Brittney Carlini is a 28 year old Thumbnail Designer and Strategist. She went to school for traditional graphic design, and she was introduced to the YouTube world in 2019 when her husband Jake Carlini decided to start his own YouTube channel. Once her thumbnails for Jake started to get more well-rounded, clients slowly started inquiring to her, and she decided to make the jump into Thumbnail Design full-time in late 2022.
Brittney has worked with creators like Jesser, HopeScope, Redbull, her husband Jake, and many more. Her current work consists of continuing to create thumbnails for HopeScope, Redbull, and Jake, but she also works with Paddy Galloway as the Thumbnail Expert on his accelerator program, and she has been training a new designer to go full-time with a large entertainment channel.
Twitter (X) → x.com/BrittCarlini
Instagram → instagram.com/brittney.carlini
Featured design
Overview
Typically when Jake tells me about an upcoming video idea, I’ll take the idea and brainstorm titles & thumbnail concepts for the video. But for this specific video, Jake had a title locked in right out the gate: I Built a Fist That Can Punch Through Anything
Even though I thought this title was solid, I still brainstormed a few alternate title ideas, but we ultimately decided on this title since it was actually pretty accurate to the claim, and because it was similar to a previous video for a different build that had done really well.
In this video, Jake worked toward building a fist that could punch through really difficult materials. After some trial and error throughout the video, he eventually built a metal, spiked fist that actually punched through a concrete slab, bricks, and an iron anvil. Because it was actually capable of that level of destruction, we decided to include one of those materials in the thumbnail. Had he only punched through a softer material like cardboard or a watermelon, we wouldn’t have felt comfortable showcasing a brick wall as the material.
Initial Brainstorm
When planning Jake’s thumbnails, I’ll usually start with brief research where I look up images of dynamic manga/anime/superhero characters in similar positions:
Additionally, whenever I brainstorm a thumbnail for Jake, these are the top 2 things I consider:
1. What is going to show off the build the best
2. How do we tell the most interesting story in our thumbnail while being accurate to the video
Loose Mockups
I don’t always do this as part of my process, but for this video specifically, I spent 10 minutes taking “practice” photos of Jake in a few different punching positions and different phases of the punch to try and get a good feel on what looks the most dynamic (ex. Pre-punch, so the arm pulled back, before the punch motion; mid-punching through something; post-punch, having his arm completely swung through an object/material.)
I thought for sure a forward punch was going to be our best bet, but when I mocked that idea up, I realized it was really hard to see the build and the key features on it. So we ended up going with a post-punch positioning:
This positioning was still really dynamic, and it ended up being the angle that showed off the build and its key features the best.
As far as the chosen material goes in this thumbnail, we decided punching through a brick wall with exploding debris would look sick due to the nature of the action in itself, and the color of the bricks would contrast really nicely with the metal of the fist. But most importantly, we also chose that because it’s super accurate to the video since he punches through bricks.
Jake Asset
I really liked the body positioning of the image on the right, but I needed a new head that was looking down at the punched wall corner more accurately. I also took photos of the fist build separately, because it was such a heavy build that it started to hurt Jake’s shoulder lol.
Background Assets
Before working on the damaged brick wall, I wanted to make sure I could generate a solid background foundation first. For the background, I plugged in one of my stock photos of a sky and treeline that I use often across many of my other thumbnails. Then, I loosely drew in grass, sidewalks, and a road, then used Freepik to bring it to life:
FREEPIK PROMPT: Add sidewalks and a road to the background
Since I was pretty happy with this result, it was time to move on to the star of the show: the exploding brick wall. I took a photo of my own house’s brick wall to have the most control over the angle and perspective I needed, and then I brought the isolated image of it and Jake into Freepik:
FREEPIK PROMPT: can you make it look like something just hit the edge/corner of this brick building? it should look like a chunk of the edge of the brick wall got taken out, and now there's broken brick bits
This took about 6-7 (ha!) generations before getting a result that looked realistic, and not super over-the-top.
Now it was just time to bring it to life by making everything more cohesive with lighting, coloring, and adding debris!
Unlayered
Workstation
Software
Adobe Photoshop Beta for life
Google Docs for brainstorming thumbnail concepts
Hardware
16” 2024 MacBook Pro - Apple M4 Pro, 48GB RAM, 500GB Storage
27” Apple Studio Display - 5k retina display
Bluetooth cute lavender logitech mouse
Bluetooth cute green UBOTIE keyboard
Standing desk that I mostly sit at lmao
Has there ever been a time when a "risky" idea for Jake’s channel completely flopped, and how did that change your strategy for the next one?
I honestly think it’s the opposite. Every time we’ve taken a creative risk on a thumbnail, it’s always paid off and succeeded. Of course we’ve had videos flop for other reasons, but that’s never really been due to a “risky” thumbnail.
Beyond being good at Photoshop, what is one soft skill you’ve developed that has been crucial for managing high-profile clients like Red Bull or Jesser?
I would say great communication, enthusiasm, professionalism, and problem solving skills are must-haves to maintain on-going, healthy relationships with any client, not even just the high profile ones.
What’s the most random or unusual thing you’ve had to photograph around your house just to get the right piece for a thumbnail?
I’ve photoshopped a lot of mine and Jake’s hands/limbs into other peoples’ thumbnails over the years lol. Plus lots of chopped fruit!!
You use AI tools like Freepik and Photoshop Beta for assets. At what point does a thumbnail stop being "Graphic Design" and start being "Prompt Engineering," and how do you keep your personal style visible?
I’d still consider it graphic design because you still have to visualize and piece together assets into a cohesive composition, even if some of them were AI generated. And you can maintain your same style by having a good sense of discernment, meaning knowing when the AI asset is too fake looking vs. when it aligns well with your client’s style. But yeah at this point we are both graphic designers and prompt engineers lol.
Do you feel that knowing "how to draw" or understanding light physics manually makes you a better "prompter" than someone who only knows the AI tools?
I would imagine so, because when you’ve developed an eye for the world around you and you can identify proper angles/perspective/lighting, it again probably helps you be able to discern usable ai-generated images vs. unusable ones, where someone with an untrained eye might not be able to do that.
When "MrBeast-style" faces or "red arrows" become too common, they lose effectiveness. What is the next visual "era" or style you see emerging on YouTube?
Probably just super raw and imperfect, and SUPER unique. I love thumbnails that are very anti-traditional thumbnail standards, with completely stretched images or handwritten fonts, while still being conceptually strong of course.
Best thumbnail you’ve ever made?
Perhaps one of these. I’m so proud of the Phoenix Resale ones, because I also brainstormed those titles with that creator along with the quotes. And then I love how epic the Redbull and Jake ones are visually 🙂
Best thumbnail you’ve ever seen?
I think it’s hard to pick 1 simple “best” thumbnail because I’ve saved so many incredibly smart ones over the years, but here’s a couple I really love:
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