LCS Youtube
Riot Games | League Championship Series | Graphic Designer | 2023-2024
As a Creative Services Designer, a lot of publishing content comes my way. Once word got around that fans enjoyed my YouTube thumbnails, thumbnails for all kinds of content one-offs and smaller series videos were requested, often times with same-day turnaround. It's always a fun challenge to whip up something that is both memorable and performs well for the LCS channel.
The Prudential Job skit was one of the few videos where I was given more than a day to design the thumbnail. Using the extra hours, I wanted to craft something that lived up to the cinematic style the video was going for. With heist movie posters as inspiration, I crafted a stylized Rockstar's GTA-esque look for the photos. The thumbnail design was incredibly popular with the team at Riot and with fans.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/5e45026b-a3cb-4f12-87ec-cf39527f79ea_rw_1920.jpg?h=47f532e4cc98de910886a4296525f9cc)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/c4aa8722-42b3-44f4-a6f3-10141578291b_rw_1920.jpg?h=522ddcfb19617df94efd2fa661411e27)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/13904d36-1cd1-4563-bd4c-0b8ca547dd4b_rw_1920.jpg?h=2b6ed7ba1e37028694c742284e6bdd5b)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/b66f7370-25a6-4de0-a863-39969f720763_rw_1920.jpg?h=693f4999aceeeb6105fab23bf5a18d45)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/2a33bf67-a59b-43a4-82e8-695b42f86d0a_rw_1920.jpg?h=efd16b23f12fd9922e640be7f0d70ca7)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/d40593a3-788d-4c21-bbd6-8a66ebcacc6f_rw_1920.jpg?h=5c4891fc46d312bf3f0e5dd9f8fd328f)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/a215f09c-1513-41f6-8c67-c7ef44b4ef63_rw_1920.jpg?h=a544a7afb68e7e1e45d95bac3e5bc3ce)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/18a5f6ff-8d02-4125-9477-6f2cdd199823_rw_1920.jpg?h=e2f1a574f4f0ec0465c8ea4eef3fcf12)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/7639a8c9-c49b-4afb-9106-16eaf395a9d3_rw_3840.jpg?h=63e852df51559568d0d874509a464129)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/996364f0-d75d-4373-9566-d1bc4c1a3135_rw_1920.jpg?h=cab30005003102727fc240b0e32cc0cb)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/cfce9955-a6cf-4f22-9d8b-5f104edc1066_rw_1920.jpg?h=de836d5d73d7e2b172f35a0114318472)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/a8d86312-83ea-488e-96c3-8ab541d514eb_rw_1920.jpg?h=b2ff5e8e9245dcb63e576bb30705cca9)
Are You Smarter Than
One of the smaller series is Are You Smarter Than (An LCS Analyst / An LCS Caster / An LCS Player). Like all the other thumbnails for The Dive or Catching Up With Doublelift, the show only had still frames to pull from in order to get good expressions. I would typically present a multitude of options for producers to choose from -- sometimes, in order to meet trends and storylines, a less expressive but popular player was selected for the thumbnail.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/7b0b9df2-22c1-4bdc-9df2-38c639c9b6dd_rw_1920.jpg?h=bb7b0452a6d824dbbaad6ddc53877a4c)
Below you can see an example of a still frame that was pulled, then scaled up rough version and the final polished, upscaled version.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/c2ee58b3-df5d-427d-b23b-04b4ab372e6d_rw_1920.png?h=3e0f31f5e3fdaa4e346b62fe236fcfdf)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/65a2c8ab-2e2d-4f59-9916-99f56e229118_rw_1920.jpg?h=8eda0900ded9af665c6e914aca42c4eb)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/b7c217973519e51bc0a2ed9f81c69b46/e7816d69-0c6c-476d-8e1c-1110ea126441_rw_1920.jpg?h=47d0f2a0a86b5621f9ec5b2642fd1247)