One of the most important aspects of streaming is your stream branding. Having a memorable and recognizable brand image is vital to a streamers career. If you have a look at the top streamers they all have a recognizable brand. Not only will branding help your reputation but it offers great leverage for selling merchandise down the line.
Selling merchandise is a great way to earn extra income as a streamer. However, your merchandise needs to be a strong representation of your brand and personality. This is where logos and overlays can help. In addition to all of this, a strong brand image will make your stream look a lot more professional.
Stream Branding Elements
There are many different elements that make up your stream branding. There is no definitive way to create stream branding. However, there are common elements used that are worth investing in.
To start off you will need a logo. Think carefully about the kind of logo that you want to get. Think about your personality and the kind of image you want to get across. You can find premade logos for sale, or you can get a fully custom-made logo.
Once you have your logo, you can now look into overlays. These overlays should also match the overall theme and colors of your logo, keep this in mind when you buy twitch overlays.
Stream Overlays Setup
Now that you have all your branding elements, you’re probably wondering how to add the overlays to your Twitch stream. In order to do this you will need some streaming software, such as OBS or Streamlabs OBS(SLOBS). This software allows you to fully customize your stream visuals.
Overlays can be added with either an image source or media source. All sources within the software can be placed and resized however you like. An image source as the name suggests is for adding image elements to a stream. This could be a facecam border, stream labels or even a top overlay. Media sources on the other hand are a way to add animated elements to your stream. Animated elements such as “starting soon screen”, or a webcam overlay.
Within the streaming software you can add scenes. Scenes are a way of separating different sources that can be switched between. An example of this would be having a live screen scene and an intermission screen. Having their sources separated allow you to easily switch between the two.
There are a load of great in depth tutorials on using the different streaming software. If you are having any issues setting up your overlays, then always try to find some YouTube tutorials on your specific software.
Channel Branding Setup
If you stream on Twitch then you will have noticed that every Twitch channel has the ability to add branding to it. The main branding elements of a Twitch channel are:
- Profile Picture
- Twitch Panels
- Profile Banner
- Offline Banner
All of these elements are usually included in a stream overlay package, but it’s always worth double checking. Having all of your branding come from the same package is a good way to keep everything consistent. A huge benefit of having channel branding is that viewers can get an idea of what your stream is about even when offline.
By using the Twitch panels you can give a lot of information to potential viewers about your stream, whether it’s your schedule or social handles. All of these elements play an important role in branding your stream.
Conclusion
The benefits of branding your stream are clear. Branding adds a level of professionalism to your stream that tells the viewers that you care about your stream. Overlays are at the core every streamers brand. They tie all the elements of the stream together in a way that also reinforces your brand.
You now know how to add overlays to your twitch channel, giving you a huge leg up on the competition.
