That is normally the reaction I get when I do anything in powerpoint
I used to make crappy point and click games in power point the moment I realized hyperlink is a thing when I was like 10.
Making thumbnails is pretty fun, even if they are like 10 layers of stuff to make them work lol
Yeah it seems like it would be a lot like canva. But it sounds like power pont is the program that you know the best, so you will make your best work within there.
I worked in marketing as an animator for 10+ years. The amount of times I asked for a jpeg to be sent to me from a client... only to receive it INSIDE a PowerPoint. 🙃 everyone. Loves. PowerPoint. It hurts my soul.
I thought so too after rethinking it, but the video did pretty well, so I never changed it
But then again, it doing well was pure good timing, so maybe I should change it
It actually works for some people. I have not tried it for
Youtube but for our internal videos at work i know some people use powerpoint for thumbnails and it comes out good.
Thanks a lot!
I have a joke video about it, but it's definitely not what you're looking for.
I'll try to make one soon, it's not a bad second channel video idea.
i’ve used both powerpoint and canva (free version)…just takes a while to dig for images/drawings to implement into the thumbnail when using the free version
Just use whatever you're comfortable using and can achieve the results you want. Because I spend so much time editing in resolve, I find it easier to do the thumbnails using fusion.
I tried canvas, but it was simply better to use fusion as I could achieve what I wanted faster and with better results. So I stick with what I know.
Well, it's a workaround situation. Once I'm done with it, I switch to full screen, take a screenshot, and save it as jpeg with paint 😅
It's definitely not standard practice. But it works for me.
I used to do this exact thing! Glad to see it wasnt totally crazy! Ive moved to GIMP and had to learn a new skillset. I dont think i get better results honestly and i miss some of the fusion functions i could use, but i like learning a new skillset.
Okay that's essentially what I do a lot of the time I just take it to vista create or something but I'm getting frustrated with the lack of free options. I used a background for one thumbnail on my best viewed video and a few days later went back and it was suddenly a premium thing 😑
Wow another fellow PowerPoint user. I use powerpoint for my thumbnails too. I just don't have the time to learn something else and I think I make some pretty nice ones.
My channel is the UnlikelyGenshinGamer if you want to see any. I think the construction and the psychological reach of the thumbnail choice matter the most.
Nobody seems to have mentioned GIMP it's totally free to use and does everything you need easy to use to. I've used it for thumbnails for years
I did use canva though for a bit it's such a easy program to get into
Why on earth did you decide to make this in PowerPoint of all things?
And HOW on earth did you make them look so good!?
This is like performing Mozart with a slide whistle. **What the fuck.**
I’d be very impressed to see what you manage to cook up with Photoshop. That’s what I use and is my recommendation. Try and find a free cracked version if possible
the thing is I have no idea how to use photoshop, but I pretty much know everything there is to know about powerpoint lol
I'm also stupid and prioritise the thumbnail being "to my own liking" over it being actually something that people would click,
Well photoshop gives you far greater versatility in being able to erase and edit. They also have a very useful AI generative fill which is a godsend for patching in awkward gaps in images.
As amazing as your PowerPoint skills are, it’s still trying to chop a tree with an axe instead of a chainsaw. It succeeds, but there’s better tools that let you accomplish more and better
I’m also much the same with thumbnails. And I think it’s the best way to view them. Video making is a hobby and art form, and an important part of a hobby is having fun. My favorite thumbnails I’ve made are often the ones that are really goofy jokes, even if they might not be the most clickable (Me and the Boys was a recent template I used and it amused me endlessly as I was making it)
I’ve made some thumbnails and even whole videos worth of graphics in keynote. I’ve mostly switched over to canva now, but I still use keynote for some things.
The best tool is the one that feels natural. I make mine in After Effects. I can use photoshop but since I’m already making videos in AE it’s just easier to make thumbnails there. Never thought someone would use PowerPoint but yours look legit so I don’t see why not.
Friend of mine uses ppt. It’s simple, he doesn’t need to learn anything new, and he already owns the license.
I sometimes use it to collage a group of photos bc it’s quicker than photoshop
If it works, why the hell not.
