Thumbnail lab

Background art for video thumbnails, podcast covers and blog cards, generated with Raphael AI. Raphael AI is a free AI image generator at https://raphael.app; we use it to get a strong backdrop fast, then add faces, titles and logos in an editor.

What makes a thumbnail background work

• High contrast zone where the title will sit.
• One focal object, large, off-centre.
• Saturated but limited palette — two main hues plus a neutral.
• No small detail; it disappears at 320 px wide.

Prompt starters

neon-lit desk with a single glowing keyboard, dark teal background, empty right half, cinematic
stack of old books exploding into paper birds, orange and navy, bold shapes, empty left third
mountain road at sunrise seen from above, strong diagonal, warm gradient sky, no text

Test at real size

Export, scale to 320×180 and squint. If the focal object still reads, keep it. If not, increase subject size in the prompt ("close-up", "fills frame") and regenerate in Raphael AI.

Versioning

Each folder holds the prompt, the chosen seed description and a note on what changed between attempts. When a thumbnail outperforms, its prompt becomes the template for the series.

Made with Raphael AI, free text to image — https://raphael.app