What do you think of this? Is my channel's 'branding', titles and thumbnails bad?

The overall style appeals to me and their serious tone highlights the severity of the issues at hand. But I am not sure the hacker aesthetic appeals to a broader audience. When it comes to digital rights, my approach is typically to refrain from engaging in the hacker aesthetic and make it "family friendly" as I expect that will make non-technical people interested. But this is just an assumption. With that said, the aesthetic you've built over the years is your own and I think you should keep it. You shouldn't try to be someone you're not. You can experiment with other approaches, but never forget to cater to your own aesthetic sense. Otherwise it may start to feel foreign. The only thing that I don't like / understand is the T_H_O logo (in the corner of thumbnails). The multiple colors seem to change depending on the background and the world in the middle is hardly visible. Maybe something simpler would work better. Or maybe making it one color only and putting it over a triangle in the thumbnail corner.

Asterisk3

I don't think they're "bad" but I think they're catering to a niche audience. I think if you'd like to reach a wider audience you should aim for less 'shady' styling. We shouldn't feed into the narrative that people who desire privacy are criminals or conspiracy nuts - and although your content doesn't do this your overall theme sort of feels black hat, and I can see what that commenter means.

Greg

There is an element of conspiracy in your titles. The question is what do you want to achieve? The spread of your message, then probably changing your (I hate to use the word) brand will likely help.

No Name

I just wanted to make sure people aren't dismissing the research because of the art/design. I am pretty happy with it but if it gives off bad vibes, I'd like to be aware.

The Hated One

I enjoy the more diverse audience. I mostly end up leaning left on most issues I think but I am never afraid of looking at anything from contrary perspectives. Wherever the research leads, that's where I go.

The Hated One

I know what you are talking about. I've had this same experience multiple times. I often read about issues months before they become talked about on the nightly news. By the time it gets to the major news stations, the information is often diluted and misses key points or contrary perspectives.

The Hated One

I would also like to focus purely on the content. Which is what I am doing pretty much anyway. I am terrible and building communities or managing different platforms. I just want to keep getting the content out there. Good point about the short summaries. This is something I have been considering too.

The Hated One

Maybe then it comes down to whether the content is interesting enough so that people's curiosity spikes and they want to take the time to verify. I personally don't rely on YouTube videos alone to learn anything. I like to have the information confirmed or challenged from different sources. Unfortunately, I don't usually find videos that list their sources.

The Hated One

Hello, I have to admit I agree ... It would probably still be a red flag for me if I hadn't used you're sources to fact check you a few times. The thing is not a lot of people will take the time to know if they can take you seriously. That being said it isn't hard to show the value of you're content to other people I just don't think people that cone upon you're videos will necessarily take the time.

hugo

Cuts both ways. The hooded Guy Fawkes said white hat security and privacy content right away.

AArexx AAron Ruscetta

Pretty cool that a left-wing guy and a right-wing guy like myself can come here and enjoy your posts, equally. I think the complaint you describe comes from the segment of people that need to be endlessly entertained, and the group you have assembled here all prefer to be informed first (entertainment is secondary). I’m new to infosec and I completely understand the need to be anonymous. You don’t want to reveal your face to the wrong crowd. Your logo and branding is consistent with projecting that image—don’t change a thing. Unless your gut feels the brand needs to be freshened up. Keep up the awesome work. Your passion for research and honest assessment is what keeps me supporting the channel.

If it helps, I'm pretty left wing and I love the branding an aesthetic of your videos. Its about tech, privacy, and warnings about corrupting power. You've got a "cyberpunk" aesthetic that work really well with that theme, and the "faceless" thing works really well thematically. You've clearly got a personality that comes through in the videos, but hiding identity plays really well into the privacy themes of your channel, no matter how practical it actually is. I have no desire to see your face, but greatly want to keep supporting and watching your videos. Ultimately, its your project and career, you need to decide what your priorities are. But your subscriber count and patreon count tell me that you've already reached a significant audience who can support you. I'd personally like to see you just focus on the content and related projects, and if this truly does not work to create the career you're working towards, then you talk about a more broadly appealing branding- maybe an alt channel delivering 5 min summaries of important videos, with a broader aesthetic?

Tim

Personally, I like the branding, thumbnails and style of video editing a lot, but I guess some people only believe something if a person in a suit tells them. I think the style of video editing and use of music makes it more entertaining and enjoyable to watch than your typical 'news outlet' with boring editing, normal fonts and no or 'neutral' music.

Anonymous

Hello, As EudaemonicRob said «you can't make everyone happy». I think you are a sub-category of Tech channels. And according to what I see, most tech channels do hardware reviews (phones, graphic cards, camera, lens, ...). For example, some photography channels trying to do other things than camera/lens reviews complains that other subjects does a lot less views. Some can, but they are in youtube game since a longer time and they play a lot on their personalities. On this last topic as you do not put your face on camera, you can't « personalize » your videos. All huge youtubers show their faces. Thumbnails with facial expression works better, etc... You have 368K subscribers, which I think is a great mark for a channel with no face. But you decide, this is your channel and your work. Just remember that you won't make everyone happy and you have to stay yourself and like and believe what you do, otherwise you won't last. I guess... Good luck and keep doing your great work.

Lougavulin

You can't make everyone happy. As for me, I like all of it. It's good to listen to others' criticism because we can learn and make some adaptations. Again this seems to come down to 2 seperate audiences: the masses who would crave more view-friendly content/presentation methods, and well... us, your close community. I'll support the decisions you have to take.

EudaemonicRob

Trust your intuition that allowed you to build a loyal audience so far and don’t get caught up too much in the internet comments.

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