Thumbnail Close Reading – Tala Farah

For this assignment, I decided to choose a thumbnail from Lauren Riihimaki’s channel: LaurDIY. From the title of the video alone, “TIKTOK MAKE ME BUY IT,” the intended audience can be identified to be anyone obsessed with TikTok or anyone who is interested in seeing the trendy products at the moment. The title beginning in all caps suggests urgency in needing to get these items and how Lauren just couldn’t help herself from buying them. Riihimaki uses bright colors on the thumbnail not only to match the overall aesthetic of her YouTube channel but to create a more inviting and energetic experience for viewers.

The thumbnail shows Riihimaki wearing a dress seen in a TikTok video to the left of her, along with the applications logo. To the right, two polish products made by Truly are added, showing that she’ll be trying more than just clothes. With all the products shown, the purpose of the video is said to be trying and reviewing these products. Besides doing DIYs, Riihimaki is known to do these hauls like these often, so it comes with no surprise she decided to create this video for her channel.