Jargon Patrol: Thumbnails or Thumbnail Image

Thumbnail image definition & technical function

A thumbnail is a small-sized, rectangular or square image, between say 50 pixels by 200 pixels, that is used in a digital interface or web page to represent the content available when a user clicks on it or through an associated hyperlink. Originally, thumbnail images were reduced-size versions of pictures used to help in recognizing and organizing them. Other synonymous terms are: picon, thumb, or possibly for very small images chicklet.

Thumbnail image practicalities, aesthetics & psychology

These images, although small, are relied upon do the huge job of:

• summing up as best possible the nature of the content to which it leads
• grabbing the user’s attention
• enticing and teasing the user to become interested in clicking through to the content

Thumbnails need to be immediately graspable to the user, therefore for this practical reason, good thumbs are considered to be:

• singular images, iconic. Such as a person’s face or a single object stripped out on a white background.
• simple, easy to understand
• uncluttered

Workflow for Creating Thumnails

Please check back — Coming soon!

Of Thumbs and Splicelicious

On our site, we use thumbs to get you to where you want to go.  But sometimes we’re in a rush or just plain lazy. We humbly point out that although you dear visitor are much appreciated, there are but only some many hours in a digital day!  So, we have put together a bevy of beautiful generic thumbnails to have on hand (er, pun?) to throw in place simply to get the job done.  Perhaps you’ve seen these bad boys here and there, and yes, they are basically pun-fueled.

Wikipedia: Thumbnail