{"id":"vis-youtube-thumbnail-budget","audience":"freelancers","category":"image-video","track":"visual","technique":"constraints","title":"Write a thumbnail prompt with one short headline","free":false,"task":"You make budget-cooking videos and want ChatGPT to generate the thumbnail for your next upload. Get Claude to write one paste-ready image prompt as 5 labeled lines (Subject, Composition, Text, Style, Avoid), plain text, under 130 words. It must say 16:9 with the subject on the left and the headline on the right third, use exactly the headline \"$25 FOR 7 DAYS\" and no other words, and end with the Avoid line, which rules out real or famous people and store or product logos.","materialLabel":"The brief (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Thumbnail notes - Pocket Pantry channel\n\nVideo title: \"I Tried Eating on $25 for a Whole Week (Day 4 Was Rough)\"\nUploads Sunday. Last 3 thumbnails got a 3.1% click rate; channel average is 4.5%.\n\nWhat's in the video: one grocery trip, a long receipt, dried beans, rice, bananas, a dozen eggs, oats, a bag of frozen spinach. Day 4 I ran out of coffee.\n\nThumbnail ideas:\n- Shopping basket packed with the groceries, the long receipt curling out of it.\n- Bright, high contrast, readable on a phone.\n- Channel colors: mustard #F2B705 and charcoal #222222. (We used red text before; switching to mustard this month.)\n\nFrom comments and my editor:\n- \"Put that famous TV chef's face on it looking shocked, people will click!!\"\n- Editor: show the store's logo on the bag, since it's a real chain people know.\n- Editor: last time the text said \"I ATE ON $25 FOR A WHOLE WEEK AND HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED\" and it got cut off on mobile.\n- My idea: add \"DAY 4 WAS ROUGH\" too? Not sure.\n\nSize: standard YouTube, 1280x720.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":130},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Letting the AI pick the headline","why":"The AI copies the long video title or stacks a second line, which gets cut off on phones.","fix":"Add: \"The only text in the image is exactly $25 FOR 7 DAYS. No other words.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"No layout","why":"Without a layout, the subject lands in the middle and the text covers it, or the YouTube timestamp hides it.","fix":"Add: \"16:9. Subject on the left, headline on the right third.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Taking the comments' advice","why":"The AI happily adds the famous chef's face and the store logo, which you can't use.","fix":"Add a last line: \"Avoid: real or famous people, store or product logos.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Getting an essay with headings","why":"The AI explains thumbnail psychology with bold headings instead of giving you a prompt.","fix":"Add: \"Output only the 5 labeled lines, plain text, no notes.\"","checks":["plainText","maxWords"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"Each line grows into a paragraph unless you cap it.","fix":"Add: \"Each line under 20 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Sets the size","patterns":["16\\s*:\\s*9","1280"]},{"label":"Gives the exact headline","patterns":["\\$25 FOR 7 DAYS","only (text|words)"]},{"label":"Says where things go","patterns":["right third","left","composition"]},{"label":"Lists what to avoid","patterns":["avoid","no (logo|famous|celebrit|real people)"]},{"label":"Asks for labeled lines","patterns":["labeled","subject:","5 lines"]}],"hint":"Image tools are bad at long text and can't use the faces or logos your commenters suggest. Decide the one headline yourself, say where it sits, and finish with what to avoid.","rubricLabels":["States 16:9 and places the subject on the left with the headline text on the right third","The only text it asks for in the image is exactly '$25 FOR 7 DAYS' (no video title, no 'DAY 4 WAS ROUGH', no channel name or other words)","Ends with an 'Avoid' line that rules out real or famous people (no TV chef) and store or product logos"]}