YouTube Growth Strategist & Creative Director

The strategy behind channels that grow.

For ten years I've designed, edited and packaged videos for more than 10,000 channels. Now I lead the strategy behind them, and it's built on that same hands-on work.

129M+combined subscribers across client channels
28M+biggest client, Younes Zarou
+37%average CTR lift after a repackage
30+niches, each with its own visual language

Trusted by thousands of channels, including some of the biggest names on YouTube.

Views generated

24,302,539
views on videos I've edited and packaged, and growing with every upload.
28M+subscribers on the biggest channel
Watch the edits

Counted from each video's current view count on YouTube.

Experience

From the edit timeline
to the strategy room.

I've done every job in the pipeline, so I know where projects get stuck ↓

2016

Thumbnail designer

Hundreds of thumbnails a month, each one judged by CTR.

2017

Video editor

Long-form and Shorts, cut against the retention graph.

2019

Packaging lead

Title, thumbnail and hook owned together, before the shoot.

2020

Studio founder

Built a team and a system that delivered for 10,000+ channels.

Now

Growth strategist

Owning the full pipeline, from strategy and packaging to production, testing and the team behind it. Channels from 10K to 28M+.

Design thinking

Strategy first. Design second.

Every thumbnail starts as a strategy sketch: where the eye goes, which emotion lands first, and why the viewer has to click. Drag the handle to compare.

SketchFinalSketchFinal
A/B testing

I don't guess which thumbnail wins. I test it.

Every variant tests one variable, so each result teaches the channel something it can use next time.

  • One variable per variant
  • A clear hypothesis before any design
  • Results go into a channel playbook
See A/B tests
Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Concept

Three different questions for one video: the price ladder, "This won?!" and the world tour.

Expertise

Strategy on top. Craft underneath.

Senior-level judgment, with the hands-on skill to do any of it myself.

Channel growth strategy

Audits, positioning, formats and roadmaps tied to CTR, AVD and returning viewers.

  • Channel audits
  • Content pillars
  • Series design

Packaging & creative direction

Title and thumbnail systems and art direction across more than 30 niches.

  • Title strategy
  • Thumbnail direction
  • A/B testing

Retention & editing

Hooks, story structure, pacing and sound, all edited against the retention graph.

  • Hook scripting
  • Retention editing
  • Shorts

Systems, teams & operations

I built and ran a studio that delivered at volume, covering hiring, QA, briefs and SOPs. I can plug into any team and make its pipeline faster.

  • Team building
  • SOPs
  • QA systems

Viewer psychology

Curiosity gaps, emotion and eye-path, designed around how people actually decide to click.

Clients

Channels I've worked with

Counts were pulled live from YouTube, and every card links to the channel.

Workflow

Bottlenecks I fix

the stuff that quietly kills channels

Packaging decided after filmingTitle + thumbnail locked before the shoot
Ideas chosen on gut feelOutlier research and idea scoring
Thumbnail repeats the titleThumbnail shows, title tells
Endless revision loopsClear briefs and a sketch round first
Editor and designer out of syncOne owner for each video's promise
Viewers gone by 0:30Hooks that pay off the click
Random A/B testsOne variable, one hypothesis
Burnout from the upload scheduleSOPs and batching that keep output steady
Toolkit

The tools I work in

Photoshop
Premiere Pro
After Effects
Illustrator
DaVinci Resolve
Blender
Figma
Higgsfield
Seedance
Midjourney
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
YouTube Studio
Canva
Notion
Case Study01of 04
Entertainment · ChallengePackaging lead & strategist6 months

Repackaging a challenge channel that had stopped growing

The problem

A 4M-subscriber channel with expensive, well-made videos, but every thumbnail looked the same. The audience had stopped noticing them. The thumbnail was also briefed after the shoot, so there was never a usable frame.

What I did

  1. 1

    Audited 120 uploads and 40 competitors

    The winners had one thing in common: stakes you could count.

  2. 2

    Moved packaging before production

    Title, sketch and three planned thumbnail shots before every shoot.

  3. 3

    Rebuilt the visual language

    Wide scale shots, foreground props, three words of text at most.

  4. 4

    Tested one variable at a time

    A/B/C variants every upload, with the learnings logged in a playbook.

The result

3.1%8.4%

Average click-through rate

BeforeMonth 1Month 6
+212%views per video
6uploads past 10M views
Case Study02of 04
Business & entrepreneurshipDesign lead9 months

Making business advice feel like a story

The problem

Valuable advice was being packaged like a lecture. The thumbnails relied on charts, logos and numbers, which is what every business channel posts, so nothing set this channel apart in the feed.