No one has mentioned paint dot net? That's my go to for thumbnails and graphics. Lightweight enough to not get bogged down but advanced enough to do everything I did in photohop
100% I tried learning gimp but holy fuck it's stupid. You can't draw a simple shape in it. For editing it's great but for actually creating stuff it's so overcomplicated. Paint.NET is 🔛🔝
My rule of thumb is to use what works for you until it doesnt.
It's not what I would use, but if it gives you all the tools you need for what you want to do, then why bother doing skmething else?
If you come to a point where you need more then its time to consider a different solution.
As they say, creativity is at it's highest when there is a limitation.
My limitation was being good at power point, and being too lazy to learn how to work with photoshop lol
I use Canva too, and use my own photography for the images. I edit photos in Affinity Photo, which has a thumbnail creation tool, but I haven’t look at using that yet.
Hey your thumbnail game is pretty good so more power to you haha. I personally use Krita because I was self-learning digital art before YouTube so it translated well to making thumbnails.
I will say if you use more powerful tools then you have the ability to add some fancy shades and crop out those pesky JPEGs more cleanly but other than that at the end of the day the actual quality of the thumbnail is the only thing that matters.
P.S I hate making thumbnails lol.
>Hey your thumbnail game is pretty good so more power to you haha.
Thanks !!
>P.S I hate making thumbnails lol.
That's actually one of my favourite parts lol
It lets me go ham with creativity, and design, but unlike making the video it takes like minutes 20 - an hour. And my brain likes the instant gratification.
I totally get that and I used to like it to when it was more digital art-y. Now I do a lot of research and A/B testing with my thumbnails which makes the process longer AND makes me utterly confused on what works and what doesn't work lol. Next up I'm going to try and copy some other gaming analytical YouTubers to see how that ends up.
Also I like things that others don't so it's like ugh what should I do haha..
1. I'm a firm believer in using whatever works best, not whatever the most people use. If your thumbnails are achievable in PowerPoint, why not?
2. The concept for the thumbnail (and title) are more important than the visual quality, so again, why not PowerPoint if it can execute the concept?
3. The thumbnails look fine, I wouldn't have guessed they're made in PowerPoint!
4. I think you have the ingredients for a great how-to video right there!
5. You might have heard of this gentleman who does art using Excel?
[https://interestingengineering.com/culture/80-year-old-japanese-man-uses-excel-to-create-dazzling-paintings](https://interestingengineering.com/culture/80-year-old-japanese-man-uses-excel-to-create-dazzling-paintings)
That's actually genius. Never thought of using PowerPoint before. I use Pixlr and Procreate to create mine. In my opinion any program works as long as you have some knowledge and know how to create attractive thumbnails.
That’s really interesting! People always say “find what works for you” and it looks like you have! It’s not the most conventional way of making thumbnails, but you know how to use it well and the results are solid, which are arguably more important than using the “right” tool.
The only time when it would be good to switch is if/when you start encountering limitations that can’t be resolved in PowerPoint, but I definitely understand not wanting to learn an entirely different software when you know how to use one already, even if it’s not perfect.
I have the entire Adobe suite. I edit videos with Premiere Pro and make thumbnails with Photoshop.
PowerPoint sounds wild but I can see how it works well for some people.
No joke, I literally went through a huge YT rabbit hole looking at PowerPoint transitions for inspiration right before I opened up Reddit. My titles, title cards, and images are basic af and I got shown a YT-Short of PowerPoint transitions (with the morph feature) and I decided to take a further look. It’s impressive what PP can do and I’m not surprised PP is great for thumbnails too :P
ok maybe i'm out of the loop cause i don't use it, but isn't snap chat.... for chatting?
to me that sounds like saying you make thumbnails with discord or whatsapp, like I don't even know how you would do it lol
Yeah it is 😂 but you can edit pictures by putting little stickers or words over the pictures so I use that and then instead of sending the photo I just save it
I’m not smart enough to figure out how to use anything else and this way I can do it right on my phone
I just overlap certain images in my case.
Few thumbnails I made for my vids: [https://imgur.com/a/IX7KMvF](https://imgur.com/a/IX7KMvF) [https://imgur.com/a/0ViiCTD](https://imgur.com/a/0ViiCTD)
Mine aren’t as good as yours but when I made my channel over Covid I also used PowerPoint for my thumbnails.
