The packaging is the first 0.5 seconds. These are the rules that make SPENT thumbnails and titles impossible to scroll past.
Left third, high contrast, gold rim light. Emotion must read at 120px.
Large gold figure top-right. The hook. $150M, -$23M, $2.2M.
Bottom-up #080B09 → transparent. Ensures title legibility.
Maximum 3 visual elements. Subject, number, wordmark.
One gold element per thumbnail — the number, the wordmark, or the rim.
16:9 at 1280×720. Safe zone: 80% center for mobile cropping.