What I did

  1. 1

    Sold the transformation, not the topic

    Every video promises a before-and-after in the viewer's life.

  2. 2

    Made emotion the hero

    One face, one feeling, two words. No charts.

  3. 3

    Built a title formula bank

    Stakes, contrast, the "one rule", and identity.

  4. 4

    Kept the visual system consistent

    Returning viewers can spot the channel in the feed straight away.

The result

4.0%7.6%

Average click-through rate

BeforeMonth 3Month 9
+38%average view duration
41%of views from returning viewers
Case Study03of 04
AI & tech educationPackaging system & designOngoing

Winning a fast-moving niche with 24-hour packaging

The problem

In AI, a tool launch is old news within 72 hours. The channel's tutorials were excellent but went out two days late, with generic "robot and glowing brain" thumbnails.

What I did

  1. 1

    Built a launch kit

    Templates, a tool-asset library and title formulas, so a video could be packaged in under 3 hours.

  2. 2

    Made the outcome the hero

    Show the ad, the render, the result, not the tool's logo.

  3. 3

    Used the AI tools to build the visuals

    The packaging now shows the very workflow the video teaches.

  4. 4

    Designed comparison formats

    "3D vs AI" and "HD vs 4K" turn reviews into a debate.

The result

22%51%

Share of views from Browse features (the home feed)

BeforeLaunch kitNow
<24hfrom tool launch to published video
2.6×views per launch video
Case Study04of 04
Operations · StudioFounder & creative director2020 → now

A production system that scales quality

SketchFinalSketchFinal

The problem

Creators need fast, consistent, clickable packaging, but quality falls apart as soon as you scale beyond one designer. The real problem was scaling good taste.

What I built

  1. 1

    A structured brief

    Context, target emotion, reference outliers. It halved the number of revisions.

  2. 2

    A sketch round before design

    The idea gets approved before any pixels are made.

  3. 3

    A QA checklist

    Mobile legibility, three elements, contrast and title pairing.

  4. 4

    A/B testing as standard

    Variant sets for every important upload.

The result

10,000+

channels served by the system

100K+thumbnails delivered
~1revision per thumbnail on average
More clients

Other engagements

Younes Zarou28M+Entertainment

Concepts and thumbnail variants built for a global, mostly mobile audience.

Max Amini4.86MComedy

Packaging that sells a punchline without giving it away.

Simon Squibb2.49MBusiness

Story-led packaging for founder and entrepreneur content.

The Golden Balance3.6MTravel & food

Packaging and edits for stories told on the road.

Jolly Emmanuel2.2MArt

Thumbnails that turn the painting process into a payoff.

Coding Jesus290KTech & careers

Packaging that makes technical topics feel high stakes.

The psychology of the click

A thumbnail is a 0.3-second argument.

Viewers don't read a thumbnail, they feel it. This is the thinking behind every package I design.

How a viewer decides

From scroll to click, in slow motion.

0.0s

Impression

"Is something different here?"

0.3s

Glance

"How should I feel?"

0.8s

Read

"What's going on?"

1.5s

Promise

"What happens next?"

2.0s

Click

"I need to know."

30s

Proof

"Okay, this is it."

Sketch to final

Every element has a job.

Each thumbnail starts as a strategy sketch: where the eye goes, which emotion lands first, and why the viewer has to click. Drag to compare.

SketchFinalSketchFinal

Choice tension

One question is the whole thumbnail.

Kibble or pizza? Both people freeze mid-cringe and the dog decides. There's no text, because the choice tells the story.

SketchFinalSketchFinal

Eye path

Text, then face, then money.

The red words frame his head, so the eye travels in that order. Finance thumbnails don't need charts. They need a feeling.

SketchFinalSketchFinal

Participation

Make the viewer the detective.

A lineup and a sketch held at camera level, so you start comparing faces before you've even clicked.

SketchFinalSketchFinal

Fail vs. win

Oversized props read on a phone.

One is on fire and one is perfect. The props are as big as his head, and that's deliberate.

The playbook

12 levers that drive the click.

Hover over any thumbnail to see how it works.

01 · Curiosity gap

One question per thumbnail

Ask a question only the video can answer. Two questions and the viewer answers neither.

02 · Faces

The face sets the feeling

Faces are processed before text, so the expression has to match the promise.

03 · Depth

Forced perspective stops the scroll

Pushing the subject toward the lens breaks the flat pattern of the feed.

04 · Stakes

High stakes plus a clear goal

Danger, a reward and a rival: the oldest click formula there is.

05 · The detail

One small detail creates the question

A "no reviews yet" card tells you the business is unproven, and that's exactly why you watch.

