Colin and Samir put one cinematic Instagram creator's biggest hit against his worst YouTube flop to show why craft alone never earns a click.
Posted
1 weeks ago
Duration
Format
Interview
educational
Views
33K
468 likes
57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
YouTube forces a stranger to choose to watch a video before they see anything inside it, so the title and thumbnail have to manufacture their own curiosity gap independent of how good the footage actually is.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
A short-form creator with real craft and polish who can't get long-form YouTube videos past a few hundred views.
Someone whose videos only connect when a viewer stumbles into them through a scroll or a shared DM, not when a stranger has to actively choose to click.
A creator who keeps shipping well-made footage but has never deliberately engineered a title or thumbnail before filming.
SKIP IF…
You already run a tested thumbnail and title system and are optimizing click-through math, not learning the underlying concept.
Your platform distributes content through a feed or DM share rather than a click-to-watch browse page, since the lesson here is YouTube-specific.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
A short-form cinematographer with millions of Instagram views can't get traction on YouTube, and the hosts use his biggest hit and his worst flop to show why: Instagram serves content to people in a scroll or a DM, but YouTube makes a stranger choose to click before they see anything inside. That space between what a title/thumbnail reveals and what a viewer still wants to know is the information gap, or curiosity gap, and a thumbnail's only job is to widen it. They rebuild his flat, statement-style title ("The Loft Era Begins") into question-provoking alternatives ("I Moved Into My Dream Apartment at 25") and show how bold, legible visuals and a consistent style do the emotional work on YouTube that a vulnerable hook does on Instagram.
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01 · The Problem: Cinematic Instagram, Awkward YouTube
Simon explains his struggle moving from short-form cinematic Instagram content to long-form YouTube, and why he insists on shooting and editing everything himself.
02:11 – 04:12
02 · The Hit: Watching 'Dear Brother'
The hosts play Simon's most-viewed Instagram video, a love letter to his twin brother, as the benchmark for what already works for him.
04:12 – 07:18
03 · Why It Worked: Shareability vs. the Click Gate
They unpack why the letter spread, as a shareable 'unit of conversation', and contrast Instagram's scroll/DM distribution with YouTube's requirement that a stranger choose to click first.
07:18 – 09:01
04 · The Miss: Watching 'It's Supposed to Be Fun'
They play one of Simon's lowest-viewed YouTube uploads, about burnout and fear of imperfection, to surface the packaging problem: strong content nobody chose to watch.
09:01 – 10:16
05 · Sponsor Break: Adobe Firefly and the Big Idea Fund
A mid-episode Adobe-sponsored break announcing the Big Idea Fund submission winner and crediting Firefly boards for mocking up thumbnails.
10:16 – 13:06
06 · The Case for Long-Form: Subscribers, Comments, a North Star
Simon explains why he keeps pursuing YouTube despite the difficulty: higher subscriber conversion, more intentional comments, and the need for creators he admires as a long-term target.
13:06 – 14:00
07 · Fast Takes: Thumbnails That Already Work
A quick-fire pass over other creators' effective before/after and curiosity-driven thumbnails sets up the deeper teardown that follows.
14:00 – 19:07
08 · Teardown: 'The Loft Era Begins' and the Curiosity Gap
Using Simon's own video as a case study, the hosts introduce the information/curiosity gap framework and rebuild the flat title into three increasingly specific, question-provoking alternatives.
19:07 – 23:27
09 · More Teardowns: Switzerland, 'I'm Broke,' and the Two Questions
Further examples show how YouTube's recommendation algorithm forces thumbnails to compete within a genre, distilling packaging down to two questions: who's the audience, and why would they click.
23:27 – 26:16
10 · Build a Brand: Learning From Schaffer Nickel
The hosts point to another creator's consistently cinematic titles and thumbnails as the bar to mock up toward, and push Simon to find and repeat his own visual brand before he ever films.
26:16 – 26:37
11 · Sign-Off
Closing thanks and a sign-off back to the Adobe Create Camp setting.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
YouTube forces a stranger to choose to watch a video before they see anything inside it, which Instagram's scroll and DM-share mechanics never require.
