IGN Entertainment • IGN • 2019-2021
IGN YouTube Redesign
Overview
Role(s): Lead Designer, Creative Strategy, Art Director
For years the IGN YouTube channel has led the industry in subscribers and views for Gaming. But there was no consistent look across our thumbnails, and no strategy behind why we made them the way we did. We wanted to change that, so the moment you saw a thumbnail you thought “oh, that’s an IGN video” before your brain could even read the channel name.
My Responsibilities:
• Thumbnail redesign strategy and design
• Promotional strategy and design
• Staff training
• Style definitions and guidelines
Approach
We studied what made other successful YouTube channels work and kept three rules: consistent type, one strong visual anchor like a color, graphic element or style, and a short title with no more than one to three subjects in frame. I designed about 10 templates that covered about 80% of our videos, then trained non-designers to use them through workshops and a Slack feedback channel, so every thumbnail shipped looking designer-made.
Key decision
One to three subjects, a short title. The research took in MrBeast, Polygon, GameSpot, The Verge, MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips, CNN, Fox News, The New York Times and Casey Neistat, among others.
Results
5,000+ thumbnails
Made in the new system from 2019 to 2021, using a set that grew to about 15 templates.
10 to 15% more views
A year-over-year lift on podcasts and mainstay series, and click-through rate went up a few points.
60+ contributors
I built org-wide infrastructure, training and a Slack approval channel, so the team could ship 15 to 35+ thumbnails a day, many on tight deadlines.
Early design ideas for the new thumbs
Early explorations
Finding the red sticker execution that defines the current style took many different routes to get to. Some that leaned more into graphic shapes mixed with typography and others leaning heavily on typography as the star and the imagery being more of a co-star.
I collaborated with my then partner in design to develop the final sticker look but the initial approach to bold typography and strong character focus was birthed in these early explorations.
Key decision
The red sticker. The closest alternative was type alone on image backgrounds, but contrast was hard to keep consistent, so the red bar gave brand presence and flair with reliable contrast.
A different typography-heavy exploration
The redesign launches
One of the biggest successes of this whole project to me was that I and the team involved were able to create something that achieved our visual and brand goals but at the same time still felt like it was IGN’s own identity now being established on YouTube.
You can see in this simple comparison alone how the new approach achieved an elevated presentation of information that could now be used in a templated way.
Comparing old and new
The template set
With such a large redesign we launched with an intentionally small number of templates that could accompany about 80% or so of IGN’s usual output (about 10-25 videos per day) so that while we weren’t hitting every thumbnail with a new look, the majority of our output would be in this new look and feel.
These initial templates were quickly modified and expanded on to accommodate the needs of different shows, clips, trailers, gameplay and so many other instances where we tested the limits of our template.
Key decision
Launched with about 10 templates. The set grew to around 15 to 20.
A favorite example of a thumbnail in the new style
The initial launch set of thumbnail templates I made
The landscape of YouTube
Before we launched this redesign, as I have mentioned above, our YouTube presence felt far too scatterbrained and directionless. With the launch and implementation of our new style it was incredible to compare the two eras now looking back.
This project proved to be one of my proudest in my career for its success across the board in bringing IGN’s YouTube presence up to par with the industry leading presence we had at the time.
The older look with a one-off approach to most thumbnails
Our new unified look
The landscape of YouTube
Before we launched this redesign, as I have mentioned above, our YouTube presence felt far too scatterbrained and directionless. With the launch and implementation of our new style it was incredible to compare the two eras now looking back.
This project proved to be one of my proudest in my career for its success across the board in bringing IGN’s YouTube presence up to par with the industry leading presence we had at the time.
Our new unified look
Mentoring
A key aspect of this entire relaunch and redesign was that the templates we gave out needed to be easily used by IGN staff that weren’t designers by trade. My first step in achieving a look that kept things consistent was by holding training meetings of 4-8 people who might make thumbnails for IGN at some point. I would walk them through the general philosophy of the redesign and the core principles and then do a quick tutorial on how to make a basic thumbnail.
The thumbnail design Slack channel
#thumbnail-design
This is where the Slack channel came into play. I started #thumbnail-design and invited everyone who was involved in thumbnail creation on the editorial team, about 60+ people or so. Through this channel they could come and post here with questions on the design and guidelines and more importantly people would post thumbnails for approval by the designers at IGN so they could be posted live and assured for quality by a design resource.
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