Got told to simplify my portfolio thumbnails, turns out the advice was spot on

A random commenter on my last showcase said my thumbnails were too busy and nobody would click them at 200px. I thought they were just hating since I spent like 3 days on each one with all these textures and overlays. Last week I reworked four pieces to just a single bold shape and flat color each, and my views doubled overnight. Kind of hurts to admit but they were right. Has anyone else had a piece of feedback that felt wrong at first but ended up fixing your whole presentation style?

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emmaclark26d ago

Oh yeah, my entire art style went through that exact same wringer. I used to stack so many filters and brushes on everything that the actual subject was probably in there somewhere, clinging for dear life. Someone told me my stuff looked like a fever dream and I was mad about it for a week, then I stripped everything back to simple bold lines and suddenly people could actually tell what they were looking at. Now I tell myself the fancy stuff wasn't wasted, it was just me learning what not to do, but honestly my old pieces look like a messy desk that fell over. Simple really is just better when people are scrolling with their thumb on a tiny phone screen.