Take some time to think about how you'd like to present yourself. If your content is serious and professional, don't use your goofiest selfie. If your content is lighthearted and fun, don't use a moody, contemplative photo of yourself on a lonely clifftop. Just be sure that the image of yourself that you use matches the tone and vibe of the channel. You can be your own best asset when it comes to creating your channel art - an image of yourself communicates authenticity in your content.
Luckily, you're a people, so not only can you take advantage of this trend when it comes to channel art, you can also improve your branding by letting your viewers see who you are. Trust us - we keep an eye on these things. YouTube channel art and video thumbnails that feature images of people do well on YouTube. The Rule of Thirds divides your image into nine segments - positioning your most important design elements along this grid is a good way to make your image stand out and catch a viewer's eye. It creates more visual impact, and a sense of movement that can draw your eye through an image and onto an endpoint, like your videos down below the channel art. It tells us that our eyes move naturally to things that are off-center. This rule has guided artists and architects for thousands of years. If you've ever heard of the Rule of Thirds, then you know it's not always a good idea to design directly in the middle of things. Competition for viewers is stiff on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and feature a clear, eye-catching image, rather than a complicated motif that might be too small to see on smaller screens. If your visitor has to spend time figuring out what kind of channel the image represents, they could lose interest and move to another channel. An overly complicated image with too many elements may be distracting. Since the channel art is the first thing your visitors will see when they land on your YouTube page, you want to make sure they are directed to your videos fast. This will help viewers on all devices see the YouTube channel art messaging the way you intended it.
So keep your most important image elements out of these zones at the edges of the image. That is a little over 30% of the total height, pushed to the edges of the image. That is between 20-25% of the total width on each side, pushed to the edge of the image. If you want to know how large the "unsafe border would be," we can do a little math. The total dimensions of your image will be 2560 by 1400 pixels. The dimensions of the safe zone are 1235 by 338 pixels. That means you shouldn't put important aspects of your channel art at the edges of the image. If you've gone to the creative trouble to customize your design, you want to be sure that as many people as possible will see your message.
YouTube offers some guidelines for how to design your image for different screens.