It's rare to find a YouTube channel without an intro—or at least some type of branding. It introduces an audience to you and what you have to offer. A lot of creators make their YouTube intros with video editing software on their computers, but with the increasing popularity of phone editing apps, we think it's time to show you how to do it on your mobile device.
In this article, we're going to discuss how to make a good YouTube intro, as well as some of the best mobile apps you can use to make one.
The Most Important Elements of a Good YouTube Intro
Before diving into the creative part, we need to establish the building blocks that make a good YouTube intro. Let's have a quick look at what they are.
1. Emphasize Your Name and Logo
Ensure that people can see your channel name clearly—we recommend creating a logo for your intro. This will connect your brand to your content, and make it easier for viewers to remember you. You can also include taglines and other social media usernames.
2. Find Your Theme
Needless to say, an aesthetically pleasing intro is essential. There's an endless amount of themes and editing styles you can employ. The key is to make it easily digestible for viewers, while at the same time being catchy and unique to your brand.
Not only does an intro need to be visually appealing, but audibly as well. Visit these sites for copyright-free music, or try your hand at making original audio on GarageBand.
3. Let Viewers Know What to Expect
If you make cooking videos, you might want to include clips or pictures of your dishes and cooking vlogs in the intro. Or perhaps create an animation of food getting cooked. Whatever it may be, every new viewer should have an idea of what they can expect in the video they're about to watch.
4. Keep it Brief
A long intro is more likely to drive viewers to click away—nobody wants to sit and wait for you to get to the point. Keep the length of your intro just long enough to clearly convey your brand, but short enough so that people don't get bored or annoyed.
How to Make a YouTube Intro on Your Phone
Now that you know the key elements of a good YouTube intro, we're going to go over the best apps for creating an intro and how to use them.
1. VideoLeap
VideoLeap is a must-have video editing app for anyone, not just YouTubers. It combines simplicity with impressive features that can completely transform your videos. There are all the standard editing tools such as trim, color and lighting levels, canvas format options, and speed adjustment. And it utilizes layer-based editing.
What makes VideoLeap powerful is its keyframe feature (the diamond-shaped icon at the bottom right). This gives you more control of your edits, as it allows you to adjust the intensity of effects as the video plays. For example, if you want to fade in your video, you can place keyframes at the exact points where you want the fade to start and end.
It also includes animation editing, coloring filters, effects, stickers, text, overlays, and has audio editing tools as well—these are the features you're going to rely on the most to edit your intro. All of them can be adjusted with keyframes.
Download: VideoLeap for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
2. InShot
InShot is an ideal editing app for completing a project. It doesn't offer many fancy effects, but it has all the standard video and audio editing tools. Navigation is also made very simple and convenient.
So, if you have a multitude of clips that you've edited elsewhere with effects, import them to InShot, along with your audio, to piece everything together. It allows you to export in 1080p at 60fps.
Download: InShot for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)
3. Video Star
Video Star is by far the most comprehensive phone editing app out there. It boasts a seemingly endless amount of features and effects that can produce similar results to that of professional editing software.
The 3D editing feature is one of our favorites, and it's a great way to create a logo with dynamic movement. You can also take full advantage of the green screen and masking features to make something unique and creative.
Video Star has some of the most involved audio editing tools compared to other video editing apps. This means that you can truly customize the audio you're using for your intro.
We recommend using this app if you already have a basic understanding of video editing, otherwise, it might get too overwhelming. However, you can always start out by making use of other creator's effects by importing them as QR codes.
Download: Video Star for iOS (Free, subscription available)
4. PicsArt
PicsArt doubles as a photo and video editing app. We're going to focus on its photo editing features since it doesn't offer much beyond standard video editing tools.
For starters, you can create green screens to then import to Video Star. The Sticker feature has a huge range of items to place onto a green background. You can also create PNGs with the Draw or Cutout tool which you can import to any of the editing apps mentioned above.
PicsArt has an unmatched amount of filters and effects you can use on your photos. You can even create your own overlays to place over your videos.
Download: PicsArt for iOS | Android (Free, offers in-app purchases)
5. Motion Portrait
You've probably seen those YouTube intros that have animated avatars—they're pretty easy to create with MotionPortrait.
First, edit your photo with PicsArt. Cutting out the person and placing the cutout over a colored background works best for this. Use Effects to achieve a cartoon-like visual. You can place the picture in any shape or color.
Then import the image to MotionPortrait, select the face points, record a video for movement, and save it to your files. Now you have an animated avatar clip that you can work into your intro.
Download: MotionPortrait for iOS | Android (Free)
Create an Eye-Catching YouTube Intro on Your Phone
There's no need for you to go through the hassles of downloading and learning complicated computer software to edit on. Creating a YouTube intro on your phone is easier, quicker, and a lot more hands-on. Try out these apps and see for yourself.