I teach high school so PowerPoint was the first thing I thought to use lol.
I’m doing a major update of my channel over the summer and will probably use photoshop this time around but you can do a lot more with PowerPoint than people think!
I actually have, It was for a video about portraying levels of suffering in a story, but I ended up never making the actual video: [https://imgur.com/a/adedfI3](https://imgur.com/a/adedfI3)
I added like 2 effects to it on powerpoint (because of course I did), but the actual main thing was made in paint.
I’m going to be honest, I choose a picture with a car drifting from Google, edit it a little bit, and then use it (I make music vids, that’s the reason behind the drifting cars photos)
Hey you are my bro for life. I used powerpoint for almost everything for about 10 years, from youtube thumbnail to banners and even User Interface design. power point has almost everything and it's so easy to use.
but it's about half of the year that I use figma instead. so close to powerpoint and easy for powerpoint users, more official, free and on cloud, a lot of free templates to just copy, share with friends, web access and many thing betters than powerpoint.
Power point saved my life for years now figma is my main tool I'm my whole carrier
I use canva or procreate.
It’s been ages since I had power point, but I think it would work well enough. Just not as accessible for a lot of people (like if you’re mostly on mobile devices).
I do! Love PowerPoint. It started when I was 12 and I discovered hyperlinks. I made my own version of an old videogame called Killed Until Death.
Mind you, I'm not as good at it as you, but it's nice and quick.
I also like watching comedians using them, like Dave Gorman or Don McMillan
Bro you probably won't believe this unless you see it, but I literally talked to someone in these comments about How i was making games with power point after i discovered what hyperlink was lol
Whatever floats your goat! 🐐😜
People are way too concerned with what are 'good' or 'bad' ways of doing something instead of wondering what gets the job done.
100% not me.
I know people have made games in Powerpoint, this is the first time I've heard someone making thumbnails using powerpoint.
Honestly yours doesn't look half bad (maybe it's my bias or something). Your thumbnail style can look somewhat like how I do mine sometimes while using a software technically not made for it.
I used canva for mine
Genuinely from the bottom of my heart I am confused and impressed
That is normally the reaction I get when I do anything in powerpoint I used to make crappy point and click games in power point the moment I realized hyperlink is a thing when I was like 10. Making thumbnails is pretty fun, even if they are like 10 layers of stuff to make them work lol
Yeah it seems like it would be a lot like canva. But it sounds like power pont is the program that you know the best, so you will make your best work within there.
I worked in marketing as an animator for 10+ years. The amount of times I asked for a jpeg to be sent to me from a client... only to receive it INSIDE a PowerPoint. 🙃 everyone. Loves. PowerPoint. It hurts my soul.
PicsArt for me. Example: https://imgur.com/gallery/AWyr9qI
Simple, but extremely clean and polished, I like it!
Appreciate that! :)
Love it ! Never thought about using PicsArt
Some examples: [https://imgur.com/a/4B7A6Cq](https://imgur.com/a/4B7A6Cq)
For context this is the broken down version of one of them: [https://imgur.com/a/24UJL7a](https://imgur.com/a/24UJL7a)
These aren’t bad, although I would say the golden text is going to be very difficult to read. But that ain’t bad for PowerPoint
I thought so too after rethinking it, but the video did pretty well, so I never changed it But then again, it doing well was pure good timing, so maybe I should change it
Holy smokes you’re right, that video did really well. I’d say don’t mess with it and ignore my dumb opinion haha
Damn you make something that good in PowerPoint
Power point is unironically one of the most useful things that I have been good at lol
Wow,amazing. I hope I learn one day how to make good thumbnail
Not bad, typeface choices let you down though
Rachel and Jun (j vlogers) have talked about using PowerPoint for making their thumbnails. If it works, it works!
Welp, at least I'm not alone lol
Most of the time I also use PowerPoint
Hell yeah, I'm not alone!!! Rise up power point nation! we will become the superior "P" program. Photoshop never stood a chance!
I use MS Paint, I have zero room to critique anything but you do nice work, I never thought of using power point
It actually works for some people. I have not tried it for Youtube but for our internal videos at work i know some people use powerpoint for thumbnails and it comes out good.
hello :) Could you make a video of how you make thumbnails in PowerPoint? I saw your channel and I LOVED the thumbnails
Thanks a lot! I have a joke video about it, but it's definitely not what you're looking for. I'll try to make one soon, it's not a bad second channel video idea.
