Canva offers a lot of design options and templates to help YouTubers, but end cards are one of the most helpful things for the YouTube algorithm. Using Canva, you can make a well-designed end screen for free. It’s not a complex process, and the results will enhance your YouTube videos and keep your viewers coming back.
What Should a YouTube End Card Include?
Screenshot by Ruby Helyer, author. No attribution required.
These elements are added on YouTube rather than during your design process in Canva. However, you should plan what to include so you can design the card appropriately.
Your YouTube end card should include your channel’s name. Even though the viewer just watched your video, it’s good to give a final visual reminder. This helps the name stick, so they can easily search for it later.
It’s common to include a channel photo. This could be the image used in your YouTube channel’s thumbnail, but for a better personification of your channel, it’s good to use a portrait of yourself or whoever is the face of the YouTube videos. You cancreate a stand-out headshot in Canvato use on your YouTube channel.
Engaging text and videos are commonly seen in most outro cards. This is the final message to give a viewer and the final time to push other videos from your channel while they’re still watching. There’s so much you could add to your YouTube end cards, but Canva makes it a swift process.
How to Design a YouTube End Card in Canva
Canva has templates for almost anything you can think of, so you’d be correct in thinking there are templates for YouTube outro cards too. Of course, you can use a template or create a design from scratch. Neither option is better than the other, and it’s great to have the choice.
Step 1: Find a Template or Create a Custom Design
From the Canva homepage, type “YouTube End Screen” or similar into the search bar to find suitable templates. Even though the templates are all for YouTube cards, you’ll see how much they vary in layout and design.
Alternatively, you can create your own custom design. A YouTube end card’s dimensions are 1920 x 1080 px. To create this, selectCreate New Design>Custom Sizefrom Canva’s homepage, and type1080into the Height box and1920into the Width box.
Then selectCreate new designto openCanva’s editor page.
Step 2: Design Your YouTube End Card
Even if you’re designing from scratch, you can use the YouTube outro templates for inspiration for your design. Or if you’re editing an existing template, you can mix and match elements from different templates, too. Here are a few design aspects to focus on.
Brand Colors
To start your design, use the brand colors associated with your YouTube channel in your end card. If you’re a Canva Pro user, you canuse Canva’s brand kit hubto save time with this.
Your Parting Message
You shouldn’t use too much text. The end card only plays for a maximum of 20 seconds and too much text will be frustrating for your viewers.
Imagery and Video Placeholders
As previously mentioned, it’s common to place a channel photo or headshot on your end card, as well as placeholders where one or two videos can sit for viewers to click on.
you may directly add your portrait photo in Canva; upload your image in the Uploads tab and drag and drop it to your canvas.
For video placeholders, it’s typical to use a clear, neutral-colored rectangle in the place or places you want your videos to sit. If you don’t want something so obvious, you can instead leave some negative space with your design’s background.
Visual Elements and Animation
A YouTube end card doesn’t have to be static—you can add animated elements. It’s easy toanimate in Canva, and some existing Canva elements already display animated features.
These finer details will take your YouTube end cards from generic to engaging.
Step 3: Save Your YouTube Card
Once you’re finished with the design of your card, it’s time to export it so you can add it to your videos.
Since you can add different end cards to different videos, it’s not a bad idea to create one or two different designs in the same style. It will save time and give you a consistent, yet refreshed, look on your videos. As an example, you might have one end card focused on sharing other videos and another focused on promoting your Instagram account or website (for YouTube Partners).
If you’ve added animated features to your end card in Canva, ensure to export it as an MP4 or GIF file. If everything is static, it should be saved as a PNG or JPG.
To save your Canva project, go toShare>Download, choose your format, and hitDownload. If you enjoyed making your own YouTube end card in Canva, you canpublish your Canva templates to sharewith others.
Once you’ve designed and saved your YouTube outro screen, it’s time to add it to your videos. Although you can add a YouTube end screen to any video that’s already on your channel, to add the Canva-designed end screen, you must edit it into the end of your video before adding YouTube’s end screen elements to it.
See our guide onhow to add YouTube end screens to your videos. It’s an easy process; just move the elements on top of your Canva template’s placeholders.
If you decide to change or remove your end screens in the future, you canremove YouTube end screensquite easily. But to remove the Canva template from an existing YouTube video, you’ll have to edit the uploaded YouTube video, which can be time-consuming.
Use Canva to Create Your YouTube End Cards
Creating YouTube end cards in Canva is a breeze with so many graphics to choose from. You can add placeholders, engaging text, and eye-catching animations to make a lasting impression on your viewers. YouTube end cards are a great way to add extra calls to action and include SEO for new viewers to find your videos.