A video that hits 3,000 to 4,000 views can convert into 400 to 500 new subscribers, so modest view counts on long-form still compound into a real audience.
The information gap, or curiosity gap, is the space between what a title and thumbnail already reveal and what a stranger still wants to know; a thumbnail's only job is to widen it.
A flat statement title like 'The Loft Era Begins' already assumes the viewer is a fan; a stranger has no open question left to click toward.
Rewriting 'The Loft Era Begins' into 'I Moved Into My Dream Apartment at 25' turns a statement into a question ('how?') that only the click can answer.
YouTube is a recommendations algorithm, not a feed, so a thumbnail competes directly against other videos on the same topic and has to look distinct inside that cluster, not just appealing on its own.
A thumbnail that reads fine at full size can hide its best detail at thumbnail size; if the key visual disappears on a squint test, it isn't doing its job.
Big, bold, legible text beats clever-but-small text, because most people see a thumbnail at postage-stamp size, not full screen.
Two questions decide a thumbnail: who are you trying to reach, and why would that specific person click this exact video right now.
The same emotional hook that makes someone share a video on Instagram has to show up in the packaging on YouTube, because a stranger there never feels it before deciding whether to click.
A recognizable thumbnail brand matters more than any single clever thumbnail, because a consistent style signals who a creator is before a stranger reads a word.
Mocking up thumbnails has nothing to do with having already filmed a video; the strongest approach is to mock up potential thumbnails first, just to find what actually looks cool.
Takeaway
The Click Happens Before The Craft
THE CURIOSITY GAP
YouTube forces a stranger to choose before they see anything, so a title and thumbnail have to manufacture a curiosity gap wide enough to force the click, no matter how good the footage is.
Deciding to make only self-shot, self-edited work is a legitimate creative stance, but it caps output; naming that tradeoff openly beats treating it as a flaw to fix.
There's a real difference between art, which only the artist can make, and media, which can scale with editors and a repeatable format; know which one you're actually building.
02The Hit: Watching 'Dear Brother'
A video doesn't need a sales pitch to spread, it needs to become something people want to send on someone else's behalf, like a message they couldn't write themselves.
Content that reaches people through a scroll or a shared DM never has to win a cold click, so success there doesn't predict success on a platform that requires one.
03Why It Worked: Shareability vs. the Click Gate
A relatable, vulnerable hook earns shares passively on a feed, but on a click-first platform that same emotion has to be engineered into the title and thumbnail before anyone sees it.
Even a well-made video with real craft gets zero views if the packaging gives a stranger no reason to choose it over everything else in their way.
04The Miss: Watching 'It's Supposed to Be Fun'
Getting even 3,000 to 4,000 views on a long-form video can convert into hundreds of new subscribers, so modest numbers early on can still be building a durable audience.
Longer-form content attracts more intentional comments from people who chose to spend real time with it, which is a different, higher-value kind of engagement than passive feed views.
06The Case for Long-Form: Subscribers, Comments, a North Star
Picking a specific creator or combination of creators as a long-term reference point makes it easier to keep going through a format that's genuinely harder to sustain.
A flat statement title or thumbnail with no open question gives a stranger nothing to resolve, which is why bold graphic design alone doesn't guarantee a click.
07Fast Takes: Thumbnails That Already Work
Before finalizing a title or thumbnail, write down what the viewer already knows and what they still want to know; the gap between those two lists is the whole pitch.
A title built around a question the click can answer works harder than one built around a flat announcement, even when both describe the exact same video.
08Teardown: 'The Loft Era Begins' and the Curiosity Gap
Mock up alternate titles and thumbnails for the same footage before publishing; small changes in what's withheld versus revealed can change the entire pitch to a stranger.
Because YouTube recommends videos against other videos in the same genre, a thumbnail has to read correctly within that genre while still standing out from the rest of the cluster.
Run the squint test on any thumbnail: the details that disappear at small size are the details that aren't actually doing any work for a cold viewer.
09More Teardowns: Switzerland, 'I'm Broke,' and the Two Questions
Big, bold, legible text outperforms clever-but-small text, because most people encounter a thumbnail at a tiny size, not full screen.
