Destinee Berman is a seven-figure launch strategist with a track record of over $17 million in client launches — and an audience of entrepreneurs and course creators who followed her content closely because of the quality of what she delivered. When the visual presentation of her YouTube content and course lessons wasn't performing at the level her brand deserved, she brought COURSE in to redesign both. Two distinct deliverables with the same underlying goal: visuals that stopped people long enough to engage and held their attention long enough to convert.
The YouTube thumbnail work followed the same approach COURSE took with Run Like Clockwork — starting with a deep understanding of Destinee's brand identity, audience, and content goals before touching a single design file. Thumbnails for a business strategist and coach operate in a specific visual environment: a feed of competing content creators all competing for the same entrepreneurial audience. Standing out required bold imagery, attention-grabbing text overlays with curiosity-inducing headlines, and a consistent branding system that made Destinee's content instantly recognizable across her library. Every thumbnail was designed around the mechanics that drove click-through rates — visual hierarchy, strategic placement of key elements, and compositions that communicated the value of the content clearly at the small sizes YouTube actually displayed them.
Course lesson layout design served a different but equally important function. Where thumbnails won the click, course layouts determined whether learners stayed engaged through the content or lost momentum partway through. COURSE designed lesson layouts that improved readability and comprehension through strategic content structuring, integrated graphics, icons, and imagery that reinforced key points rather than decorating around them, and maintained brand consistency with Destinee's established color system and typography throughout. The goal was a visual environment that made learning feel organized and professionally delivered — the kind of layout that raised completion rates because it made showing up to the next lesson feel like progress rather than effort.
Both deliverables were refined through iterative feedback loops with Destinee — designs adjusted until they reflected exactly how she wanted her brand to show up to her audience.
Services Delivered
- Brand identity analysis and visual documentation
- YouTube thumbnail design — bold imagery, text overlays, and branding
- Curiosity-inducing headline strategy for CTR optimization
- Consistent thumbnail branding system across content library
- Course lesson layout design — structure, readability, and visual flow
- Graphic, icon, and imagery integration for content reinforcement
- Brand color and typography consistency throughout
- Iterative design refinement with client feedback
