12:16Nate Black · Tutorial
Dynamic Series Are THE Way to Grow Consistently in 2026
A 12-minute breakdown of how ongoing, feedback-driven video series beat algorithmic impatience and build chain viewership.
November 25th 2025The argument in one line.
Most small YouTube creators who try to make MrBeast-style engineered thumbnails land in a dead zone that performs worse than doing nothing — the un-thumbnail, built on authentic images and short text, is what actually drives clicks for channels under 100k.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A creator with fewer than 100k subscribers who feels stuck on thumbnails and is not getting consistent clicks.
- Someone who has tried to level up their thumbnails to look more polished and saw performance get worse, not better.
- A creator who avoids YouTube because making MrBeast-tier thumbnails feels out of reach or too expensive.
- Anyone running a lifestyle, home, food, or tutorial channel who wants a thumbnail formula that does not require a graphic design background.
SKIP IF…
- You already have a large, loyal audience that clicks regardless of thumbnail — raw or polished both work for you.
- You have a dedicated design team or budget and are already in the top tier of engineered thumbnails.
The full version, fast.
There are three thumbnail types on a spectrum: raw (unedited screenshots), engineered (MrBeast-level), and un-thumbnails, which sit between them. Most creators who try to move from raw to engineered overshoot and land in a dead zone — cluttered, unreadable, and underperforming. The un-thumbnail fixes this with four ingredients: an original (not stock) image, subtle enhancements like color correction, 2-4 words of bold text, and optional familiar symbols like arrows or emojis. A study of thousands of videos found 72% of breakout small-channel videos used this format. Apply by auditing your current thumbnails against the spectrum and nudging dead-zone thumbnails toward the un-thumbnail formula.
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00:00 – 01:22
01 · The New Thumbnail Revolution
Hook plus promise: stop trying to replicate MrBeast, a simpler thumbnail type exists and works better for most creators.
01:22 – 04:26
02 · Raw vs. Engineered
Introduces the thumbnail spectrum. Raw (unedited screenshots) on one end, highly engineered (MrBeast-style) on the other. Raw works for large channels with loyal audiences; engineered requires real skill.
04:26 – 05:51
03 · The Dead Zone
The trap most creators fall into — attempting engineered thumbnails and producing cluttered, low-contrast, hard-to-read images that underperform both ends of the spectrum. Live example from Day Home Decor channel.
05:51 – 07:44
04 · Un-Thumbnails Defined
72% stat from study of thousands of videos. Introduces the 4-ingredient formula: original image plus subtle enhancement plus 2-4 word text plus optional familiar symbol.
07:44 – 10:59
05 · Examples Breakdown
Live walkthroughs of four channels executing un-thumbnails well: Farmhouse on Boon and Ali Abdaal (face-forward), Pick Up Limes and Aussie Drongo (no face as main character).
10:59 – 13:42
06 · Fixing Thumbnails and CTA
How to audit and upgrade dead-zone thumbnails toward the un-thumbnail formula. Live examples from Day Home Decor and Portcast 850. Ends with CTA to a video on titles.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Most creators who try to make polished thumbnails overshoot and land in a dead zone that performs worse than their original raw screenshots.
- Raw thumbnails can work, but only for channels large enough to have a loyal core audience that clicks no matter what.
- 72% of breakout videos from small YouTube channels used un-thumbnails — that is a pattern, not a fluke.
- Un-thumbnails have four ingredients: original image, subtle enhancement, 2-4 words of bold text, and optionally a familiar symbol.
- The polish itself does not make a thumbnail good — even highly engineered thumbnails must still tell a compelling story to convert.
- Staged images can still be original images for the un-thumbnail formula — authenticity is about the source, not the spontaneity.
- Showing a face is optional in an un-thumbnail; channels like Pick Up Limes and Aussie Drongo drive huge clicks without a face as the main subject.
- The dead zone is defined by clutter and poor contrast — too many words, colors that blend together, fonts that disappear into the background.
- A face does not need to be the main character — it can be a background element that frames the real subject of the thumbnail.
- The spectrum framework (Raw to Un-thumbnail to Dead Zone to Engineered) gives creators a map to diagnose their own channel in minutes.
The thumbnail dead zone and how to escape it.
WHAT TO LEARN
Attempting to level up your thumbnails without the design skill to execute actually hurts performance — the un-thumbnail is the path out.
