Thumb Wars (Patreon)

For the Shrek video, I really struggled on a thumbnail design. The above is similar to the final version but I felt the "Outdated?" text would've made the overall vibe feel too negative. But that wasn't my own alternate thumbnail.

Here are my struggles.

So this video could've been released on the 27th July, one day earlier than it's actual release. But the sponsor hadn't signed it off in time. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise because this was the thumbnail I rushed to make for it. Obviously the thumbnail HAS to include Shrek but given I made a video in January about US to UK redubs which ALSO had Shrek in it, I had to find a way to make it stand out differently, so my earliest thought was Donkey's inclusion. I found this promo image but the expressions are too tame, it obviously helps to have big emotions on display to be eye-catching. It was nice and clean, but too clean.

I experimented with changing the angle to being about the pop culture references. I knew the title would be "How Has Shrek Aged?" but it otherwise doesn't boast the amount of references discovered. So I though what it had the movie poster in the middle to be like HEY THIS IS ABOUT SHREK MOVIE. But it just didn't grab me, nor does it convey the scale of the references.

Big expressive Shrek face. Background conveys various references (all important Smash Mouth visual too). But this is just a crowded and cluttered mess. The background could be balanced with a coloured tint so the Shrek head pops out more, but it just wasn't working. How do other channels do "every reference" style thumbnails?

THINGS IN RED CIRCLES! Of course! This was a very close contender and in fact was my back-up alternate thumbnail should the video become a flop. Nice and eye catching, conveys the scale of references. This ticked all the boxes except one - this doesn't feel like an Eddache video. I became worried that this radically different looking thumbnail would dissuade the regular audience as much as it may attract a new one. So I scrapped the pop-culture reference angle and re-thought my approach.

So I made an old-man Shrek and put him onto the thumbnail instead. A literal interpretation of the 20 years later/age angle and it felt right. It felt more me. It did give people the weird expectation that this video was going to be about how Shrek literally ages which is a strange concept, but not something I think put people off the video.

Anyway, I hope this shows the odd process that is designing a thumbnail for youtube dot com!