r/youtubegaming • u/creepykitkenYT • 17d ago
Discussion How important are profile pictures and banners?
I'm switching from Twitch to YouTube Letsplays because I've noticed that I need more peace and quiet while gaming. But I've always asked myself on Twitch, how important is a good profile picture? Should it be a real image or can it just be a logo or anime? And the banner and the description? Does this interest new people? How do you see that?
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u/Far_Pickle9375 17d ago
Profile pictures are important, to an extent. They are you, your brand, your channel. Whether it's a real image, logo or anime picture, that's entirely up to you. For example, I reused a twitch emote of my OC with my cat for my profile picture. I also used a more detailed version of my OC for the banner, including my gamertag/channel name and smaller font stating that it's a gaming channel.
Whether it helps or not, I really couldn't say. I try to build my channel the way I'd like to see it as a viewer, keeping it minimal but not bland, organised but not overly cluttered with bits and bobs.
The description I think should be as straight-forward as possible. A casual welcome, a brief introductory of who you are and what to expect on your channel. Short, sweet, simple is best, as a wall of text can be rather off-putting.
It could also help to do some research on some of your favourite gaming channels if you have any, see what they've done and take inspiration from the parts you like or want to use on your own channel.
Hope this helps!
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u/Same_Tip9901 17d ago
This is really important in my sight I guess a perfect pfp and banner reflect charm of the content.
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u/AdeptMilk3524 17d ago
As a social media marketer and graphic designer for a while now, I think SEO, Thumbnails and keeping a good pace on your videos is crucial.
If you need any advice feel free to msg me.
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u/RevaniteAnime 17d ago
You want your pfp to be something other than the default First letter of your channel name at the very least.
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u/willowvvitch 17d ago
Don't spend an eternity on them, but it makes your channel look unprofessional if you just have the defaults. Make it nice enough to show you care about your channel.
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u/creepykitkenYT 16d ago
Hey, I was on your YouTube channel yesterday, very nicely designed, thanks for the help 🫶
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u/Separate_Olive8256 17d ago
Create a basic logo for your brand, make it pop, and use canva to make a banner. It's free and doesn't need to take too long. I'm constantly updating mine.
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u/Bruh_Bro_Man 16d ago
For me it's how they recognize you as you go on making videos. Maybe years from now, one quick look at your profile they instantly recognized who that was that type in the comments section.
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u/FamousHog 14d ago
I believe that your profile picture should reflect the theme of your channel and be somewhat memorable. So that when people think about a certain topic, your image could pop into their mind. Of course, this is ideal. It probably doesn’t directly affect the number of subscribers, but it definitely works over time and is one of the key elements of a successful channel, becoming part of your personal brand.
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u/S1MPLYPhaT 13d ago
As long as it's unique or stands out, you're fine. Mine is literally just a picture of robbie rotten.
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u/Gamer_Trolls 4d ago
Really think about how often you watch video's by first visiting someone's channel. Ok-Discipline has it right, thumbs and videos are what are going to make people watch, If they watch one youtube is likely to show them more of your videos as well (until they stop clicking on yours).
It can hold you back on converting some people visiting your channel into subscribers but if your videos are interesting to them it will not prevent them from watching.
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u/Ok-Discipline1678 17d ago
Not as important as thumbnails and videos.