The most fundamental part of a kicklight are the accompanying kicks. If you are new to the Kicklight concept then it is critical that you understand more about what constitutes a kick and a little about how to create them. Without the kicks your kicklights will be empty of potential and simply be a video. If you are familiar with a graphics program like Photoshop then you will have a leg up on others.

A kick is a 468 pixel wide by 120 pixel high graphic. The graphic can be a gif, jpg or png file and can be no larger than 3 MB. As of now you can not upload animated gifs or flash files. However, in the future this option will probably be made available. Here are a few examples of kicks:

A kick can contain anything you want, including text, images and graphics. A kick is a palette for you to create an eye catching graphic or to include pertinent information. You just have to make sure and sync up the kicks with the video so that they are complementing each other. In other words a video about dancing should not have a kick directing the viewer to click to learn about your new weight loss program. Kicks are for visual or informational enhancement just so long as they keep in line with the video.

To make a kick simply open Photoshop or your favorite graphics program and start creating. I won’t go into detail about what kicks to create because that is up to you. In the future I will be posting about some ideas behind creating kicks.

One of the most important aspects of putting a kicklight together is to really think about what the kicks are going to add to the video. If there are existing videos on YouTube you feel would be enhanced by kicks then try it out. I believe that is the case for a large amount of online videos. Kicks can also be used in conjunction with a brand new video you are producing, which will probably become the most convincing reason for utilizing this technology. Just imagine some of the more popular YouTube videos with kicks that contain additional information and links attached.

If you’ve been thinking about learning the basics of Photoshop then the introduction of kicks could be the perfect catalyst for starting the process. You don’t actually have to be an expert with a graphics program. If you can manipulate text or add an image to a graphic file then you’ll have no problems creating kicks. Remember to that you can attach URLs to kicks so keep that in mind as you start working on a kicklight.

If you have created a kicklight please leave the link in the comments so we can all see your creation.

Thanks for reading.