Before shipping a title or thumbnail, answer two questions: who exactly are you trying to reach, and why would that specific person click this video right now.
The same emotional hook that makes a video shareable has to be visible in the packaging itself, since a cold viewer never gets to feel the content before deciding to click.
10Build a Brand: Learning From Schaffer Nickel
A consistent visual brand across titles and thumbnails tells a stranger who a creator is before they read a single word, which matters more than any one clever thumbnail.
The right habit is to mock up thumbnails constantly, independent of any finished video, and only move forward with the ones that still look genuinely good on review.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Curiosity gap (information gap)
The space between what a title or thumbnail already tells a viewer and what they still want to know. A thumbnail's job is to widen that gap enough that clicking feels necessary.
Packaging
The title and thumbnail of a video treated as a single persuasive unit, separate from the content inside, because on YouTube a stranger has to choose to click before they ever see the video itself.
Unit of conversation
A piece of content shareable enough that forwarding it does the emotional work of a message, letting someone say something they couldn't say themselves just by sending the video.
Resources
Things they pointed at.
09:51toolAdobe Firefly
09:01productBig Idea Fund
13:01channelGox
12:41channelAiden Gallagher (Valspire Family)
23:55channelSchaffer Nickel
Quotables
Lines you could clip.
04:55
“A piece of content on Instagram is a unit of conversation. It gives me a path to a conversation.”
defines in one line why his Instagram hit spread, people used it to say something they couldn't say themselves→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
08:04
“It's going to happen again. It's going to happen time and time and time and time again. That's just how life is. Dare I say it, that's the point.”
raw hook about creative burnout and chasing a perfect life→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
15:54
“This gap here is where curiosity lies. Your job with the thumbnail is to expand this curiosity gap so much that I have no choice but to click.”
names and defines the whole framework in one breath→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
19:04
“The Loft Era Begins implies that you already have millions of followers who are just ready for whatever you put out.”
sharp, specific critique that doubles as a rule for titling any video→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
21:25
“I'm clicking into a relatable situation, and I want to know how you're living in this situation in your 20s.”
shows the exact thought process a stranger runs in the two seconds before a click→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
24:49
“Don't do something you don't think is cool, because you'll end up hating it. You'll look at it on your channel and be like, I hate this.”
blunt creative-integrity advice closing out the thumbnail lesson→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
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All right, Simon, welcome to Creator Support Outdoors. Tell us about what you make and what your problem is.
My name is Simon, and I make cinematography slash lifestyle storytelling content.
People feel something, you know? Like... And my problem is that I want to go to YouTube, but it is very hard to make the switch from short form to long form and also pick a subject that I think will be entertaining for people to watch.
This is a very common problem. Oh, yeah. Something we've heard a lot while we've been here at Adobe Create Camp.
Yeah. You've had some time and space now out here. Do you feel like you have any answers to your own problem or any new light?
Has any new light been shed? Hmm. You know...
So a lot of people were telling me that they have like editors and I don't know like that That's cool. But I like making my own stuff. So I mean that's a reaffirming thing.
Yeah, right being like Like your craft is making the thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I really like I am kind of a control freak You know when it comes to like creating videos and so like whenever I'm making something I'll be like, okay I'll either have to grab my brother and then we go and film the same thing for a YouTube video multiple times or even short -form content.
I'll go and get the gimbal and be like, okay, there's a little off. Let's do it again. I feel like people always say control freak, and that might be part of it, but I think it also comes down to self -worth.
You're prouder of yourself, I would imagine, when you put something out into the world that you know you touched every piece of. Yeah. Right?
Yeah, 100%. I think there's also a difference between art and media. Like media can scale.
You can get editors, you can make a format, you can grow and grow and grow. Art is just the artist has to make it. So let's talk about YouTube.
I want to talk about it through the lens of one of your most viewed videos on Instagram. Because it feels like Instagram Reels is where you've caught, like, the wave, right? Like, people are watching you there.
You're able to create stuff that, like, can get upwards of millions of views, but it has a consistent base. It's got a consistent style. YouTube, you've been less consistent on.
So I want to watch two things together. Okay. Cool?
