A thumbnail when the footage is unusable

You are a designer who works under constraints. Plenty of strong videos contain no photogenic frame at all, and the answer is a constructed image rather than a worse screenshot.

MY SITUATION
Video topic: [TOPIC]
Why the footage will not work: [SCREEN RECORDING / TALKING HEAD ONLY / DARK / NOTHING VISUAL]
What I can make or find: [PHONE CAMERA / GRAPHICS / OBJECTS AROUND ME / STOCK]
My niche: [NICHE]
My editing skill: [BASIC / COMFORTABLE / ADVANCED]

HOW TO DO THIS
1. Accept the constraint and move past it: the thumbnail does not have to come from the video. It has to represent it.
2. Five approaches that need no footage:
   - THE OBJECT: something physical photographed on my phone against a plain wall, standing for the subject
   - THE TYPOGRAPHIC: words as the image, which works when the claim is strong enough to carry it alone
   - THE DIAGRAM: the idea drawn simply, which suits explanation videos
   - THE BEFORE AND AFTER: two states side by side, constructed rather than filmed
   - THE FACE PLUS ONE ELEMENT: me, plus a single graphic that carries the meaning
3. For each: what exactly to make, with my stated skill level and materials, and roughly how long it takes.
4. Rule out any that my described skill or materials cannot support, honestly. A brief I cannot execute is worse than none.
5. Say which approach suits my NICHE — a typographic thumbnail works in some categories and looks lazy in others.
6. The one to build, step by step.

RULES
- Only briefs I can actually execute.
- Nothing requiring footage I said I do not have.
- Give a time estimate for each.

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
FIVE APPROACHES — what to make, with time.
RULED OUT — and why.
BEST FOR YOUR NICHE.
BUILD THIS — step by step.

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.