Giving Branding Critique

[PunkJax]

Hey everyone! My name is manny, and I'm a professional graphic designer. And by that I mean I have a degree as a designer and am working as a designer for a company. I pretty much run my own channels (Let's Cats and Review Cats) for fun, but I work when I can and try to do my best (which is why there's only one video on the latter channel haha)!

Anyway, as a designer I've studied marketing and obviously design principles and thought I'd spend some time every now and then helping people understand how to improve their branding! I know not a lot of you are professional though, so I'll go easy on you haha.

Leave your channel link here so I can see your banner, icon, and thumbnails (and maybe a video if you want to show me an intro or end-slate) and I'll try to review your branding! I won't 100% promise I'll get to everyone, though, so don't get mad if I don't get to do yours!

 

[EndenDragon]

Hey Manny, I would like to hear your opinions on my channel branding. Here is my channel- http://www.youtube.com/TheCraftedDragon. Thanks! ^_^

 

[Ookami-kun]

Hi there Manny!

I've so far been getting mostly good feedback on my channel, but not from any professionals as far as I know. It would be awesome if you'd check out my channel and tell me what you think. (Horror trailer is in the making, so tips about that is very much welcome as well!)

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC140eyb0-Q8F5eAQvFzrL_A and if you enjoy my videos, feel free to leave a like, it really helps me out a lot!

 

[CaptureRapture]

Hello,

I recently started my new channel a couple of months ago now. I am aiming for at least a video every month. So have only two videos up currently.

I was looking for some feedback, stuff I am doing right, stuff I am doing wrong, where I can improve, anything I am missing. Suggestions. Anything really, I am open! Thank you very much!

Channel Link - EdibleEvidence

 

[PunkJax]

Hey Manny, I would like to hear your opinions on my channel branding. Here is my channel- http://www.youtube.com/TheCraftedDragon. Thanks! ^_^

Sorry for the late reply, I've been without a home computer for the last week. Your channel branding isn't too off an inconsistent by any means, as there's lots of MLP to tie it together. I do think you should probably remove the tiny unreadable text from your icon, though (and whatever is in the lower corner). Maybe add initials (TCD) in bigger letters if you want people to know it's you?

I also suggest maybe adding a little something (maybe simple text) to your thumbnails and make sure you have good ones. The most recent one is bothering me because Luna has her eyes closed in the thumbnail, haha.

Hi there Manny!

I've so far been getting mostly good feedback on my channel, but not from any professionals as far as I know. It would be awesome if you'd check out my channel and tell me what you think. (Horror trailer is in the making, so tips about that is very much welcome as well!)

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC140eyb0-Q8F5eAQvFzrL_A and if you enjoy my videos, feel free to leave a like, it really helps me out a lot!

Your thumbnails are on point! Mostly. I think the text in some of them could be just a tad bigger, but your image works well and having the same hat ties all the thumbnails together. I think your icon and banner need work, though. They need to work together and right now nothing really ties them together. This can be something as simple as having the same color scheme! Also your banner is a little hard to read. Otherwise, good job!

Hello,

I recently started my new channel a couple of months ago now. I am aiming for at least a video every month. So have only two videos up currently.

I was looking for some feedback, stuff I am doing right, stuff I am doing wrong, where I can improve, anything I am missing. Suggestions. Anything really, I am open! Thank you very much!

Channel Link - EdibleEvidence

Your branding is on point. Period. I think my only suggestion is minimal and optional, and it's to switch the black and green in your icon so the outside is green and the text is black. But even that may just be me wanting to test that in my head, haha. Great job.

 

[RaspberrySlice]

Hi, I'm self taught mostly in photoshop, so feedback from a pro would be awesome (iI'm still working on thumbnails

 

[PunkJax]

Hi, I'm self taught mostly in photoshop, so feedback from a pro would be awesome (iI'm still working on thumbnails

Hey! Try adding a little raspberry in the corner of your thumbnails so all of them seem consistent in brand! The "Slice" in your banner is a little hard to read in front of the raspberry so maybe try masking/erasing the raspberry from the inside of the letters there.
As for your icon, I don't want to discourage you from drawing but for now you can probably use the same image of the raspberry in your banner? If you really want to draw a raspberry, I suggest just a little bit closer to the face; no need for a shoulder view in an icon!