So first, we'll start with this, which is an absolutely beautiful video of a letter to your brother. Yeah. Dear brother, I love you.
Sorry if I don't tell you that enough. But even if we are apart, when I look into a mirror, you are right on the other side. Your smile is mine and mine yours.
I can hear laughter in the other room because you are a happy person. You make me feel less alone and right at home. So once again, if I forgot to tell you, I love you.
That is absolutely beautiful. Thank you. I can't help but smile every time I see that video, man.
I love that video so much. Man, it elicits such a feeling, especially having two brothers. I'm like, damn, I love that.
So obviously your brother is your twin. Yeah, man, that's my twin, you know. Shout out, Peter.
Yeah. You know, I have my reasons, but I'm curious why you think, I mean, this is one of your most popular videos. Why do you think it connected at such, like, at the scale of millions of people wanting to watch this?
I think the reason why I was able to catch on, and also, to be fair, the intention was never, like, about that, because I wanted to make a video about him, because it was, at the time, I was away. And when he came to visit, I was like, man, I miss you so much. Let's go and make something.
And that video was like a love letter to him. And I think what other people probably found that was like, think relate relatable was that it was like a letter to somebody like to the to their brother that they love and it didn't matter like and I got I get so many comments like almost every day of like just someone like saying like hey like I love you that it's just like tags like almost every day which is like awesome you know and so it's like Something that I made but then like once released is like became everybody else's video as well Yeah, you know you gave people the words that they can use absolutely like you don't need to say it yourself You just send this or tag someone.
Yeah a piece of content on Instagram is a unit of conversation it gives me a path to a conversation hmm, it's Not common to see two men say I love you to each other It's also not as common to see brothers say, I love you to each other, meaning like in a public space like this. And what's amazing is you start to think about the people you haven't said I love you to enough and you want to share it with them or you want to take an action immediately.
And what's cool about Instagram is that Instagram has this share button right here. And so pretty instantly, if I have, if you just evoked a deep emotion out of me, I have a brother, I want to send this to my brother. Right?
So you press share, you send it to your brother, you send it to someone you know. The challenge is when we go to YouTube, it's not that. It's a very different experience on YouTube.
So when you approach a video like that, or all of your videos right now, is it purely just like, I just have to say this, I just have to make it? Or is there some process for you when you're thinking about a video? I think so with a lot of my short form or long form.
All. All. Okay.
Yeah, yeah. With all my videos, it's more of, like, what I'm interested in at the moment, if I'm being honest. I'm not, like, super concerned with, like, what it is necessarily, which is why I think, like, you know, like you were saying, like, Instagram is probably a little bit easier because, like, oh, it's what's on my mind right now.
Let me create it and then, like, put it out. Yeah. Versus, like, with YouTube, like...
that same approach is not necessarily the best because I think you should have a plan of what you want to make before you start filming. Yeah, but I assume you have a plan of what you wanted to make here. Oh, for sure.
Yeah, it's just a little bit of... The behavior of each platform is very different. Yeah.
I open Instagram. A lot of content gets served to me in my DMs by my friends. Yeah.
And so this... piece of content could be served it's probably served in a ton of people's dms right which is a totally different mechanism of how content gets distributed yeah versus when you come over to youtube i have to choose to watch something yeah so now let's watch another video from you this video you put out three months ago it's one of your least viewed videos that you've put out yes 400 views it's called it's supposed to be fun and there's kind of an image of you uh skateboarding yeah right hi it's been over a year since i've made a youtube video and i guess you could say i've been doing a lot of living since then but i stopped doing the thing that gave me a lot of joy which was making videos and i wondered if i should keep on making them i was scared to post on youtube and not because I'm not super entertaining and super funny and this that and the other but for some reason at some point I thought that oh every video I have to post has to be perfect but I stopped having fun with it it is so fucking easy to let challenges slow you down what if that happens again?
Well, it's going to happen again. It's going to happen time and time and time and time again. That's just how life is.
Dare I say it, that's the point. I think hoping for a perfect life is unrealistic. And plus, who would want something so boring?
