Fallen Empires History Explainer Thumbnails
A set of three 1280x720 YouTube thumbnails on grained archive paper with a hand-built vector map of an inland sea (fractal coastlines with ink outlines, graticule lines and an island), one empire's territory filled in the episode colour, a dotted route with an arrowhead crossing the sea, a cracked and broken column line drawing with a fallen fragment at bottom left, and a two to three word Cinzel hook with Schibsted Grotesk episode and map labels. Sober and cinematic like a documentary title card, each episode keeps the map, column and layout while the territory shape, hook and accent (crimson, vermilion, imperial purple) change.
What's inside
- Pages: 3 pages
- Size: YouTube thumbnail, 1280 × 720 px
- Full resolution export: 1280 × 720 px
- Fonts: Schibsted Grotesk and Cinzel
- Layers: 12 text layers and 136 shapes
- Effects: glow, film grain and blend modes
Colour palette
- #2f2216
- #ece2c8
- #a8977a
- #d6c193
- #d2bf96
- #b0281f
Good for
- history documentary YouTube thumbnails
- military history explainer covers
- geopolitics or current affairs explainers
- history podcast episode art
- museum talk or lecture promos
- school history lesson covers
- book or audiobook promo graphics about empires
How to make it yours
- Start with the largest text, the "Headline" layer set in Cinzel, and swap in your own words.
- Then rewrite "Episode number" (Schibsted Grotesk) and "Map label" (Schibsted Grotesk) with your details.
- There are no photos to replace, the design is built from type and shapes.
- Change the background from #e9dcc0 to your own colour, then recolour the accents in #2f2216 and #ece2c8.
- Keep the 3 pages you need, duplicate the ones you want more of and delete the rest.
- Export a PNG to post, or a PDF if you need one.
About thumbnail templates
Bold 16:9 thumbnails for videos and podcasts, made to win the click in a crowded feed.
Tags
history, map, documentary, empire, archive paper, classical, explainer, series, youtube thumbnail
Similar templates
- Unsolved Atlas Mystery Documentary Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged documentary, history, map, series, also set in Schibsted Grotesk)
- Cold Ledger True Crime Case File Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged youtube thumbnail, series, documentary, also set in Schibsted Grotesk)
- Paper Trail Side Hustle Tax Explainer Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged explainer, series, also set in Schibsted Grotesk)
- Tokyo After Dark Travel Documentary Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged documentary, map, series)
- Benchmark Lab Tech Review Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged youtube thumbnail, series)
- Endgame Club Chess Lessons Thumbnails (thumbnail, also tagged series, youtube thumbnail)