 

[RaspberrySlice]

Hey! Try adding a little raspberry in the corner of your thumbnails so all of them seem consistent in brand! The "Slice" in your banner is a little hard to read in front of the raspberry so maybe try masking/erasing the raspberry from the inside of the letters there.
As for your icon, I don't want to discourage you from drawing but for now you can probably use the same image of the raspberry in your banner? If you really want to draw a raspberry, I suggest just a little bit closer to the face; no need for a shoulder view in an icon!

thanks

 

[CaptureRapture]

Your branding is on point. Period. I think my only suggestion is minimal and optional, and it's to switch the black and green in your icon so the outside is green and the text is black. But even that may just be me wanting to test that in my head, haha. Great job.

Thank you very much, yes you have a good point there, I will look into that and make it stand out more. Thanks for taking the time to look!

 

[zeke morgan]

Hello Manny, I would really like it if you could review my banner, icon and thumbnails. I am relatively new to YouTube and have only just started getting into the habit of posting custom thumbnails so I already know that is an area I can work on. Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated. Heres a link to my channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJyXVJuOKsmnHW6np2Tdwg/featured

 

[PunkJax]

Hello Manny, I would really like it if you could review my banner, icon and thumbnails. I am relatively new to YouTube and have only just started getting into the habit of posting custom thumbnails so I already know that is an area I can work on. Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated. Heres a link to my channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJyXVJuOKsmnHW6np2Tdwg/featured

Hey zeke, you don't really seem to have any /branding/ going on. I like the logo in your icon, but it's not present anywhere else! When you're branding yourself, you gotta make sure whenever anyone sees "zeke morgan" it's either always in the same font or just your ZM logo. The key to branding anywhere is consistency. I suggest putting the ZM logo somewhere in your banner, even if it's subtle.

Graphics in general, I like that the ZM in your logo and the Zeke Morgan in your banner are both big and clear and easy to see. However, the video game characters in the background of your banner are noticeably stretched out horizontally! You should make sure whenever you make something bigger or smaller that you're not ever stretching it out unevenly or it'll look bad.

As for your thumbnails: make sure the text is big and clear and readable, but not in the way of anything else. I suggest making the "Let's Play, Episode __" text a bit bigger. Remember that most people see the thumbnails as shrunken down images.

Hope that helps some.

 

[zeke morgan]

Hey zeke, you don't really seem to have any /branding/ going on. I like the logo in your icon, but it's not present anywhere else! When you're branding yourself, you gotta make sure whenever anyone sees "zeke morgan" it's either always in the same font or just your ZM logo. The key to branding anywhere is consistency. I suggest putting the ZM logo somewhere in your banner, even if it's subtle.

Graphics in general, I like that the ZM in your logo and the Zeke Morgan in your banner are both big and clear and easy to see. However, the video game characters in the background of your banner are noticeably stretched out horizontally! You should make sure whenever you make something bigger or smaller that you're not ever stretching it out unevenly or it'll look bad.

As for your thumbnails: make sure the text is big and clear and readable, but not in the way of anything else. I suggest making the "Let's Play, Episode __" text a bit bigger. Remember that most people see the thumbnails as shrunken down images.

Hope that helps some.

Thanks for the feedback, you gave some very detailed points which I shall be sure to look into. As for your suggestion of adding the ZM to my banner, I did originally think about doing that and that is why there is a gap in my banner on the left hand side jus above my links to freedom and gmail. Personally I think only Fenix looks stretched out but I shall take your suggestion on board and see if I can fix the look of it.

As for my thumbnails - I do agree that I should make that bigger and I will make sure to work on that in the future, clearly I need to check what they look like, and how visible they are at a glance.

Again, thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it.