06 · Authority

Recognition first, then the promise

Famous faces earn the glance, and the promise in the text earns the click.

07 · Warning

Tell them not to

"Don't buy this" makes the viewer want to know exactly why not.

08 · Comparison

A split screen starts a debate

A visible before-and-after makes viewers pick a side, then check whether they were right.

09 · Pairing

Complement the title, never repeat it

The thumbnail shows the situation and the title adds the twist.

10 · Danger

Put someone the viewer will worry about at risk

A predator in the dark and a face asking for help: you feel it before you think it.

11 · Scale

Make the stakes countable

When you can see all 100 people, you believe the video is big.

12 · Metaphor

Turn an idea into an image

"Success was prison" becomes a golden cage.

The thumb test

If it doesn't read at phone size, it doesn't read.

  • Three elements or fewer
  • Four words of text at most
  • The emotion reads at a glance
  • Nothing important under the timestamp
Desktop
Mobile feed
Suggested
Emotion mapping

Every niche has a dominant emotion.

The package has to promise exactly the feeling the audience came for.

Challenge & entertainmentAwe & competitionScale, stakes and a countable prize
Business & financeAspirationThe gap between where you are and where they are
AI & techCapability & urgency"You can make this today"
Story & documentaryIntrigueThe moment nobody was supposed to see
Food & travelCraving & discoveryThe result is the hero, shown oversized
Animals & familyProtectionSmall creatures, real stakes
Annotated breakdowns

Nothing in the frame is there by accident.

Each board labels what every element is doing, from the face to the props to the empty space. Click any board to enlarge it.

Design work

Thumbnails engineered to win the feed.

Packaging for channels from 10K to 28M+ subscribers across 30+ niches, from challenge and entertainment to business, AI, sport and travel. Every one is designed around a single click decision.

100K+thumbnails designed since 2016
+37%average CTR lift after a repackage
2B+views on videos I've packaged
28M+subscribers on the biggest channel I design for

Designed for some of the biggest channels on YouTube

Strategy → sketch → final

Every thumbnail starts as a strategy.

Before any design, I sketch the plan: where the eye lands first, which emotion it reads, and the one question that makes the viewer click. Drag the handle to compare, and pick another one below.

Strategy sketchFinal thumbnailStrategy sketchFinal
Pattern interrupt

A foot flying at the lens.

The kick is the hook and the face sells the impact. The crowd and the flags place it in Brazil without a single word.

Curiosity

An oven buried in the sand.

The face points you straight at it, the lid is mid-reveal, and the food is shown oversized so you can almost taste it.

Aspiration

The whole trip in one glance.

Cash pushed at the lens, a passport, and three landmarks on a curved globe. You know the challenge before you read the title.

Scale

Make the stakes countable.

When you can see the whole crowd, you believe the video is big. The reaching hand pulls you into the frame.

Stakes

Danger, a goal and a rival.

Three things you can read at phone size, arranged so the eye climbs the frame the same way the climber does.

Choice tension

One question is the whole thumbnail.

Kibble or pizza? Both people freeze mid-cringe and the dog decides. No text needed.

Full breakdown boards

Scroll sideways, and click any board to enlarge it.
Portfolio

Thumbnails that earned the click.

Filter by niche, or click any thumbnail to see it full size.

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Testing

A/B testing strategy

YouTube's Test & Compare picks a winner. My job is to make sure every test also teaches the channel something.

01

One variable

Change one thing per variant, so the result explains itself.

02

A hypothesis first

Every variant exists to answer a specific question.

03

A playbook after

Every result shapes how the next thumbnail gets designed.

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Focal point

Is the click about the money or the rivalry? Cash in hand, the buzzers, or Boys vs Girls.

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Concept

Three different questions for one video: the price ladder, "This won?!" and the world tour.

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Depth & proof

The drill pushed into the lens, the stunt in action, or the record certificate as proof.

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Process vs. outcome

Show the tool, show the whole tool stack, or show the ad it makes?

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Framing

Wide in mid-air, tight in mid-air, or the second before the jump: where does the fear read strongest?

Variant AVariant BVariant CA
Testing: Scale & color

A giant creature in fiery color, or the same threat lurking in the dark, close and wide.

How I work

Process

1

Brief

The video, the promise, the emotion.

2

Research

Niche outliers and gaps in the feed.

3

Sketch

Three concepts, each with its eye path mapped.

4

Design

Compositing, light, color, custom assets.

5

Test

Feed-size QA and A/B/C variants.

6

Learn

Results go into the channel playbook.

Range

Niches

Each niche has its own visual language and its own reason to click.

