Some time ago I was browsing the AERIALIS Kites’ YouTube channel looking for a specific video. And having to go through close to 700 videos looking for the one surely took its time. Yes, I did try to search for it, but couldn’t remember any useful keywords.
So I thought…. hmmmmm…. if I have problems finding my way through my channel, I guess others would have a hard time trying to do the same too. Something’s gotta be done about it!
I spent some time thinking about what to do, read some useful articles on the Internet and watched a heap of useful vids on YouTube and finally I ended up with a conclusion few ideas on how to approach the process.
Video categories
While browsing through all of my YouTube vids, I came to realise that they can be divided into a few different types, or categories if you like. The major number of them falls into the …. kind of ‘just fly a kite‘ type of video, but there are a significant number of videos that goes into other categories too. So let’s make a list, shall we?
- Kite Flying
- Kite Tutorials
- Kite How-to
- Kite Maintenance
- Kite building
- KAP and KAV
- Drone flying
- Vlogs and Shorts
I guess the categories are more or less self-explanatory, but let’s nevertheless go through them one by one.
1. Kite Flying
In this category, you will find most of my videos. In these videos, I’m trying to present the essence of kite flying no matter how many lines are attached. I try to create content that is advocating kite flying in general and hopefully I will also manage to include some interesting shots, both of the surroundings, the flying and the kites themselves. These vids are for pure pleasure and – hopefully – inspiration!
2. Kite Tutorials
Do I need to say more? In this category, you will find all my kite flying tutorials. Everything from the basic stuff to the more advanced moves and techniques. So if you want to learn how to fly, you better get familiar with the vids in this category!
3. Kite How-to
In this category, you will find videos about how to … well … do things! Here are a couple of examples. Like how to move about on the ground to compensate and/or enhance fluctuations in the wind, like how to illuminate your kite so you can fly in the dark, how to make a sleeved lineset and so on. Loads of interesting stuff in here that can spice up your flying!
4. Kite Maintenance
Have you ever broken a rod, torn a hole in your sail or broken a bridle line? I certainly have and guess what! It’s not difficult to fix all these and a bunch of other things too. In this category would find videos about how to maintain your kites and make sure they all are flyable. And it’s quite amazing what damage can be remedied!
5. Kite Building
Once again the name of this category says it all, or…? In this category, you will find videos not only about kite building but also videos of kites that I’ve built myself (and with a little guidance from Kite Maker Matson! 😉
6. Kite Aerial Photography & Videography
Lately I’ve grown really fond of kite aerial photography and videography. I find it so relaxing to let one of my SLKs lift my camera up there so that I can get a bird’s perspective of the world. In this category you’ll find all my KAP and KAV videos!
7. Drone Flying
I’ve added a couple of drones to my tool for creating kite videos. They will provide me with really cool footage both for establishing shots, B-roll and A-roll. In this category you’ll find drone videos not including kites!
8. Vlogs and Shorts
Finally we have this blog and shorts category. Here you’ll find me talking about this and that, kite related off course. Check it out!
So that’s about it on categorising my videos. I hope this way of structuring them will make it easier to browse the AERIALIS Kites YouTube channel and find the specific video/s you’re looking for.
Thumbnails
I’ve also decided to give the thumbnails a significant touch-up. And I will bring this new way of categorising the videos into the new thumbnail design.
All thumbnails will display what category each video belongs to. Both by writing the category itself on the thumbnail and also by colour coding.
I’m giving you a description of the new thumbnail design in the image below.
Top left you will see the category and its colour code. (In the example above, Kite Flying, the colour is orange.)
Top right you will find the AERIALIS Kites logo.
Centre-left you will find our slogan, Just Fly! and below the slogan (in white and large letters) the video title.
Below the title, you will find the name of the channel, AERIALIS Kites, on yet again a colour coded background based on the category.
Now you can take a look at examples of all the eight different thumbnail tubes.
Hopefully this makes sense and even easier to find the video/s you’re looking for!
Playlists
But hey, we’re not there quite yet, because there is one more thing I will do to improve the browsing of the channel; change my use of playlists!
If you’re a frequent user of – or even a subscriber to – the AERIALIS Kites YouTube channel, you’re probably familiar with the current use of playlists; one playlist for every month of each year. However, I’ve come to realise this is perhaps not the best way of categorising the videos. So from now on, there will be a major change to this way of organising things.
I will create eight playlists comprising the eight different categories. And based on what category each video belongs to, they’ll be put in that corresponding playlist.
So if you’re looking for a specific KAP video or a Kite Maintenance video, you know exactly what playlist to browse! I think this will make browsing much more user friendly.
Conclusion
Well folks, that about wraps it all up. I really think this will improve the user experience of the AERIALIS Kites’ YouTube channel and makes it a whole lot easier to find a specific video. I also think this is a more user-friendly way of presenting the different videos and hopefully, you will find that to be true.
Please let me know what you think in the comments field below.
And finally, I will start to implement these changes starting on January 1st 2022 so stay tuned for things to happen over at the AERIALIS Kites YouTube channel really soon!
Gotta fly!