- Raw thumbnails only work reliably when you have a loyal core audience large enough to seed the algorithm — without that base, the algorithm has no data to spread the video.
- Most creators who try to imitate polished thumbnails land in the dead zone: cluttered images with low contrast, too many words, and fonts that blend into the background.
- The un-thumbnail formula has four parts: an original (not stock) image, subtle color or lighting enhancement, 2-4 words of bold text, and an optional familiar symbol like an arrow or emoji.
- Showing a face is not required — channels without a face as the main subject still drive clicks when the image demonstrates the video subject clearly.
- Staging an image does not disqualify it from being an original image — the distinction is authentic source material versus stock photos.
- 72% of breakout videos from small channels in one study used un-thumbnails, suggesting this is the dominant pattern for channel growth below 100k subscribers.
- Auditing your own channel against the spectrum (Raw to Un-thumbnail to Dead Zone to Engineered) is a fast diagnostic: find where your thumbnails live and move them one step toward un-thumbnail.
Terms worth knowing.
- Un-thumbnail
- A YouTube thumbnail built from an original (not stock) image with subtle edits, 2-4 words of clear bold text, and optionally a familiar symbol like an arrow or emoji — deliberately simpler than engineered thumbnails but more intentional than raw screenshots.
- Dead Zone
- The range on the thumbnail spectrum where creators trying to imitate engineered thumbnails produce images that are cluttered, low-contrast, and harder to read than either a raw screenshot or a polished design.
- Highly Engineered Thumbnail
- A YouTube thumbnail involving heavy image manipulation, often depicting situations that did not actually happen. Requires significant skill and production resources to execute well.
- Raw Thumbnail
- A thumbnail that is essentially an unedited screenshot or moment from the video footage, with minimal post-production. Works best for large channels whose core audience will click regardless of thumbnail quality.
- Encoding Blur
- Visual compression artifacts that appear in video screenshots used as thumbnails, causing a soft or muddy appearance that reduces readability at small sizes.
Things they pointed at.
02:13channelDaniel Thrasher YouTube channel
07:44channelFarmhouse on Boon YouTube channel
09:26channelAli Abdaal YouTube channel
10:00channelPick Up Limes YouTube channel
10:36channelAussie Drongo YouTube channel
12:36channelPortcast 850 YouTube channel
Lines you could clip.
06:35
“Of that same dataset, 72% of these standout explosive videos had unthumbnails on them. That to me is not a fluke, that is a pattern.”
04:26
“Many of these thumbnails try to be visually interesting, but in the end they end up being cluttered and not having a good focus. And unfortunately there is a reason I call it the dead zone.”
03:42
“If the algorithm does not have that core set of data from the core audience that is large enough, then that video will never spread very well, and it will probably be dead in the water just like my goldfish.”
Word for word.
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metaphorstory
00:00You ever looked at thumbnails like mister beast or Mark Rober and thought, could never do that? Or have you tried to up level or improve your thumbnails and had your videos perform even worse after you attempted it? See, the good news here is you don't have to do either one.
00:14In fact, I'm here to tell you, you probably shouldn't even try. Because by the end of this video, I'm going to show you a new kind of thumbnail that is way more effective and so simple, I've given them the name unthumbnails. Howdy howdy, everyone.
00:28Nate here. After reviewing thousands upon thousands of YouTube thumbnails, I have realized that they can all be placed on a scale.
00:35On one end of the scale, we have raw thumbnails, and on the other end, we have highly engineered thumbnails. So here's the thing. Many small to mid sized YouTube channels are aware of this scale, if at least subconsciously.
00:47Where on one end is the very raw, unpolished, and on the other end is the highly engineered. And many creators think, oh, in order to be successful, I need to create these highly engineered thumbnails.
00:58But what happens most of the time is that they arrive in this dead zone, where their thumbnails are actually worse than these other thumbnails on the scale. I'm going to show you the spectrum of thumbnails you could be making for your channel, and point out why the on thumbnail is actually the superior choice for most YouTube creators.
01:18By the way, if you want a simple visual way to remember what I'm about to show you, you can join my group and I will send this to you. Print it off and stick it on your wall to remind you how to make un thumbnails. As we walk through this spectrum of thumbnails, I need to provide a quick disclaimer.