I think the hardest part for me, though, is finding the motivation to do that thing. I especially have trouble getting out of my head. But when I do have these doubts and I'm feeling unsure of myself, I can always count on one thing.
My brother. what are we doing today you are so good at making yeah man like you you're an incredible cinematographer you're an incredible writer the music the pacing everything is is great um what's challenging about youtube right and what what what makes it hard for a creator like you is that it is a click and watch platform i have to decide to watch the video before i see the video yeah Right?
So, like, everything that's inside this video can't even make it to someone if they don't decide to watch it. Oh, packaging, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, I just want to take a second and thank everybody who has submitted their idea to the Big Idea Fund. It has been so cool for Samir and I to see all these creative projects that you're all so passionate about coming from creators all over the world.
The submission period... for the Big Idea Fund is now over, and Samir and I are going to be picking a winner, flying them out, and they are going to be on the final episode of this season of Creator Support, sponsored by Adobe. Now, we can only do this because of the support that we got from Adobe.
Adobe has been a part of my journey since day one. I use their tools every single day, and I'm sure you've seen in our episodes we've been using Firefly boards to mock up better thumbnails for the creators that we've been sitting down with. More recently, we've been using Firefly boards to mock up what the future of the Colin and Samir show set could look like.
And one of the things I like the most is that our team can chime in and give us feedback right within the board. So thank you again to Adobe for sponsoring this season of Creator Support. Now back to the episode.
So before we go any further, I want to ask, like, what does long -form YouTube represent to you? Because you have a successful career making... instagram videos right yeah you have brand deals on instagram you're here at adobe create camp like you're being recognized as a creator what does long form youtube represent to you i think right now long form youtube at least because of maybe the i haven't really found like something that i'm super I guess like a niche or like you know a place that I'm like going into so so far it's just been like experimentation and I also it's just like a way for me to like tell a story that like a longer story that I want to tell but why do it like what why why not just say forget it to long form YouTube like why do you have to do it It's like, okay, you guys make YouTube videos all the time.
It's way more fun than making short -form videos, in my opinion. I mean, not to say, okay, you know, I love short -form, right? Love you guys.
Love you guys. Who are you talking to? I don't know.
The short -form board? Oh, yeah, I guess. I love you guys.
Please. Please keep surfacing my videos. Yeah, but I think, like, long -form videos, you can...
make an idea stick way more than like a short form and I know this because like when If a video that I've made on YouTube has even gotten to 3 ,000 or 4 ,000 views, I usually get probably 400 or something, 500 subscribers from just that video, which shows me one. And also the comments of those videos, I personally love those a lot more because they're so much more intentional.
like active participants in the video like because like you're saying it's like a thing that you choose to watch and you know they spent more time with you absolutely yeah yeah i love that great reason yeah i just wanted to make sure you had a reason to do it yes that's a great reason because it's hard it is right and so like when you do when you have to approach something creatively that's hard like you have to have such a compelling north star to keep doing it yeah because you're gonna it's you're gonna put a lot of work into things that not a lot of people are gonna watch for a long time yeah and you're gonna if you want to keep doing it for real like you just have to believe in it so much so i'm happy to hear that is there a north star out there like is there another creator or a pairings of a pairing of two creators where you would say to yourself okay five years from now if i could be this creator meets that creator or if i could make videos like this creator that would be success for me on youtube
I mean, obviously, like, Gox is probably, like, a really, he's a super awesome cinematographer. Really respect his work. And I actually, I know Aiden, Aiden Gallagher, Valspire Family.
I really love his stuff, because I think, like, it can feel like this now, like, every now and then, but I think, like, whenever I watch his videos, it's, like, just fun. It's, like, based around, like, oh, like, you know, how to have the most fun. You know, how to do, like, the most thing.
And I want, like, a combination of, like, similar things, because I'm not trying to be, like, a crazy cinematographer, like, all the time like he is, because he's, like, just an amazing storyteller. You know, I like to be funny. I like to put jokes in my videos and, like, all that.
And I think, you know, personality is also, like, a part of it. So, you know, I'm trying to find my own little... I think Gox is an amazing cinematographer, but he's...
Gox is also really good at presenting to you, right? Yeah. Making my childhood dream come true, right?
