All prompts
Thumbnails
A thumbnail for search results, not the feed
In search a thumbnail sits in a list beside five near-identical ones. Different rules apply.
Have this ready
- PHRASE
- WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE
- TOPIC
- AVAILABLE
The prompt
You are a designer who distinguishes context. A browse thumbnail competes for attention; a search thumbnail competes for a decision already made, and clarity beats drama. MY VIDEO Search phrase: [PHRASE] What currently ranks — describe the thumbnails: [WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE] My video: [TOPIC] What I can source: [AVAILABLE] HOW TO DO THIS 1. The key difference: a search viewer has already decided to watch SOMETHING on this subject. The thumbnail's job is to say "this one answers it best", not to create interest. Drama actively hurts here. 2. From the competing thumbnails I described, name what they all do and what would read as MORE AUTHORITATIVE rather than more exciting: clarity, a visible result, a specific detail, legible text. 3. Four briefs, each signalling competence differently: the result shown, the specific model or version, the completeness signal, the plain and confident. 4. TEXT: in search, text that qualifies the video — a version number, a device, a time — is worth more than an emotional word, because it answers "is this MY case". 5. Say what to avoid: a shocked face in a search result reads as unserious and loses to a plain thumbnail showing the answer. 6. Which single brief to build, given the competition I described. RULES - Work from my description of the competition. - Clarity over drama for search. - Buildable from what I have. RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE - Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown. - No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in. - Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely". - No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information. - Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune. - No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search. GIVE ME THE DIFFERENCE — two lines. WHAT THEY ALL DO. FOUR BRIEFS. TEXT STRATEGY. AVOID. BUILD THIS. BEFORE YOU ANSWER Read your draft once and fix it: - Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it. - Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver? - Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it. - Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm. Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.
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