01:32Each of these thumbnails can be successful depending on your audience expectations and the style that fits your content. And if after watching this, you find that one of these thumbnail styles is crushing it for you already, please keep doing keep is that grammatically correct?
01:46Please keep do keep doing please keep doing what's working.
01:52That is correct. Right? Oh my gosh.
01:55No need to fix what isn't broken. But notably, for some of these, especially on the raw end of the spectrum, they don't perform consistently. So if you find yourself not having consistent results with your videos, listen up.
02:06Alright. Starting left to right on this thumbnail spectrum, we have raw thumbnails. Thumbnails are exactly what they sound like, raw, spontaneous, a screenshot, a single moment in the video with not a lot of edits or changes done to them after the fact.
02:19Shown you this channel before, this is Daniel Thrasher. He's doing very well with this raw side of thumbnails. Like this one, when your superpower is really really bad, it's almost exactly just a screenshot from the footage itself.
02:30Or this one, when you have an allergy. Some of these thumbnails toe the line between raw and an un thumbnail, but we'll get to that in a moment. For another example of a raw thumbnail in action, this one was recommended to me recently.
02:41It's called Henry Cavill being sharp as attack for almost two minutes. But if you look at the thumbnail, what's happening here?
02:46It's just a moment from the video, and it's even got some, what I think is called, encoding blur on it. So who should be using raw thumbnails the most for their videos? Well, because of the nature of raw thumbnails, they tend to be more sporadic or unpredictable.
03:00They rely entirely on the spontaneity of the raw image itself. That doesn't always connect or perform well with a smaller audience.
03:07So nine times out of 10 to get consistent results with a raw thumbnail pattern, it has to be a larger channel with an already existing dedicated audience. Because pausing for a random algorithm moment here, if the core audience enjoys the video and they're gonna watch whatever video you publish no matter what the thumbnail looks like, even if the thumbnail looks totally absurd, they're still going to click on and watch that video.
03:27You've got that core set of data that the algorithm just eats up and loves. And if the algorithm doesn't have that core set of data from the core audience that's large enough, then that video will never spread very well, and it will probably be .
03:41In a nutshell, these raw thumbnails perform most consistently for these channels that have a sizable core audience that just like that raw style. Now let's swing to the other extreme of this scale, and that is the highly engineered thumbnails. These are the types of thumbnails that you most often see when you think of, oh, eye catching flashy thumbnail.
04:00This is what we're looking at. Now there's a good chance that you watching this could list off several channels off the top of your head that are doing these types of highly engineered thumbnails. Many of these highly engineered thumbnails almost transcend reality, and that they often contain images that are highly manipulated or situations that didn't actually happen, but they're meant to represent something.
04:17Every highly engineered thumbnail still needs to tell a compelling story to be effected. It's not the polish itself that makes it a good thumbnail. But hold everything here, because here is where it starts to get tricky.
04:29Many small to mid sized creators look at these highly engineered thumbnails and think, I need to make that. And on the journey of attempting to make a highly engineered thumbnail, they end up in .
04:41Keeping in mind that the channels I'm about to show you are really awesome people. This channel, Day Home Decor, is doing really well, especially for the size of the channel, 1.85 k subscribers.
04:53However, the thumbnails on this channel are in the dead zone. Now let's pick on a few of these thumbnails to demonstrate this. Let's use this one as an example.
05:00New dining room set makeover reveal may refresh. When we look at this thumbnail, the colors are all very similar on a similar spectrum across each of these images. There isn't necessarily a clear delineating line between each of the images, which leads the viewer's eyes to be confused.
05:16And then it's especially noticeable when you look at the thumbnails smaller on the screen. The font is harder to read with the background behind the font almost blending in with the rest of the image.
05:28And also in this thumbnail, there are far too many words going on here and here to make it easily digestible. Now before you go on and say, hey, this type of thumbnail works all the time in the decor space, I'm gonna show you later on how I would fix this thumbnail using real examples from other decor channels.
05:44Well, we'll get to that in a moment. Many of these thumbnails try to be visually interesting, but in the end, they end up being cluttered and not having a good focus. And unfortunately, there's a reason I call it the dead zone.
05:54It doesn't lead to as many clicks as it could. So what kinds of thumbnails are actually exploding the channels of small to mid sized creators right now? Introducing the unthumbnail.