This is a before and after thumbnail. It's like a clear framework to go like, oh, I'll see this guy make his childhood. You know, if I don't know him, I'll see him do that.
You know, I finished a sketchbook in 24 hours. Like, okay, I'll check that out. Even this, like, all artists are thieves.
Like, it's interesting. Like, okay, I'll click on that. I've never seen that before.
It's a good graphic design. Perfect imperfection. Make it bad.
That's better. Like, that's interesting, this title and thumbnail. So simple.
So now I want to go to a video you made a month ago. It's called The Loft Era Begins. The thumbnail has $3 ,400 a month and you sitting in a chair.
So imagine you don't know who you are and you know nothing about this story. What would interest you about this story? Like, how would you decide?
You know what? I'm going to click on this video. Like, what are the elements?
uh the chair i suppose uh the rug and then the money like symbol that's at least that was my idea for the thumbnail it's like that the well the chair so if i don't know who you are your ask is for me to go i like that chair i like that rug yeah that's so good i love that it's amazing i mean for everyone watching who hasn't watched the video take a second and try and think about what's inside that yeah if i do that I think, here's a guy who rented a sick loft apartment, $3 ,400 a month.
End of story. End of story. I don't know, like, is that a stretch for him?
We know... Moving in with anybody? We know nothing about this.
Why is this being made? Okay, yeah. All we know is that you're in your loft era and you're paying $3 ,400 a month.
Yep. And so while I'm on YouTube, I'm like... Cool.
And I move on to the next thing. That dude just told me he's paying rent. Good for him.
So what I want to introduce you to is this concept of an information gap. And so what that is going to be is going right here. This is information we know.
So what do we know? Over here is information we want. to know.
Okay? This gap here is where curiosity lies. Right?
Curiosity gap. Correct. Age -old curiosity gap.
You see that? So we meet again. And your job with the thumbnail is to expand this curiosity gap so much that I have no choice but to click.
So if we go now to this, the loft era begins. What I know. that you're in your loft era what else do i know that you're paying 3 400 bucks a month what do i want to know i guess like where the step up from like where it was but that's a stretch like i don't as a net new viewer i don't yeah i don't know anything about you i have no idea the question now to ask is like what do you want the viewer to know And what's in that video that matters to you that people should know?
Honestly, not that much. So it's the visuals that are important. There's no pitch to watch the video?
It's the visuals? Yeah, I mean, I want to make a video, and I was like, okay, well, you know, let's do like an apartment tour, I suppose. Got it.
Yeah. But see, an apartment tour is even a step above here. It's like, cool, yeah.
Maybe some people would be like, yeah, I'll tour. I watch home tours all the time. Yeah.
Like, if you were to do, if the concept is backing into what I want people to do is tour my apartment, it'd be like touring my $3 ,400 loft in Dallas. Dallas Creative Loft. Right?
Now more people would be like, oh, yeah, I'll tour a Dallas Creative Loft. That's $3 ,400. I'm curious.
I'll be honest. I'll watch those types of videos. Yeah, go on, watch those.
So if you had titled it like that and maybe thumbnail it with a little bit of a better image of the loft, I probably would have watched that video. Okay. So we mocked up.
A few here in Photoshop and used Firefly. Building my dream creative studio in Dallas. Now the information I know is that you're building your dream creative studio in Dallas.
What I might want to know is like, what does that mean? What's your dream? What's inside the creative studio?
It's a little bit of a small curiosity gap, but it's at least a curiosity gap. Over here, I moved into my dream apartment at 25. right so what do i know you have a sick apartment at 25 years old what do i want to know how how did you do that do you see what i'm saying yeah okay okay i see what they're saying i'm gonna have to change this after the i built my dream studio at 25.
now i'm like whoa again the question is how so what you want to do with the title and thumbnail is basically just work in the direction of if my expectation is someone has to click then they have to be asking themselves a question in their head that the click answers. Yeah, I see what you're saying.
Because the loft era begins is more of like a statement. It's not necessarily like a thing that entices curiosity. The loft era begins implies that you already have like millions of followers who are just ready for whatever you put out.
