We scored Cleo Abram's thumbnails, then tried to beat them

Cleo Abram sells the feeling of finding something. Face first. Then the object. Then a lime-green question.

That is Huge if True packaging: optimistic tech journalism you can read at thumbnail size, not a science experiment waiting for a result.

We took two of her long-form thumbs, the deep-ocean machine and the lab diamond disk, and ran them through [Thumbly Score](/thumbly-score). Same flow as the [MrBeast](/blog/mrbeast-thumbnail-teardown) and [Ryan Trahan](/blog/ryan-trahan-thumbnail-teardown) teardowns. Score the original, apply the one-click fix, score again.

[Veritasium](/blog/veritasium-thumbnail-teardown) is the science-explainer sibling. Cleo is the journalist standing in the shot.

Thumbnail 1: "The Massive Machine Hidden in the Deep Ocean"


Cleo on the left, white tank, eyes wide, looking at the thing. A black sphere packed with glowing amber ports fills the right. A white brush arrow runs from her gaze to the machine.

Lime-green box at the bottom: WHAT DID IT FIND? Dark blue water behind it, plus a few blurry copies of the same sphere fading into the dark.

**Thumbly Score: 73/100**

| Dimension | Score |

|---|---|

| Virality | 70 |

| Clarity | 85 |

| Idea | 55 |

| Curiosity | 80 |

| Emotion | 75 |

The verdict it returned: *"Strong curiosity and clear text, but the visual execution of the mysterious object lacks impact."* That tracks. You get the question. You get her face.

The sphere is the weak actor. Idea at 55 is the tell. The machine looks important without looking like a discovery.

What we like is the discipline. One face, one object, one line. She did not write "deep ocean" on the water. The arrow is already doing the pointing. Curiosity at 80 and clarity at 85 are why this still reads as a Cleo thumb from a mile away.

The soft spots are clutter and light. Ghost spheres in the background steal focus. Her face is bright and even, so the surprise sits on a flat plane. Thumbly wanted those copies gone, a harder key from the left, and a thicker, brighter arrow. This is what came back:


**77/100, up four.** Virality moved from 70 to 78. Idea jumped from 55 to 65. Clarity held at 85. Curiosity held at 80. Emotion held at 75.

The new verdict: *"Strong curiosity and clarity, but the overall composition feels a bit static."* The ghosts are gone. The sphere has real highlights and a blue rim. The arrow still walks you from her face to the machine.

At 73 you are not redesigning the joke. You are letting the object catch up to the question.

Thumbnail 2: "The $1 Trillion Problem Diamonds Can Solve"


Cleo on the left, same surprised face, this time looking at you. A hand holds a rough dark disk with a blue glow around the edge. Lime-green box in the corner: THEY SOLVED IT? A white arrow drops from the text to the disk.

Behind her, a real lab. Pipes, cabinets, a machine in the back. You can almost read the room.

**Thumbly Score: 68/100**

| Dimension | Score |

|---|---|

| Virality | 65 |

| Clarity | 70 |

| Idea | 60 |

| Curiosity | 75 |

| Emotion | 70 |

The verdict said the busy background detracts from the main subject. Curiosity at 75 is the high. Clarity at 70 and virality at 65 are the cost of that lab.

The disk is the story. The room is extra.

Thumbly wanted a hard blur on everything behind her, a directional key from the upper left, a thicker arrow, and a darker drop shadow on the green box. This is what came back:


**77/100, up nine.** Clarity jumped from 70 to 85. Virality moved from 65 to 78. Curiosity went from 75 to 82. Emotion from 70 to 75. Idea from 60 to 65.

The new verdict: *"Strong curiosity and clear messaging, but the execution of the mysterious object could be more impactful."* The lab is still there if you squint. It just stopped competing.

Face, disk, question. Same Cleo formula as the ocean thumb, now scoring like it.

What held up, and what to steal

Her formula survived both tests. Face, object, question, arrow. The ocean thumb was already clear. The diamond thumb needed the room to get out of the way.

Idea stayed the lowest number on both, 55 then 65 on the ocean, 60 then 65 on the diamonds. The thumbnail sells a reaction to a mystery, not the concept itself.

That is the split with [Veritasium](/blog/veritasium-thumbnail-teardown). Derek can put an infinite hallway in the frame and skip the face. Cleo puts Cleo in the frame and lets you watch her find it.

If you make tech or explainers, steal the constraint. One face. One object. One line.

Kill the extra copies. Blur the room. Make the arrow obvious. Do not invent a second joke in the corner.

We are reading the picture, not claiming her CTR. [Run yours through Thumbly Score](/thumbly-score) and see which dimension is lagging. The same series already did [MrBeast](/blog/mrbeast-thumbnail-teardown), [Ryan Trahan](/blog/ryan-trahan-thumbnail-teardown), and [Veritasium](/blog/veritasium-thumbnail-teardown). For why a face plus one object works in the first place, [the psychology of a clickable thumbnail](/blog/youtube-thumbnail-psychology) is the longer version.

*Thumbnails © Cleo Abram, shown here for commentary and analysis. The "improved" versions are AI-generated edits made with Thumbly to illustrate the suggested changes. We scored the pictures. We are not claiming her click-through rate.*