Wrapping Up Creating Simple Channel Art Banners

I was motivated to do create this mini-series of tutorials because a few years ago the video web hosting service that I belonged to wanted its members to set up what was called a poster page. The site did give the dimensions and basics instructions on what they wanted.

The service did not explain how to go about doing it. Not really their responsibility.

I just knew the bare basics of Photoshop and even having Corel Paint Shop Pro I couldn’t figure out how to do it. So I never did.

YouTube kinda did this the same thing on the Channel Art detail page; they gave much better information about why this is necessary and how to upload and add the new channel banners. But not how to do it.

To recap:

Before You Start Creating Simple Channel Art Banners gives the general information of what YouTube requires in a banner that can accommodate all types of viewing devices. It also talks about the possible places you can obtain images.

Backgrounds for Creating Simple Channel Art Banners is about the safe places where you can obtain a background image or wallpaper. Many of the so-called free sites have un-authorized copyrighted images or they are a shady front for ad infested or malware content. Be careful where you get your stuff.

One of the options you have is using presentation software to create a background or wallpaper and export it as a jpg or png file. There are on-line free services like Google Presentation or you could use open source software like Apache Open Office or Libre Office Impress.

For easy photo editing for novice users there is an online service called PhotoCat, In my post, I show you an example of how easy it is to place a frame around an image. This service also have a collage feature that allows you to combine photos.

For intermediate and advanced users Pixlr has a bunch of features that allow for more creativity options. In the collage feature there a lot of frames that could be adapted for banner use. Not as much hand holding but plenty to work with.

If you haven’t read the YouTube Creator’s Playbook you should.  Even if you have no intention of creating a YouTube channel.

The Channel Art posts seem like a lot of information. What I hope to do is provide you with functional options should you decide to make a simple YouTube Channel Art page that conforms to the guidelines and best showcase the kind of videos that are on your channel.

Other Posts of Interest

• Using Irfanview to Work with Images
• In Search of a Look for Title Card
• Placing A Copyright Notice in Your Video Part 2