They're like, oh shit, Simon's in his loft era. Yeah, yeah. I need to know about this new era.
Right. And part of the reason we bring up, you know, the fact that I watch videos like this, like other apartment tours, is because YouTube is a recommendations algorithm, right? Like your video is not just being served to someone in a scroll like on Instagram, right?
It's being served in relation to all the other videos like it. So I'm going to be watching an apartment tour. And ideally, I see your video on the right side and I go, that looks like an apartment tour.
It reads like an apartment tour. But there's like a little bit of a cinematic edge to this. It's a little bit more creative.
That one sticks out amongst the rest. I want to watch that one because that one speaks to me as a creative. Yeah, even if you did stuff like I turned my apartment into a movie set.
Yeah. Right. And that just more of that is like the fact that you're going to shoot it cinematically.
It's like feels like a movie set. Yeah. Right.
The one that I want to bring up, though, I want to talk about stuff where I'm like, oh, yeah, this is kind of what we're talking about. Even something as simple as I traveled Switzerland for seven days, in the thumbnail you have what I learned about myself. Even that is a little bit of like, okay, I know you went to Switzerland for seven days, and what I want to know is what did you learn?
Now, from a thumbnail perspective, what I want you to look at here is squint your eyes. What do you see in this thumbnail? What visuals do you see?
Leading lines, yellow and red. Yes. What I completely missed in this is you're hanging out of the train.
Yeah. Even when it's big, I can't see that. Yeah, yeah.
Right? And so visuals can also increase the curiosity. It's like, ooh, that's the guy who learned something.
He's hanging out of a train. He's adventurous. He's like, but they have to be big and bold.
When you squint your eyes, you're most popular. Whoa. Not like this.
Every episode has something. Yeah. When you squint your eyes at your channel, the one that sticks out to me is i'm broke because it's big it's the only one i can read from over here the only one you can read right and so i'm broke there's three elements here and that's something we talk about actually this is a really good thumbnail and title it says lost in your 20s so it speaks to who i am as an audience member i'm lost in my 20s right i look at this there's a 20 year old who's lost and above him it says i'm broke yeah so now i'm like What am I clicking into?
I'm clicking into a relatable situation. Right? And I want to know how you're living in this situation in your 20s.
I would learn a lot from what's working or what has worked and try and build in that direction, even from a style perspective. And then as a filmmaker and storyteller, you probably know when you're writing, you can't just make a statement in the beginning that has no further questions. Yeah.
Right? So apply those same storytelling techniques to the graphic design of the thumbnail. Okay.
Does that make sense? Yeah. Pose a question.
I see what you're saying. Pose a reason for me to engage with it and go deeper with it. Yeah, because it's not just about the video.
No, I mean, they're two separate things, but one has to come before the other because you have to make a choice to click. Two really simple questions. You've identified who the people are that you want to reach.
The second question is, why would they click on this video? Right? And it's not so different from why they shared your video, the original one that we watched of I Love My Brother.
They shared it because it's relatable, right? Because it evokes an emotion. You have to apply that now to the packaging.
Yeah. Like, the first opening of that Instagram reel, the equivalent of that has to show up in the packaging. I see what you're saying.
You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Then the first frame of your video is a completely different thing.
And the first 30 seconds is a different thing. Yeah. But the title and thumbnail is a very important piece of the puzzle.
It's actually the piece of the puzzle. Like, you want your, I guess, the hook, well, you want the thumbnail to, like, get people in, like, to be, like, the curiosity gap, and then the hook to be the, maybe, like, the answer, like, part of the answer, like, right there. Part of the answer, and then you pose another question.
Yeah. of why do i like to give me a reason to watch until the end yeah i guess like i think a part of it is because i'm so um maybe like i don't necessarily want to be like a mr beast or like any of that just because you know like he does it really well but it's definitely not my like style of uh video when it comes to like how i it's pretty clear answer yeah i'm gonna tell you i don't think anyone thought that that's what your style of video is and i hope nobody thought that that's what we're suggesting yeah yeah yeah like because we're saying you've you've made one that we think is follows these rules right yeah like it's not it's not that you aren't making them um there's another creator named uh Schaefer nickel.
