Hi Vlad, cool course and loved the resources you shared! I'm planning to start creating content on YT so this comes super in handy. 

My niche is calligraphy, so that's the field I looked for the outlier in. While researching, I noticed a problem: many viral videos were over 10 years old, or were related to handwriting - not calligraphy per se.

So I considered only videos published in the past year, as trends in thumbnails have changed quite a lot in the past years, and for handwriting videos, I ignored the ones that were more for kids.

So the outliers I found, where the following: 548K and 486K views.

• I like how you see the creator's face in the 1st thumbnail + a super quick description of the content 
• I like the vintage look and feel of the second video.

 

So I decided to mix both of them, and create something more original.

• I used the font style and size of the 1st thumbnail, and its human element
• I used AI to generate a cozy warm/vintage vibe scene of a woman writing calligraphy with the actual tools the video would teach (no Procreate brushes, no brushpens, but good old pens, nibs and ink)
• So my goal here is to illustrate the content thanks to the sheet of paper with the cursive style you see on paper (not Gothic calligraphy), this way viewers see what they get. 

This was the result: I chose blue for good contrast.

I then tested for contrast and this is how the version 1 shows up on the feed:

I realized it could use something more attractive to catch the eye even more.

So I switched the color, to something more noticeable like yellow, and decided to fill the blank space in the lower left quadrant to suggested something easy and doable, like "easy", "done" and decided to go with a green check mark to add more vibrancy.

I think this works way better than the first:

• it stands out more
• it conveys the content and vibe of the video
• it's humanized, it's a human craft - no digital tools here

So here is the final thumbnail:

So there you go, mission accomplished! :)  I'm amazed at how everything has become so strategic to get people's attention.

Thank you for this cool and straight to the point class!

Sara