thumbnail-brieflisted

# Thumbnail Brief ## Purpose Produce a thumbnail brief — composition, face grammar, object grammar, contrast rules, accent/secondary colors, typography, text density, A/B test design — for the channel's thumbnail designer to execute. The thumbnail is half of the title-thumbnail-unit (INV-10): together with the title, it makes the promise the first 30s of video must deliver. ## Decision Logic The thumbnail competes against 10-30 other thumbnails on every viewer's home / suggested feed. Its job: get the click, then deliver the promise. The composition system is encoded in `production_and_post.thumbnail_design_system`. Each video's thumbnail honors the system but varies the face/object/text density per topic. The face grammar matters: surprise / contrarian-stare / smile / open-mouth / no-face. Each conveys different promise. Authority videos lean contrarian-stare or measured. Reach videos lean surprise or open-mouth. The text density matters: 2-3 words for tight visual punch / 3-5 words for clarity / phrase for context. More text = lower CTR usually. Test exceptions. The accent color and typography system is locked at the channel level — the thumbnail brief works within the system, not against it. ## Tacit Principles 1. **Visual hierarchy: face → text → object.** The viewer reads in this order. 2. **Contrast wins clicks.** Background + face + text must have separable visual contrast (test grayscale). 3. **One emotion at a time.** Don't mix surprise + smile + contrarian-st