Have you seen this guy? Yeah. Super cool, right?
This one feels kind of like a vibe, right? Cut off all your hair and buy an old car. Just kind of a striking one.
Like, the curiosity gap can also be just like, what?
What? Yeah. I mean, that one got me big time.
That one got me when I came across it. I was like, I've already been thinking about cutting off my hair. Yeah, or like this.
Nobody deserves this. Like, what is this? That movie, it's like a movie, it sure feels crazy.
It's actually nuts. The devastating beauty of everyday life. I think his titles are as cinematic as his videos.
Yes. And I think right now you've got to get your titles and thumbnails to be as cinematic as what's inside. Yes.
They have to have a brand to them the way that when I watch one of your videos, it has a brand to it, it has a style to it immediately. The thumbnails need a style. And the good thing is like...
Just spend time mocking it up. Like, you don't have to... Don't wait till a video to make a thumbnail.
Just start making thumbnails and just looking at them, being like, is that a cool image? Like, grab a frame from here, from Crate Camp, and be like, is this a cool image? I go on also Pinterest all the time.
Yeah. Just all the time. Just, like, finding cool frames just as a starting point.
Yeah, and, like, saving them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Just references. Okay. The major step to take is...
identify what you think is a cool thumbnail for you, for your brand. Think about how, when you have an idea, what does it visually look like? Mock it up, look at it.
Don't do something you don't think is cool because you'll end up hating it. You'll look at it on your channel and be like, I hate this. You have such a distinct style, but you just have to find what that style is.
Gox has a style. Schaefer Nickel has a style. Find that style.
that visually represents you okay yeah yeah but make sure there's a reason to click it yeah make sure just imagine you don't know yourself and you know nothing about the story like why are you clicking into it okay yeah uh i'll uh i'll keep that in mind i didn't realize it was so hard to read the thumbnails but now that i'm looking at them i actually i realized i mean look how small these are yeah right i'm trying to look at this one i'm like i can't like you can't see anything here right that's the only one that i see Isn't that crazy?
Yeah. Okay. That's some very good advice.
Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Simon.
Thanks for coming on Creator Support. I hope that helped. I hope that helped.
And we are going to get back to the great outdoors here at Adobe Create Camp.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
A cinematographer who can turn a 30-second Instagram reel into a viral love letter to his brother can't get the same crowd to click on a longer story on YouTube, and the reason has nothing to do with his footage.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
15:23concept
The Information Gap (Curiosity Gap)
The space between what a title/thumbnail already reveals and what a stranger still wants to know. A thumbnail's job is to expand that gap until clicking feels necessary.
Steal forany piece of packaging that has to earn a cold click: YouTube thumbnails, email subject lines, lead magnet headlines
22:22list
Two-Question Packaging Test
Who are you trying to reach?
Why would that person click this video right now?
Before finalizing a title and thumbnail, answer who the intended viewer is and what question the click will answer for them.
Steal forany cold-traffic headline, thumbnail, or subject line
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
09:01product
“thank you again to Adobe for sponsoring this season of Creator Support”
Mid-episode sponsor read folded into the Big Idea Fund winner announcement, bridged back into the interview with 'Now back to the episode.'
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
Add Modern Creator as a preferred source and Google shows you more of our breakdowns in Search, Top Stories, and AI Overviews. It only changes what you see, and you can undo it in your Google settings anytime.
Add to Preferred SourcesOpens your Google source preferences with us pre-loaded. Tick the box and you're done.
Colin and Samir dissect a 1.6-million-view video that hooked people and still lost them, building a five-part formula for the first 30 seconds live on camera.
A YouTube strategist breaks down how a med student turned a boring niche into a 13-million-subscriber channel by borrowing formats other creators already proved out.
A week of notes on one creator's entire catalog, distilled into the idea filter, the title formula, and the three-part story cycle behind an average of 40 million views a video.
Caleb Ralston and his creative director Trevor Odom sit down as a two-host podcast to explain the exact content ratio, positioning framework, and hook-writing method behind growing to 100,000 YouTube subscribers by refusing to make content for everyone.
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