ChallengePersonal financeBusinessAI toolsTech reviewsPodcastsDocumentaryComedyFamily vlogsFoodTravelFitnessGolfBaseballMotorsportGamingArt & paintingFashionSneakersSelf-improvementReal estateCodingAnimalsSkitsEducationArabicFrenchGermanSpanish
Video work

Edits that keep the promise the thumbnail made.

Long-form and Shorts, cut against the retention graph. Every cut, sound and graphic has to earn its place by keeping the viewer watching.

Views generated

24,302,539
views on videos I've edited and packaged, and growing with every upload.
28M+subscribers on the biggest channel
Watch the edits

Counted from each video's current view count on YouTube.

Long-form

Cut for millions of views

Click any video to play it right here, or use the corner icon to watch it bigger. Sorted by current views.

24:51
7.8M views
I Raised a Capybara! (100 Day Evolution)MrExotic
20:09
4.1M views
I Bought the Most Dangerous Creatures on the Dark Web! MrExotic
43:06
2.5M views
ON AFFRONTE 100 ENFANTS (ft Djilsi & Maxime Biaggi)THEODORT
37:31
2M views
I Bought the Scariest Creatures Off the Web…MrExotic
28:17
873.4K views
Asking Strangers to Play Baseball in THEIR BackyardLapp Bros
20:22
708.2K views
Ich teste verbotene Schulsport Produkte! Rick Azas
24:06
686.6K views
I Returned to Syria After 15 YearsThe Golden Balance
11:07
418.9K views
Shawarma Vs. Picanha Cooking ChallengeThe Golden Balance
26:26
323.7K views
WER BLEIBT LÄNGER WACH im IKEA? 😱Rick Azas
13:12
229K views
If I Wanted To Start A Business In 2027, I'd Do ThisSimon Squibb
27:58
184.2K views
I Created the NEW #1 Ranked Team in AmericaDSARM
14:04
113.9K views
I Met 87 Billionaires… Here’s 8 Things I LearnedSimon Squibb
8:42
97.5K views
I Tested Seedance 2.5 for Product Ads (INSANE RESULTS)Thomas Lundström
24:12
96.3K views
The Best 13U Baseball Team in America? (Championship Game)DSARM
11:14
90.2K views
How To Save Al Credits With Seedance 2.5 + BlenderThomas Lundström
12:31
76K views
I Built $30,000 impossible weaponsTyler Csatari
11:35
66.1K views
$1 VS $10,000 World Baseball Classic ExperienceLapp Bros
17:20
55K views
Can I Become a Police Sketch Artist?Jolly Emmanuel
22:29
42.4K views
$10,000 Boys vs Girls ChallengeYounes Zarou
19:39
40.5K views
I SET A WORLD RECORD at the London Eye!Younes Zarou
10:51
36.3K views
I Spent 24 Hours in a Haunted AirbnbYounes Zarou
7:28
31.1K views
Opus 5.5 in Blender Is INSANE for Al CommercialsThomas Lundström
17:11
5.8K views
I Tried Fixing The Worst Drawings I Could FindJolly Emmanuel
Shorts

Sixty seconds, zero dead air

Fast cuts, a hook in the first frame, and a loop that brings viewers back to the start. Tap any Short to play it.

Retention

Edited against the graph

  • 0:00 – 0:05Confirm the click
  • 0:05 – 0:30Raise the stakes, open a loop
  • Every 60–90sRe-hook before attention drops
  • The middleEscalate, and cut anything that stalls
  • The endingPay off, then hand off to the next video

Audience retention Illustrative

100%75%50%25%0:005:0010:00 re-hookre-hooktwist the 30-second cliff
Retention-first editTypical edit
Craft

Every edit is built in layers.

A ten-minute video carries hundreds of small decisions. This is what one of my timelines looks like, with the reason behind every layer underneath. Hover over a track to see why it's there.

0 cuts, clips, keyframes and sound events on one timelineEvery one placed for a reason
How I work

Workflow

1

Intake

Footage logged and thumbnail moments flagged.

2

Paper edit

Story beats and the hook script.

3

Rough cut

Structure and pacing only.

4

Retention pass

Dead air cut, re-hooks added.

5

Finish

Sound, graphics, color, captions.

6

Review

Retention checked at 48 hours.

Let's talk

Let's build what's next.

If you're building something ambitious on YouTube, let's talk. Bring the channel, the idea or the problem, and we'll work out where the growth is hiding.

Book a 1-on-1 callPick a time that suits you
Shubi Saini
Shubi SainiYouTube Growth Strategist & Creative DirectorIn the YouTube industry since 2016