62 - Saboor

Saboor is a 22-year-old designer from Afghanistan, and he's only been doing this seriously for about four months. He always loved video editing, but without a good enough computer or internet connection, he turned to thumbnails instead.

In that short time, he's already worked with creators like Design Theory, Mallie B and Lara Acosta.

Twitter (X) → x.com/saboorhaqjoo
Instagram → instagram.com/saboor.visual
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/saboor07

The video was about why design feels so lifeless these days. Instead of making things more beautiful or meaningful, designers seem to focus more on optimizing things. John also talked about Ferrari's new car in the hook, so we needed a thumbnail that could communicate this bigger idea through a strong visual.

I usually come up with a few concepts for every video, typically 3 to 5, and build a moodboard to explore them. I like having different directions to choose from instead of committing to the first idea that comes to mind.

When coming up with concepts, I usually start with John's own channel. I want to create something that works for his existing audience and fits the style of his channel. For the first concept, I went with a simple before-and-after approach.

For the second concept, I looked at videos that had already performed really well. I try to find channels with fewer than a million subscribers, or even much smaller ones, because if an idea works for a smaller channel, there's a good chance it can work for a larger audience too.

This one was inspired by a thumbnail from Fern. They had used a similar approach for a Tesla video, and it performed really well. Since the idea was already proven, I gave it my own twist by making the car look more damaged and changing the environment.

The third concept was inspired by smaller channels where this kind of approach had worked well. I thought it was worth a shot for John's video, too.

For the fourth concept, I went a bit further and explored something new. This one came to me later that night, after I'd finished the other three. I usually spend half an hour, sometimes even an hour, lying in bed before falling asleep, just brainstorming and building ideas in my head. The ceiling basically becomes my screen. Maybe I'm a little crazy, haha, but hey, the whole ceiling is at my service!

I'd actually seen something similar in a YouTube tutorial about Blender. There was a person walking through a doorway, and their whole appearance changed as they passed through it. I remembered that visual and thought I could use the same idea to tell a different story for John's video.

I found this image on Pinterest, and it was exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.

I sent the concept to John, and he was happy to give it a try.

Once the concept was clear, I brought it to life. I started by gathering the assets I needed for the project and found these images to use. For the environment, I used AI to create the scene I had in mind. The main idea was to show a transition from a classic red Ferrari, representing the old era of luxury car design, to the new Ferrari Luce on the other side of the doorway. The contrast between the two cars was meant to communicate how car design has changed over time.

I don't actually have a desk. I do all my thumbnail work on the kitchen counter. 😂 But I'm planning to get myself a proper desk this month, so hopefully this is the last time I have to call the kitchen my office!

Communication: Discord
Design and editing: Adobe Photoshop
AI: ChatGPT / Google Flow
Image assets: Vecteezy / Pexels / Unsplash
Image enhancement: Magnific
File sharing: Google Drive

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