06:04You might be thinking, okay Nate, well how do you know that these un thumbnails work? Recently, I conducted a study of thousands of YouTube videos. The purpose of that study was to find standout videos from fairly small YouTube channels that have been published recently.
06:17And I was originally looking at the titles on those videos. But guess what? Of that same dataset, 72% of these standout explosive videos had unthumbnails on them.
06:28That to me is not a fluke, that's a pattern. So what exactly is an unthumbnail? Let's break it down, and look at some real examples so you can see it in action.
06:37Also, you're anything like me, sometimes you'll hear information, but it's not as easy to recall it to memory, which is why I created this handy dandy thing. I'll send you if you join the group. By the way, people that are already part of the Radical Creators group, I sent this to you just this morning.
06:50Alright. Here are the four simple ingredients that make up an un thumbnail. Number one, use an original image or images.
06:57These are not stock images. They are original to each video produced. And the really effective images lean into raw, authentic images that are showing or demonstrating something.
07:08Next, you add subtle enhancements to those images, just like color correction, improving the lighting on one part, and decreasing the lighting on another just to enhance things. Next, most of the time, they include short, compelling text.
07:22Think typically in the two to four words range that are clear and bold and portray the value of that video combined with the title of the video. And fourth, this one is optional only if it enhances the effect of the on thumbnail, including familiar symbols. And these can include emojis, arrows, or other symbols that increase the clickability or the eye catchingness of the thumbnail without distracting from the core message.
07:44If that sounds simple, good. That's exactly what I wanted it to sound like. It is freaking powerful, which I'm about to demonstrate for you with some examples.
07:52I'm gonna show you two channels that are dominating it with also showing their face in the thumbnail, and two other channels that are dominating it without showing their face in the thumbnail. This channel, Farmhouse on Boon, these thumbnails are quintessential on thumbnails.
08:06You'll notice a few things on each of these. They include some form of original image, and yes, these images are enhanced and color correct. Each of those images typically include some sort of action or activity happening.
08:19Like this one for example, lazy dinner ideas. The main character is holding what is presumably a pot of food. It's demonstrating with this original image, this is dinner.
08:27For this video, simplifying the summer as a family of 10. Again, we've got a lightly edited image that has some simple text on it. Now, a key thing to note here is even though it's called an unthumbnail, many times the original images used in the thumbnail are in fact staged images.
08:40As is the case with this video, it's just probably a staged image to portray something. You'll notice that this part of the image down here is an original image. We've got some interesting line layering going on up here.
08:51Then we've got the text, old barn, new farm. And then this image over here is not native to this background image.
09:00It is in fact a separate image that has been juxtaposed over this image. But each image is an original photograph, and this one on the right is placed over it to give the impression of standing in front of this barn. This is what we mean by taking original images and steadily enhancing them by placing them together.
09:14Another channel that absolutely crushes it with these un thumbnails is Ali Abdaal. You'll notice with many of these like this one. I'm starting a new series financial and time freedom.
09:22This thumbnail has been lightly enhanced. The image over here is slightly brighter than the background.
09:27You notice the background is slightly darkened. And we don't know if this background back here is the same image as this image up here. Then simple text is added over here with a familiar symbol in the form of an arrow pointing to another familiar symbol slash part of the image that is a stack of books.
09:44Now, let's look at some that don't utilize showing a face as a main character in the thumbnail. This channel, Pick Up Limes. If you look at many of their videos, many of them do feature a face as a main character in the thumbnail.
09:53However, many of them either don't show a face or have the face as a background character, as part of the background of the video. Take this one for example, high protein meals, 30 gram plus protein meals for thirty days. With this one, the person's face is simply a background object right here for the framing of the food right here.
10:11And yes, this image has some subtle enhancements. The foreground is in focus and the background is blurred out back here. And then as with the other ones, we've got some simple text to add some additional layers of value portrayal for the thumbnail packaging.
10:23Here's another one that performed very well for this channel, almost half a million views on it. We've got simple text up here at the top, and then an original enhanced image here, and the remainder here and here is all the same image. Now for another example of a channel that doesn't show their face at all, we've got this one, Aussie Drongo.
10:40This one's in the gaming space, but you'll notice an interesting thing with each of these thumbnails. The background image on each of these is a screenshot from the footage of the video itself. We've got an enhanced image that's the screenshot from the footage.
