YouTube Shorts Graphics Templates
A Short is watched on a phone held upright, usually with the sound off, and the decision to keep watching is made in about three seconds. Everything here is built from those three facts rather than adapted from a widescreen graphic.
The frame is the first thing that changes. A vertical composition is not a landscape one rotated — the eye travels down rather than across, and a headline that filled a 16:9 frame comfortably becomes four cramped lines in 9:16. These are laid out for the tall column, in the type sizes that survive being held at arm's length.
The second thing is sound, or its absence. Roughly eight in ten Shorts are watched silent to begin with, which means the words on screen are not decoration on top of the delivery — they are the delivery. The type here is heavier and larger than a widescreen equivalent would need, and every layer carries a shadow so it stays readable when it lands over a bright frame.
And the third is what you do not control. YouTube draws the title, the channel name and the description across the bottom of a Short, and runs a column of action buttons up the right-hand edge — together roughly a third of the picture. Every graphic in this shelf stays inside the column that is left, so nothing you made ends up behind a share button.
Every template here is free to open, free to change and free to watch back, with no account needed to browse. Exporting the finished file costs $5 once for that project, or a plan covers every export.
All 31 Shorts templates
- Shorts Hook CardA line that lands in half a second, for the first three of them.
- Shorts Caption BarBurned-in caption styling, sized for silent watching.
- Shorts SubscribeA subscribe ask built for the column the buttons leave alone.
- Keep Watching CueA nudge at the fifteen-second mark, where people leave.
- Shorts Step CardStep two of five, stacked for a vertical frame.
- Countdown HookThree things, counted down, with the number set large.
- Bold StatementOne sentence, full width, for a claim that carries the video.
- Shorts Price TagAn item and what it costs, placed clear of the buttons.
- Shorts Progress DotsHow far through, so nobody swipes off before the payoff.
- Shorts End CardFollow and what is next, above the platform's own furniture.
- Shorts Split AnswerA question up top, the answer landing under it a beat later.
- Shorts ComparisonThis against that, stacked the way a phone reads it.
- Shorts QuoteSomebody said it. Set large enough to read without sound.
- Shorts TimerSeconds counting down in the corner the buttons leave alone.
- Shorts Fact StackThree facts arriving in turn, one line each.
- Shorts PollTwo options with a bar under each, for the comments.
- Shorts WarningA caution bar for the thing people get wrong.
- Shorts Result CardThe number that pays off the hook, held large.
- Shorts LocationWhere this was filmed, sized for a phone.
- Shorts Swipe CueAn arrow saying there is more, for a series.
- Caption HighlightA spoken line with the word being said lit in turn.
- Caption Highlight PlateThe same line on a glass plate, for footage too busy to read text off.
- Caption ImpactHeavy uppercase that lights word by word, sized for arm's length.
- Caption Two LineA full sentence over two lines, lit across both in sequence.
- Caption SpeakerWho is talking, above a caption that lights as they say it.
- Caption KaraokeA bar running under the words in step with the highlight.
- Floating HeartsHearts drifting up the frame, the way a live stream shows a room reacting.
- Heart BurstOne heart landing hard on the moment, with a ring and a scatter.
- Reaction BarA row of counters where the one being reacted to jumps.
- Likes RisingA like count running up while plus-ones lift away from it.
- Star RatingFive stars filling one at a time, for a verdict on something.
Using shorts graphics
- What size should a Shorts graphic be?
- 1080×1920. Build it at that from the start rather than resizing a widescreen project — changing the canvas afterwards changes its shape and leaves every layer where it was, which is more work than starting again.
- How soon does the graphic need to be on screen?
- Immediately. The first three seconds decide whether a Short is shown to more people, so a hook that fades in gracefully over a second and a half has spent half the window it exists to win. These arrive in under half a second on purpose.
- Do I still need captions if I add one of these?
- Yes — these are graphics, not subtitles. Caption every word of speech as well. What the Shorts caption bar in this shelf gives you is the styling, so burned-in captions match the rest of your graphics instead of looking like an afterthought.
- Do I need After Effects, and how do I get it into my edit?
- No software to install. You change the text, the colours and the timing in the browser and export a 1080×1920 file with a transparent background, which drops onto a track in CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro. Transparency matters even full-frame, because a Short is usually one continuous take underneath.
Next
- Make it yoursChange the words, the colours and the timing without breaking the animation that was built for the shape.
- Export it with transparencyWhich format your editor actually reads, and why a black rectangle behind your graphic means the wrong one was chosen.
- Stay clear of the platform's own UIShorts draws the title, the channel and a column of buttons over its own frame. What is left is the column these are built for.
- What exporting costsOpening this template, changing it and watching it back are free. Getting the finished file out is $5 once for this project, or a plan if you make them often.