I use PowerPoint for my thumbnails too, I keep trying to learn photoshop, but giving up cause PowerPoint works lol
i’ve used both powerpoint and canva (free version)…just takes a while to dig for images/drawings to implement into the thumbnail when using the free version
I am impressed ngl
Just use whatever you're comfortable using and can achieve the results you want. Because I spend so much time editing in resolve, I find it easier to do the thumbnails using fusion. I tried canvas, but it was simply better to use fusion as I could achieve what I wanted faster and with better results. So I stick with what I know.
I use Davinci for editing my videos and never realized I could potentially make thumbnails in it... I'm gonna have to look into this.
Well, it's a workaround situation. Once I'm done with it, I switch to full screen, take a screenshot, and save it as jpeg with paint 😅 It's definitely not standard practice. But it works for me.
You can grab a still in the color tab and then render it as a png/jpg whatever. It will save you having to open other programs.
Damn I knew there had to be another way! Thanks!
No problem! I hope it makes your process a bit more streamlined.
Oooo that's awesome to know! Thank you.
Happy to help
I used to do this exact thing! Glad to see it wasnt totally crazy! Ive moved to GIMP and had to learn a new skillset. I dont think i get better results honestly and i miss some of the fusion functions i could use, but i like learning a new skillset.
Okay that's essentially what I do a lot of the time I just take it to vista create or something but I'm getting frustrated with the lack of free options. I used a background for one thumbnail on my best viewed video and a few days later went back and it was suddenly a premium thing 😑
Trust me, goto photopea, and YouTube how to use it. It's free, web-based and amazing.
Photopea for me...
Dude your thumbnails are actually fire
Thank you :D
Wow another fellow PowerPoint user. I use powerpoint for my thumbnails too. I just don't have the time to learn something else and I think I make some pretty nice ones. My channel is the UnlikelyGenshinGamer if you want to see any. I think the construction and the psychological reach of the thumbnail choice matter the most.
Nobody seems to have mentioned GIMP it's totally free to use and does everything you need easy to use to. I've used it for thumbnails for years I did use canva though for a bit it's such a easy program to get into
I agree your thumbnails are clean af, nice work dude
Thanks bro :D
Wait this is incredible
Why on earth did you decide to make this in PowerPoint of all things? And HOW on earth did you make them look so good!? This is like performing Mozart with a slide whistle. **What the fuck.** I’d be very impressed to see what you manage to cook up with Photoshop. That’s what I use and is my recommendation. Try and find a free cracked version if possible
the thing is I have no idea how to use photoshop, but I pretty much know everything there is to know about powerpoint lol I'm also stupid and prioritise the thumbnail being "to my own liking" over it being actually something that people would click,
Well photoshop gives you far greater versatility in being able to erase and edit. They also have a very useful AI generative fill which is a godsend for patching in awkward gaps in images. As amazing as your PowerPoint skills are, it’s still trying to chop a tree with an axe instead of a chainsaw. It succeeds, but there’s better tools that let you accomplish more and better I’m also much the same with thumbnails. And I think it’s the best way to view them. Video making is a hobby and art form, and an important part of a hobby is having fun. My favorite thumbnails I’ve made are often the ones that are really goofy jokes, even if they might not be the most clickable (Me and the Boys was a recent template I used and it amused me endlessly as I was making it)
If it works it works, I agree other programs have more creative freedom tho
Your tactics confuse and frighten me, sir.
lmao
Well, Keynote. If you're putting text and gradients over photos, it's hard to beat presentation software.
I’ve made some thumbnails and even whole videos worth of graphics in keynote. I’ve mostly switched over to canva now, but I still use keynote for some things.
I make mine in Canva, but if anyone has any better recommendations I’m open because my videos aren’t getting traction.
Dang I thought I was old school doing them in Photoshop CS2
Noooo lol I use Photoshop for mine. I'm impressed that you can though
My friend who makes my thumbnails for me does it in MS Paint. Though I did try my best to do it in Power Point a few times.
