Long Pham, aka Drice, is a 25-year-old student from Germany with Vietnamese roots. He is currently studying Business IT while also working as a thumbnail designer.
His journey into design began at the age of 13, when he and his friends started a YouTube channel for fun and needed someone to handle the visuals. Drice stepped up to the task, and that experience sparked his passion for design. Years later, with the rise of COVID and the release of Valorant on the horizon, he returned to design work—this time diving deeper into his creative interests and exploring tools like Blender. What started as a hobby gradually grew into a serious pursuit, with thumbnail design now shaping his future career ambitions.
Outside of designing, Drice enjoys spending time with friends, going to the gym, and traveling the world whenever time and opportunity allow. Drice is available for hire.
Twitter (X) → x.com/MindOfDrice
YT Jobs → ytjobs.co/@Drice
Featured design
Brief
For this project, no traditional video brief was provided. I received only the title ‘Why London Street Gangs Love This Shoe’ along with a work-in-progress edit of the video.
Inspiration
Reference
Sketch
Normally, I create rough sketches before committing to a design. For this project, however, I struggled to find a clear direction at first, so I experimented by piecing together stock images and iterating until I found a concept that truly resonated. When I’m short on solid ideas and have the time, this experimental approach often leads to unique and creative thumbnails.
Editing process
Building the Subject: I created this masked criminal character using several AI-generated images to resemble my sketch. It was important to me that he held a barely visible hammer behind his back, hinting that he had just smashed the window. The hand reaching toward the shoe symbolizes his desire for it.
Finding the Right Cracked Glass: I spent hours searching through cracked glass textures - it nearly broke me back then. After taking a walk and clearing my head, I realized I was overthinking it. I simply chose the next best texture I found on Freepik and adjusted it to blend naturally into the scene. Sometimes, keeping things simple is the best approach.
Lighting and Shading: Criminals rarely strike in broad daylight, so it was important to give the scene a nighttime feel. At the same time, I couldn’t make it too dark - otherwise, viewers would scroll past without a second thought. Finding the right balance of light and shadow was key.
Final Touch-Ups: I made sure to incorporate all of my client’s requested changes, blending everything smoothly to create a cohesive thumbnail.
Asking Friends: Whenever possible, I send my thumbnails to friends for a second opinion. A fresh set of eyes always helps me catch details I might have overlooked. Shoutout to my friends - you know who you are.
Workstation
Workstation Items
Main Monitor - LG Electronics 27GP850P-B
Vertical Monitor - Dell Ultrasharp U2414H
Earphones - LINSOUL SIMGOT EM6L 1DDIn-Ear Monitors
Mouse 1 - Logitech MX Master3s
Mouse 2 - Logitech GProX Superlight
Keyboard - Custom built GMMK Pro, (Lubed) Durock Lavender Switches, GMK Nightshade keycaps + custom mods
Microphone - Auna 920B
Monitor Backlight - Govee Smart LED Lightbar
Corner light - Govee Lyra Floor Lamp
Smartdevice - Amazon Alexa Laptop - Macbook M2 Air (16GB RAM 512GB Storage)
Desk - Flexispot E7 Height Adjustable Desk + Ikea Karlby Kitchen Countertop
Computer Specs
CPU - AMD Ryzen 9700x
GPU - Gigabyte Aorus RTX 2070 Super
Case - Lian Li A4 H2O
Motherboard - ASUS ROG B650E-I
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 64GB 6000Mhz DDR5
Internal Storage - Seagate FireCuda 530 NVMe SSD 2TB
External Storage - Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, Seagate 6TB HDD
Tools
Freepik (AI assistant, Image Generator, Stock Image library)
1. What do you enjoy most about creating thumbnails?
There's no definitive answer for this. Sometimes I love sketching lots of concepts, shading assets to make them look more dramatic or just doing some cool 3D scenery in blender. When it comes to the topic thumbnails in general, I love to talk to fellow designer friends about thumbnails, if it's where the latest Trends are going towards, how to improve your craft or just asking how they did certain things. You can never learn enough about thumbnails. I think the social aspect is something I enjoy most.
2. How long does it take you to make a thumbnail, and how many do you create?
Thumbnails take me anywhere from one to 5-6 hours, depending on the concept and complexity. I always want to make sure when I send off my work to the client that I am happy with the outcome and adjust till the client is satisfied with the result. On a monthly basis I look to clear out around 40 to 50 thumbnails.
3. How important is it to know 3D modeling for thumbnail creation?
3D is a pretty important step when creating some thumbnails for me. I am used to creating 3D Renders in Blender due to my Gaming Thumbnail background and I am using my knowledge to create angles that aren't really accessible in stock images. Learning basic 3D/Blender is a must if you want to have an edge against your competition.
4. What's the best way for someone to learn 3D editing for their thumbnail workflow?
If you want to start implementing 3D in your workflow, I always recommend people starting off with a base set tutorial, like the infamous Donut tutorial, it teaches a good baseset of knowledge. Often I want to create custom/procedural textures (like a lava floor) and mostly - there are tutorials online showing you how to do that.
5. What’s one tip you’d give to someone just starting out with thumbnail design?
Just do it. Create that first thumbnail. It wont be good, I know my first thumbnail wasn't. You won't become a better thumbnail designer by just looking at them. With the technology and resources we have nowadays, its alot more accessible to start creating. So instead of thinking of thumbnails, chasing metrics, its just best to do your own thumbnail.
There's always the Weekly Challenge on the Thumbnails 101 Discord Server, where you can put your skills to the test, with a clear concept and assets already provided. I know alot of beginner designers chase assets from big creators, even though its not the make or break in your first thumbnail.
If you found this edition of Unlayered helpful, please consider sharing it with someone who might benefit from this workflow too! 💙