Waitlist open
YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. 16:9 · 9:16
Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok. 4:5 · 1:1 · 9:16
You make great videos. Nobody clicks them.
Turn one video into a carousel. One click.
Paste a thumbnail you wish you had made. Get it back as layers you can change.
Drop in a video link or a script. Get a deck back where every slide is real type.
Fix one layer. Everything else stays put.
Retype any slide. The rest stays exactly as it was.
Background
Subject
I EDITED THIS
1280 × 720real layers · real text · export 1280×720
5 slides
real text · one deck · export 1080 × 1350
- Real text, never pixels
- Every layer is yours
- Fix it, don't re-prompt
What actually goes wrong.
90%
of top YouTube videos use a custom thumbnail, says YouTube's own Creator Academy.
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01 / invisible
12 hours editing. 4 minutes on the thumbnail.
Nobody finds out how good the video was.
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02 / overwhelmed
Ten tools. Ten bills. Still not a designer.
You wanted to make videos.
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03 / prompt roulette
Every fix is another roll of the dice.
Prompt, pray, repeat.
The old way
The ten tools they tell you to learn.
DesignerOP
One studio. Real layers. Done. Compare with Canva
What you get
Every asset a creator ships.
YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. 16:9 · 9:16
Thumbnails & covers
Start from a reference that already works.
free: thumbnail preview · safe zones · size guide · cover sizes · resizer
Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok. 4:5 · 1:1 · 9:16
Carousels
Drop in a video, get a draft deck.
free: carousel splitter · video to carousel
How it works
Three steps. Then you post.
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> title: I tested a $1 studio
1 Describe
Your title and a reference thumbnail you admire.
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building layers… bg ✓ subject ✓ text ✓
2 Generate
The reference's structure, rebuilt with your subject. Nothing is baked in.
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moverestylecurveexport
3 Make it yours
Drag layers, swap styles, export sharp.
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1 Paste
A video link or two lines of script. The maker reads it, you don't.
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2 Deck
One shape, one type scale, one band across the whole set.
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3 Post
Every slide is real type, so fixing a line takes seconds.
Pricing
Simple plans. Honest credits.
1 credit = 1 generation. Editing is free forever.
Creator
Build it yourself.
$19/mo $13.30/mo
billed monthly billed $159 per year
100 credits a month
- Thumbnails, covers, carousels
- Real layers, real text
- 1080p export
- Credits roll over
Recommended
Studio
Automation and your brand kit.
$39/mo $27.30/mo
billed monthly billed $327 per year
200 credits a month
- Everything in Creator
- Video to carousel maker
- A/B variant sets
- Brand kit, 4K export
- Credit back on failures.
- One free re-roll.
- Credits roll over.
- Cancel in one click.
Top-ups are $9 for 50 credits and never expire. Every detail is on the pricing page.
Questions
What creators actually search for.
Can AI make YouTube thumbnails?
It can make the picture. What it cannot reliably make is the words, because a generator paints letterforms as pixels rather than setting type. DesignerOP splits the job: the image is generated, the text stays real editable type. Full answer.
Why does the text in AI-generated thumbnails come out garbled?
Because an image model is drawing shapes that look like letters, not typesetting words it understands. Every regeneration is another roll of the dice. Words you type into DesignerOP are genuine text objects in real fonts, so a typo is a two-second fix rather than another generation. Why this happens.
What size should a YouTube thumbnail be?
YouTube recommends 3840 x 2160 px at 16:9, with a minimum width of 640 px, as JPG or PNG. Exporting at 1920 x 1080 satisfies the recommendation, the minimum and the 2 MB mobile upload cap at once. The 16:9 ratio is the only spec with no tolerance. Every number.
Why do YouTube thumbnails look blurry?
Almost always compression rather than resolution. YouTube re-encodes every upload and serves a ladder of derivatives down to 120 x 90, and thin type, soft gradients and busy backgrounds are what fall apart first. The fix is usually the design, not a bigger file. See yours at every size.
Can I change a YouTube thumbnail after posting a video?
Yes, on a published video, as many times as you like. Swapping it does not delete views, wipe watch time or restart the video's ranking, and YouTube's own help page says a re-rank after a change comes from how viewers respond rather than from the act of changing it. The catch is that once it changes on a video that is already performing, you cannot compare like for like. Full answer.
How many slides should an Instagram carousel have?
Enough to finish one idea, which in practice is six to ten. Instagram allows up to twenty in the app. Every slide is a chance for someone to swipe away, so slides that exist to pad the count cost you more than they add. Full answer.
Why does Instagram crop my carousel photos?
Because the first slide sets the ratio and every slide after it is forced to match. Build the whole deck at 1080 x 1350 px, a 4:5 portrait, and nothing gets cut. A square opening slide locks the rest of the deck to square. Carousel specs.
How is DesignerOP different from Canva?
Canva starts you at a shared template and asks you to design. DesignerOP starts from a reference that already works and rebuilds it as separate layers you control, with text that was never pixels in the first place. The full comparison.
What does DesignerOP cost, and when does it launch?
Creator is $19 a month for 100 credits, Studio is $39 for 200, and annual takes 30% off. Editing what you have already made is free forever, so you never pay to fix a typo. It is prelaunch with an open waitlist, and there is no free tier. Pricing in full.
Every other question creators ask, with the specs and the sources, is on the full FAQ.
Free while you wait
Nothing to pay to start getting better.
Thirteen tools, no sign-up.
- YouTube thumbnail preview
- Thumbnail tester
- Thumbnail A/B tester
- Safe zone checker
- Thumbnail contrast checker
- Background remover
- YouTube thumbnail grabber
- YouTube title checker
- Thumbnail font pairing
- Colour palette extractor
- Cover size previewer
- Social image resizer
- Carousel splitter
worth reading
Stop losing clicks you earned.
Join the waitlist and be first in when DesignerOP opens.
no spam, one email when we launch