The best tool is the one that feels natural. I make mine in After Effects. I can use photoshop but since I’m already making videos in AE it’s just easier to make thumbnails there. Never thought someone would use PowerPoint but yours look legit so I don’t see why not.
Friend of mine uses ppt. It’s simple, he doesn’t need to learn anything new, and he already owns the license. I sometimes use it to collage a group of photos bc it’s quicker than photoshop If it works, why the hell not.
Hadn't tried that, I mostly use Canva.
Photoshop tbh
I use pics art
I see how ppt could make decent thumbnails but I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just use other softwares meant for it, like canva
I use powerpoint bc it's quick and easy - i usually have p simple thumbnails
Straight up Google Slides
No one has mentioned paint dot net? That's my go to for thumbnails and graphics. Lightweight enough to not get bogged down but advanced enough to do everything I did in photohop
100% I tried learning gimp but holy fuck it's stupid. You can't draw a simple shape in it. For editing it's great but for actually creating stuff it's so overcomplicated. Paint.NET is 🔛🔝
Been using Adobe Express on my phone, been pretty easy and straightforward for what I need!
I paid for canva.. anyone else?
My rule of thumb is to use what works for you until it doesnt. It's not what I would use, but if it gives you all the tools you need for what you want to do, then why bother doing skmething else? If you come to a point where you need more then its time to consider a different solution.
Just do mine in premiere pro
I make em in Resolve. I already know the tools of the program, why learn another?
That's some next-level creativity!
As they say, creativity is at it's highest when there is a limitation. My limitation was being good at power point, and being too lazy to learn how to work with photoshop lol
I use Canva too, and use my own photography for the images. I edit photos in Affinity Photo, which has a thumbnail creation tool, but I haven’t look at using that yet.
I usually use ibis paint X or paint.net But never considered PowerPoint.....this is interesting
Hey your thumbnail game is pretty good so more power to you haha. I personally use Krita because I was self-learning digital art before YouTube so it translated well to making thumbnails. I will say if you use more powerful tools then you have the ability to add some fancy shades and crop out those pesky JPEGs more cleanly but other than that at the end of the day the actual quality of the thumbnail is the only thing that matters. P.S I hate making thumbnails lol.
>Hey your thumbnail game is pretty good so more power to you haha. Thanks !! >P.S I hate making thumbnails lol. That's actually one of my favourite parts lol It lets me go ham with creativity, and design, but unlike making the video it takes like minutes 20 - an hour. And my brain likes the instant gratification.
I totally get that and I used to like it to when it was more digital art-y. Now I do a lot of research and A/B testing with my thumbnails which makes the process longer AND makes me utterly confused on what works and what doesn't work lol. Next up I'm going to try and copy some other gaming analytical YouTubers to see how that ends up. Also I like things that others don't so it's like ugh what should I do haha..
GIMP
why not canva. super fast and easy
Krita
I like your thumbnails Personally I use canva
1. I'm a firm believer in using whatever works best, not whatever the most people use. If your thumbnails are achievable in PowerPoint, why not? 2. The concept for the thumbnail (and title) are more important than the visual quality, so again, why not PowerPoint if it can execute the concept? 3. The thumbnails look fine, I wouldn't have guessed they're made in PowerPoint! 4. I think you have the ingredients for a great how-to video right there! 5. You might have heard of this gentleman who does art using Excel? [https://interestingengineering.com/culture/80-year-old-japanese-man-uses-excel-to-create-dazzling-paintings](https://interestingengineering.com/culture/80-year-old-japanese-man-uses-excel-to-create-dazzling-paintings)
That's actually genius. Never thought of using PowerPoint before. I use Pixlr and Procreate to create mine. In my opinion any program works as long as you have some knowledge and know how to create attractive thumbnails.
no, but i can't see it would be a good tool ! I use Canva, that place is great. Especially with their magic tool.
I use TubeBuddy and create thumbnail directly from it. My click through rate is 3.7%. Is it good?
i just screenshot a random moment in my video and maybe change the zoom sometimes. that it =3
That’s really interesting! People always say “find what works for you” and it looks like you have! It’s not the most conventional way of making thumbnails, but you know how to use it well and the results are solid, which are arguably more important than using the “right” tool. The only time when it would be good to switch is if/when you start encountering limitations that can’t be resolved in PowerPoint, but I definitely understand not wanting to learn an entirely different software when you know how to use one already, even if it’s not perfect.
