videos look less like screenshots from a TV series.
karmic dawn
There's a lot of words on there. Thumbnails are shown *tiny*. Viewing in Disco...
THANK YOU my glorious king
this is actually really solid advice
Will take it into account next video
elder flame
You can also start playing with existing thumbnails if you still have the raw files. Can use the A/B testing feature if you got it to compare and also slowly update old thumbnails to match as you find a style that works.
It's not easy, and thumbnails are still something I struggle with big time. Don't let the fancy pink name fool you; I am very much still learning as I go.
karmic dawn
You can also start playing with existing thumbnails if you still have the raw fi...
Remaking an old thumbnail of mine, (news on the left) Havent finished it so far but, is it okay so far or is there something fundamentally already wrong with it you would say?
karmic dawn
elder flame
Oh that's getting better! Keep the different versions up as you iterate though instead of replacing the image in the thread here.
karmic dawn
oh i gotcha
Though this is the finished one of this thumbnail, i deleted the WIP ones, sorry!
Anything you want me to change?
elder flame
Hmm. Definitely better than before!
Sorry I've been out and about so onl;y caught glimpses of the WIPs
karmic dawn
nono its fine
There wasnt many drastic changes
mainly just me filling up dead space
only dead space i couldnt really fill was on the top right
elder flame
Do you have the A/B thumbnail comparison test available to you?
karmic dawn
Yup!
elder flame
I'd try the one you got there, but consider a radically different one too.
Perhaps (possessed?) Sonic face looming huge in the background with Tails Sonic and Knuckles facing it in a defensive or battle stance (backs to the viewer).
Playing up how the title says that one stage there kicked your butt
karmic dawn
I'd try the one you got there, but consider a radically different one too.
Perh...
Thats a really good Idea! Though, the video is like a month old so if we ever do a part 2 ill take your idea into great consideration
karmic dawn
Playing up how the title says that one stage there kicked your butt
Yeah it kicked our asses 😭
elder flame
That's the usual suggestion for how to use the A/B test. Make the thumbnails options good but use different composition and strategies for them.
karmic dawn
That's the usual suggestion for how to use the A/B test. Make the thumbnails op...
That makes sense
elder flame
And once you have a better sense of your style and what's working, you can continue updating old thumbnails so there's better cohesion across your channel at a glance. I need to work on this as my thumbnail style has changed drastically in many stages over the past decade
karmic dawn
And once you have a better sense of your style and what's working, you can conti...
I can tell, I checked out your channel and your thumbnails definitely got better
Thanks for the advice truly
elder flame
I still consider thumbnails my weakest point, so glad somebody outside sees the improvement from all my banging my head on a wall.
Feel free to make more posts here if you update more thumbnails.
For future videos, make a new feedback post to workshop through those thumbnails before you publish. I may or may not be available but somebody should be able to take a look.
karmic dawn
Alright, sounds good! Thanks!
though one more thing
"We LOST 20 LIVES to the SAME STAGE | Sonic.EXE SPIRITS OF HELL Team Sonic Plays"
Do you think my titles are fine?
elder flame
That's another tough one as titles can be an integral part of branding.
Do all your videos have the "Team Sonic Plays" or a variant at the end?
karmic dawn
Sorry! Forgot to get back to you, and no they dont, only ones with more than 2 characters
One without team sonic plays
"TAILS is BEEFING WITH a BEE? 😭 | MINECRAFT HARDCORE | Sonic and Tails Play 🐝"
and
"Tails LEFT his FRIENDS to DIE? | FNAF INTO THE PIT | Sonic and Tails Play ( 13 +)"
elder flame
I'd consider dropping the final sections. Maybe that's just me.
karmic dawn
the sonic and tails play?
elder flame
yeah.
karmic dawn
I mostly keep them for the algorithm, like so it groups it with other videos of sonic and tails playin games
maybe im wrong
elder flame
The algorithm already knows. Part of "processing" involve it analyzing the content of the videos itself
Hence why things like tags and category are largely irrelevant now. That kind of data is gathered automatically
karmic dawn
The algorithm already knows. Part of "processing" involve it analyzing the cont...
Interesting
Ok then
I'll try it out
I suppose it'll make the titles less blaoted
bloated*
elder flame
That's my thought too.
Titles and thumbnails are for the humans. The algorithm has already watched and figured out what's happening.
karmic dawn
yeah i got ya
karmic dawn
Yo meta
I remade my SRB2 videos thumbnail
top is new
bottom is old
Do you think the new ones better?
@elder flame
better image
elder flame
About equal. Less words but still a lot of stuff going on. Tails looks like an ornage and white blob at that angle lmao.
karmic dawn
About equal. Less words but still a lot of stuff going on. Tails looks like an...
yikes alright, its his behind view
Thankfully most in the community know what srb2 is so hopefully they can tell its his behind flying sprite?
example of in game
elder flame
The pixel style of the frame doesn't convey the motion of his tails going.
In the large one I can see he's holding a camera a if filming the race, but as displayed in small size it's tough to tell what he's doing, or even what he is at a glance.
The video is about Shadow beating Amy in a race, yet they are some of the least prominent parts of the image even with the 1st and 2nd labels
Poor Amy's gonna be covered by the timestamp too
karmic dawn
Poor Amy's gonna be covered by the timestamp too
oh shit your right
elder flame
A potential viewer's got something like 5 seconds to decide to click or not, and right now it's tough to tell what the heck is happening there at a glance.
elder flame
Bring Shadow and Amy up closer so they're visible. Maybe add motion lines to show Shadow leaping ahead of Amy as he crosses the gap. Tails with camera isn't doing much here
karmic dawn
Bring Shadow and Amy up closer so they're visible. Maybe add motion lines to s...
The issue im finding with making shadow and amy bigger is that it messes up with the perspective of the background
since amy's running up the slope
and shadows about to land on the next platform
elder flame
Hmmm
elder flame
That's a bit better. Still busy. The 13+ isn't needed since that's the official minimum age for YT and you're not putting it on the YT kids section.
karmic dawn
That's a bit better. Still busy. The 13+ isn't needed since that's the officia...
Alright I'll drop the 13+
On the topic of business i think thats just a fundamental flaw that cant really be changed
elder flame
Try a version without Tails in there. Right now he's taking half the screen without contributing a ton to help a viewer undertsnad what's happening.
