Radovan Cervenansky, better known as Reday, is a 19-year-old thumbnail designer from Slovakia. Starting his creative journey at just 11 years old, he turned his childhood passion for design into a full-time career.
He’s grown a following of over 40,000 on Instagram and has worked with some of the biggest creators and brands in the industry — including Red Bull, Stan Browney, Brianna, and Sam Eckholm. Reday is available for hire.
Instagram → instagram.com/redaypsd
Twitter (X) → x.com/redaypsd
Website → https://cliqupmedia.com
Featured design
Sam Eckholm sent me a message saying he needed a thumbnail for a really cool video where he flew in the back of an F-16. He always takes amazing thumbnail assets from multiple angles, but the one that worked best was this shot of him inside the cockpit.
He then asked me to add color to the wings. There’s also an Air Force stars-and-bars logo on the right and black text on the left wing that says “USAF.”
Red wings with white wingtips.
I added vapour coming off the wings, replaced the sky with a brighter blue, and moved the hoses and straps to make the composition cleaner. I also adjusted the colors on him to be cooler so they matched the background better.
Everything was done in Photoshop without using AI, since the photos were already great and we wanted the result to look as real as possible without AI.
Unlayered
Workstation
Tools
MacBook Pro M4
Mouse: Keychron M2
External SSD: Samsung T7 2TB
Monitors: Dell S2522HG
1. Where do you usually get ideas for your thumbnail concepts?
Usually by scrolling on YouTube seeing other outliers.
2. What’s your go-to move when a thumbnail just isn’t working?
Ask a friend for a different take to get more creative ideas, try to scroll on YouTube to look for inspiration, make a moodboard for creative ideas.
3. Any “unpopular opinions” about YouTube thumbnails?
Maybe that designers spend hours on details people won’t even realize, and that simple is better than having overly edited thumbnails.
4. If someone wanted to level up their thumbnails fast, what’s the first thing you’d tell them to do?
Learn how to use the newest AI tools, haha. So much stuff we had to Photoshop before now takes just a few clicks, and you just have to focus on the right idea and composition.
If you found this edition of Unlayered helpful, please consider sharing it with someone who might benefit from this workflow too! 💙