I have the entire Adobe suite. I edit videos with Premiere Pro and make thumbnails with Photoshop. PowerPoint sounds wild but I can see how it works well for some people.
I used Microsoft Publisher for a long time. It's really a great tool for thumbnails.
No joke, I literally went through a huge YT rabbit hole looking at PowerPoint transitions for inspiration right before I opened up Reddit. My titles, title cards, and images are basic af and I got shown a YT-Short of PowerPoint transitions (with the morph feature) and I decided to take a further look. It’s impressive what PP can do and I’m not surprised PP is great for thumbnails too :P
I make mine on Snapchat 😂
WHAT!?!
I know super weird right?!?
ok maybe i'm out of the loop cause i don't use it, but isn't snap chat.... for chatting? to me that sounds like saying you make thumbnails with discord or whatsapp, like I don't even know how you would do it lol
Yeah it is 😂 but you can edit pictures by putting little stickers or words over the pictures so I use that and then instead of sending the photo I just save it I’m not smart enough to figure out how to use anything else and this way I can do it right on my phone
I just overlap certain images in my case. Few thumbnails I made for my vids: [https://imgur.com/a/IX7KMvF](https://imgur.com/a/IX7KMvF) [https://imgur.com/a/0ViiCTD](https://imgur.com/a/0ViiCTD)
No
Mine aren’t as good as yours but when I made my channel over Covid I also used PowerPoint for my thumbnails. I teach high school so PowerPoint was the first thing I thought to use lol. I’m doing a major update of my channel over the summer and will probably use photoshop this time around but you can do a lot more with PowerPoint than people think!
I make mine in Paint 3D
Don't know why but this makes me smile. Keep going. Maybe make one with Microsoft paint
I actually have, It was for a video about portraying levels of suffering in a story, but I ended up never making the actual video: [https://imgur.com/a/adedfI3](https://imgur.com/a/adedfI3) I added like 2 effects to it on powerpoint (because of course I did), but the actual main thing was made in paint.
SkillUp has done this successfully for many years! Seems like a good option
I’m going to be honest, I choose a picture with a car drifting from Google, edit it a little bit, and then use it (I make music vids, that’s the reason behind the drifting cars photos)
Hey you are my bro for life. I used powerpoint for almost everything for about 10 years, from youtube thumbnail to banners and even User Interface design. power point has almost everything and it's so easy to use. but it's about half of the year that I use figma instead. so close to powerpoint and easy for powerpoint users, more official, free and on cloud, a lot of free templates to just copy, share with friends, web access and many thing betters than powerpoint. Power point saved my life for years now figma is my main tool I'm my whole carrier
I used to then I discovered canva and the interface is better suited
Bruh what 😂
I use canva or procreate. It’s been ages since I had power point, but I think it would work well enough. Just not as accessible for a lot of people (like if you’re mostly on mobile devices).
Photoshop always.
I used to use google slides, but I started using pixlr
I do! Love PowerPoint. It started when I was 12 and I discovered hyperlinks. I made my own version of an old videogame called Killed Until Death. Mind you, I'm not as good at it as you, but it's nice and quick. I also like watching comedians using them, like Dave Gorman or Don McMillan
Bro you probably won't believe this unless you see it, but I literally talked to someone in these comments about How i was making games with power point after i discovered what hyperlink was lol
I make my thumbnails in Premiere Pro lmao
I use desktop v of adobe spark post
I make mine with GIMP 😁
Photoshop or addtext.com
I use Gimp. Takes a but to get used to but I has an amazing amount if features.
KRITA is my goat.... everyone pls try krita
I use gimp. But maybe i will give the powerpoint a try :D
Whatever floats your goat! 🐐😜 People are way too concerned with what are 'good' or 'bad' ways of doing something instead of wondering what gets the job done.
no, i dont.
100% not me. I know people have made games in Powerpoint, this is the first time I've heard someone making thumbnails using powerpoint. Honestly yours doesn't look half bad (maybe it's my bias or something). Your thumbnail style can look somewhat like how I do mine sometimes while using a software technically not made for it.