10:53We've got a familiar symbol right here, as well as other familiar symbols. And then we've got some simple text, a o e four is the video game, and then season 11 is here. The only thing that would make this thumbnail better is if it had a a boop the like button on it or or something like that.
11:08Thank you for booping the like button on this video if it's being helpful and eye opening to you thus far. So I hope thus far you're getting this, that unthumbnails are actually simpler to make. So let's answer that question we brought up earlier.
11:19If you find yourself especially in the dead zone, how would we fix it? First, join the group because it's awesome and it's free, but also I will send you this that you can then print off and stick on your wall. Next, you can use this video you're watching right now as a guide to audit your own channel.
11:33Let's talk about how to fix dead zone thumbnails if you find yourself there. For this channel, let's look at some examples. Here, I pulled up another.
11:40If you look at this thumbnail versus this thumbnail, there are some subtle differences. On this one, each item is just slightly easier to see and understand.
11:51Same goes with thumbnails like this one or this one. With what I would argue is the big value on this thumbnail being the text demonstrating how to decorate like a pro on a budget.
12:02It's clearly explaining, here's what you're gonna get out of this video. Now what about this channel?
12:06How would we turn these thumbnails into un thumbnails? Well, I pulled up some examples. Portcast eight fifty are way out punching their weight class in terms of the size of their channel and the amount of viewership they are getting.
12:17This thumbnail is borderline on a raw thumbnail because of how pixelated and raw the background image looks. But what they are doing is they've got large text, pickled pig's feet, and a clear emotion going on over here. So for each unknown, a simple change that could be made is simply having the characters be larger in the frame and clearer to understand.
12:39Here's another one from that same example channel. Again, we've got an original image with some subtle enhancement, the green toxic smoke coming of this can, and then the text, can snails. This guy's face, it it's just selling that video.
12:51Or another angle that could be taken with this trying gross foods. From this channel, the boys, we've got this thumbnail. Large disgusted emotional face, familiar object in an arrow, and then an original image that's probably not the same image as the face, but it has been zoomed in to show the disgusting food that they're about to test.
13:09Find that you're not currently doing on thumbnails and what you are doing is not performing as you would like it to, I highly recommend you test them out. And also, remember that deep dive I talked about earlier where I analyzed thousands of YouTube videos to find the titles that were standing out? The reality of the matter is thumbnails, even un thumbnails, are just one side of the coin of good packaging.
13:30And if you want to know what kinds of titles are absolutely crushing it right now on YouTube
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The promise lands in the first six seconds: you do not have to make MrBeast thumbnails, and you probably should not try. What follows is a 13-minute evidence-backed argument for a third path — the un-thumbnail — that a study of thousands of videos suggests is already driving most of the breakout growth on small YouTube channels.
Named ideas worth stealing.
01:22model
The Thumbnail Spectrum
- Raw
- Un-Thumbnail
- Dead Zone
- Engineered
A left-to-right scale for classifying any YouTube thumbnail by production level. Raw = unedited screenshots. Un-thumbnail = subtle enhancements + short text. Dead zone = failed attempt at engineered. Engineered = MrBeast-level manipulation.
Steal forChannel audits, thumbnail critique frameworks, creator coaching
06:57list
The 4 Ingredients of an Un-Thumbnail
- Original image(s) — not stock, authentic to the video
- Subtle enhancements — color correction, selective lighting
- Short compelling text — 2-4 words, clear and bold
- Familiar symbols (optional) — arrows, emojis, symbols that aid clickability without clutter
The repeatable formula behind the un-thumbnail format. First three are required; the fourth only if it strengthens the image without adding noise.
Steal forAny creator building a repeatable thumbnail workflow
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
13:35next-video
“Watch this:”
Simple slate with handwritten text and arrows pointing off-screen. Low-friction — drives to the next video in the channel rather than a product or newsletter. Clean execution.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
AFFILIATECommission earned if you click.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
- My strategy for winning on YouTube ↗
- My FIIRE Method for building a growth sequence ↗
- My SEAS method for picking winning ideas ↗
- AI-backed customized-to-channel ideation + titles ↗
- The free template I made (and recommend) for running a YouTube channel (ideas, production, timeline, goals) guide ↗
- Join my Creators group to get the guide ↗
- Instagram (behind the scenes) ↗
- X/Threads (thoughts) ↗
- Have feedback, a thank you, or a content idea for Nate? Go here ↗
Visual structure at a glance.
