MCPInstall

thumbnail-design

Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest. Use when someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail, improve CTR, brief a thumbnail, choose thumbnail text, or plan thumbnail A/B testing. Designs and briefs high-CTR thumbnails and writes the A/B test plan: a thumbnail is a promise, not a poster, designed as a unit with the title and legible on mobile. Uses the CLICK framework. Reads brand-profile + the video/title first. A HUMAN or an image/design tool (nano-banana/ideogram/Canva/designer) creates the final raster; the YouTube custom thumbnail is uploaded NATIVELY in Studio (WoopSocial has no thumbnail field) and Test & Compare is native; TikTok/IG-Reel covers use WoopSocial's cover field via those format skills. No clickbait, no unconsented real-person/deepfake faces, CTR never fabricated. Distinct from youtube-publishing-and-metadata (the metadata) and nano-banana/ideogram (which generate the raster this briefs).

Installs
724
Last 24h
+24
Trending rank
#5074
Security
Not audited

Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads thumbnail-design automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

thumbnail-design

A design-craft skill — write the promise, design the concept + text, produce the brief, and plan the A/B test. The agent designs + briefs + plans; a human or image tool makes the raster; the YouTube thumbnail is uploaded + tested natively (no WoopSocial field).

The POV: a promise, not a poster — designed as a unit with the title

A thumbnail drives ~70–80% of click decisions, and the viewer decides in under a second — so its job is the click that leads to a watch. Two rules anchor everything: the thumbnail + title are one unit (the thumbnail shows, the title tells — they never repeat), and it's a promise, not a poster. That second rule is enforced by the platform: YouTube's native A/B test picks the winner by watch-time share, not raw CTR, so a misleading high-click thumbnail loses to an honest one. Design for mobile first — most viewing is on a phone, where simplicity and contrast win.

Read these first

  1. brand-profile — channel style/template (for consistency).
  2. the video and its title (often from youtube-publishing-and-metadata/youtube-long-form/ youtube-shorts).

The framework: CLICK

(Depth: references/the-click-framework.md.)

  • C — Clarify the promise: one-sentence promise; thumbnail + title as a unit (show vs tell, never repeat); promise not poster.
  • L — Lead with one focal point: one/two hero elements, minimal background, parseable in <1s; one directional element.
  • I — Invoke genuine emotion: expressive genuine face + gaze if it adds context (skip it otherwise); match the expression to the content.
  • C — Contrast + concise text: complementary high contrast (avoid YouTube red/white, 60-30-10, B&W test, light+dark); 0–4 bold sans-serif words + outline, not a title duplicate; mobile-legible at ~168×94; safe zones; 1280×720, 16:9.
  • K — Keep testing: 3 meaningfully-different concepts, one variable; native Test & Compare picks by watch-time share (not Shorts, needs traffic); a human uploads + runs it; keep a log; brand-consistent template.

The reality (verify-quarterly)

Promise-not-poster + thumbnail+title-as-unit + watch-time A/B punishes clickbait; the three principles (simplicity/contrast/emotion); faces (+20–30%, genuine, gaze, unknown-face-can-hurt); contrast/color (complementary, avoid YT red/white, 60-30-10, B&W test); text (0–4 words, bold sans-serif, no title duplicate); mobile-first + safe zones + specs (1280×720; 50MB cap since early 2026); brand consistency; native Test & Compare (watch-time-share winner, also tests titles/combos, not Shorts, traffic-dependent): references/thumbnail-2026-reality.md. The promise template, design checklist, spec block, A/B plan + worked examples: references/design-and-test-recipes.md.

Honest scope (never violate)

  • The agent writes the promise/concept/text/brief and can critique a mockup — but a HUMAN or image tool (nano-banana/ideogram/Canva/a designer) creates the final raster.
  • The YouTube custom thumbnail is uploaded NATIVELY in Studio — WoopSocial has no thumbnail field — and Test & Compare is native (a human uploads + runs it). TikTok/IG-Reel covers are different: those use WoopSocial's cover field via tiktok-video-publishing/the IG skill.
  • No clickbait (the thumbnail must keep the promise — the watch-time test punishes deception); no unconsented real-person/deepfake faces; never fabricate a CTR (real testing/native analytics only). (Scope, distinctions + connections: references/scope-and-connections.md.)

Distinct from its siblings (route correctly)

thumbnail-design (this) = the thumbnail design craft + brief + A/B plan · youtube-publishing-and- metadata = the title/description/tags metadata (points HERE for the thumbnail) · nano-banana/ideogram = generate the raster this briefs · tiktok-video-publishing = the TikTok cover field · hook-writer/ caption-writer = text lines.

Where this connects

Reads first: brand-profile + the video/title (youtube-publishing-and-metadata/youtube-long- form/youtube-shorts). Pairs with: nano-banana/ideogram (render the brief), hook-writer (the thumbnail words), youtube-publishing-and-metadata (title as a unit with the thumbnail), experimentation (A/B discipline), competitor-analysis (preview against ranking thumbnails). Hands to: a human to render + upload the YouTube thumbnail natively + run Test & Compare; analytics-and-reporting reads CTR/watch-time back. The raster, native upload, and native A/B test stay outside WoopSocial.

Definition of done

A one-sentence promise written and the thumbnail designed as a unit with the title (show vs tell, no repetition); one focal point with minimal background; a genuine face + gaze where it adds context (or none); high contrast (complementary, not YouTube red/white, 60-30-10, passes the B&W test) legible in light and dark; 0–4 bold words with an outline that don't duplicate the title; mobile-legible at ~168×94 with safe zones and 1280×720 specs; an A/B plan of 3 meaningfully-different concepts changing one variable, scored natively by watch-time share; the raster left to an image tool/designer and the YouTube upload + test left to native Studio; no clickbait, no unconsented faces, no fabricated CTR; correctly distinguished from youtube-publishing-and-metadata and nano-banana/ideogram.

FAQ

What does the thumbnail-design skill do?

Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest. Use when someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail, improve CTR, brief a thumbnail, choose thumbnail text, or plan thumbnail A/B testing. Designs and briefs high-CTR thumbnails and writes the A/B test plan: a thumbnail is a promise, not a poster, designed as a unit with the title and legible on mobile. Uses the CLICK framework. Reads brand-profile + the video/title first. A HUMAN or an image/design tool (nano-banana/ideogram/Canva/designer) creates the final raster; the YouTube custom thumbnail is uploaded NATIVELY in Studio (WoopSocial has no thumbnail field) and Test & Compare is native; TikTok/IG-Reel covers use WoopSocial's cover field via those format skills. No clickbait, no unconsented real-person/deepfake faces, CTR never fabricated. Distinct from youtube-publishing-and-metadata (the metadata) and nano-banana/ideogram (which generate the raster this briefs).

How do I install thumbnail-design?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/thumbnail-design/ (personal) or .claude/skills/thumbnail-design/ (project).

Which AI agents can use thumbnail-design?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is thumbnail-design safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains thumbnail-design?

It is published by social-media-skills in social-media-skills/skills. It has 724 recorded installs.

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