YouTube Thumbnail Concept Generator

Act as a YouTube thumbnail designer focused on click-through rate. Create 5 thumbnail concepts.

Video: title [TITLE] · topic [SUMMARY] · audience [WHO WATCHES] · niche [INDUSTRY] · competitors [2-3 CHANNELS]
Competing thumbnails [DESCRIBE OR ATTACH 2-3 FROM THOSE CHANNELS, or NONE]

Per concept:
1. Text overlay — ≤4 words, readable at mobile size
2. Face/subject direction and expression
3. Color strategy with hex codes (must contrast with YouTube's white background)
4. Layout — text and subject placement, rule of thirds
5. Emotion trigger — curiosity, FOMO, surprise, authority, before/after
6. Background image prompt (60-80 words)
7. A/B variation

Rank the 5 by predicted CTR with reasoning. Say what competitors do only from the thumbnails I described or attached. If I gave none, say so in the ranking and rank the concepts on their own merits; a channel name does not tell you what its thumbnails look like.

Success means each concept uses a different emotion trigger, and the ranking reasoning references the competing thumbnails I supplied, or says that none were supplied.

Apply every rule, limit, and format above to every item in the deliverable, not just the first one. Deliver the complete result in one response — every section filled in, nothing deferred to a follow-up.

If a required input is missing, ask for it once before starting; otherwise proceed and label any assumption you made.

Notes: R40 refresh; tuned to vendor prompting guidance