# Gradiently, a design tool for creators: one look everywhere [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/gradiently-for-creators) A creator's week is a thumbnail, three stories, a cover and a banner, all due at once. This is how Gradiently turns that into one design, one look and a short, repeatable flow. ## The short version - Gradiently is a design tool for creators built around Marks, living gradient and material backgrounds that render behind everything you design. - Anyone can design with any Mark nobody has claimed for free, and claiming one makes you its only owner, so no other channel can export with your look. - With Pro, a finished design can be laid out again for every platform size in one step, from a 1280×720 thumbnail to a 1080×1920 story. - A Mark keeps words readable by moving its calmest region behind the text and picking light or dark type for each line. - Pro adds video editing with a timeline, captions, music and camera, screen and voice recording, all in the browser. A good **design tool for creators** has to solve one specific problem: you publish the same idea in six shapes, on six platforms, every week, and it should look like you in all of them. Gradiently does that by starting every design from a **Mark**, a living gradient and material background that belongs to one owner at a time, then laying the same design out again for each size you need. You get a look your audience recognises in a scroll, and you stop rebuilding the same post by hand. ## The formats a creator actually makes Before choosing any tool, write down what one piece of content becomes. For most creators, a single video or episode turns into a thumbnail, a vertical cover, a feed post, a story or two and, now and then, a new banner. These are the sizes Gradiently uses for each, following each platform's recommended upload size. | Format | Size (px) | Shape | | --- | --- | --- | | YouTube thumbnail | 1280×720 | 16:9 | | YouTube Shorts cover | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | | TikTok video cover | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | | Instagram post | 1080×1350 | 4:5 | | Instagram Story and Reel | 1080×1920 | 9:16 | | YouTube channel art | 2560×1440 | 16:9 | | Twitch offline screen | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | | Apple Podcasts cover | 3000×3000 | 1:1 | | Substack post header | 1456×816 | roughly 16:9 | One upload, nine places it might appear. The full list lives in [social media image sizes](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-media-image-sizes). ## Start from a look, not a template Templates are fast, which is why so many channels share them. A viewer who has seen the same layout on five other thumbnails this morning gives yours less attention. [Branding for content creators](https://gradiently.design/guide/creator-branding) covers the wider idea; the short version is that the most recognisable thing you can own is the surface everything sits on. In Gradiently that surface is a Mark: a recipe of colours, up to three stacked materials, light, grain, motion and a type voice. Every Mark is crafted by Gradiently and checked against every other, and anything too close is refused, so no two look alike. You can design with any Mark nobody has claimed, for free. When you find the one that feels like your channel, **claiming** it puts your name on its public record, gives you a numbered certificate and means only you can export with it. A YouTube thumbnail reading I tried every camera on a deep gradient background A thumbnail at 1280×720. The Mark carries the brand, so the words can stay short. The same camera video promotion laid out as a vertical story with the gradient filling the frame The same design as a 1080×1920 story. Same look, recomposed for the tall frame. ## From one design to every platform size Cropping a landscape thumbnail into a story cuts off the words or leaves them tiny. With Pro, **copy to sizes** lays a finished design out again for each format you tick, in one step: the headline moves, the type rescales and the Mark renders fresh at every size rather than being stretched. Choosing one new size is free on any plan. [Resize a design for all platforms](https://gradiently.design/guide/copy-to-sizes) shows the step in detail. - Thumbnail: 1280 × 720 - Instagram post: 1080 × 1350 - Story and Shorts: 1080 × 1920 - Podcast cover: 3000 × 3000 - Channel art: 2560 × 1440 Five shapes from one design, drawn to scale. A creator's week mostly lives in the first three. ## Thumbnails and covers that stay readable Thumbnails are read tiny, often on a phone, often for under a second. A strong background is the fastest way to be noticed and the fastest way to lose your words. A Mark knows where the text is: its calmest, best-contrasting region moves behind it, colours near the letters deepen or lift, and busy detail relaxes. **Auto ink** picks light or dark type for each line from the Mark's own palette. There are no boxes, outlines or shadows to manage. [Auto ink](https://gradiently.design/guide/auto-ink-legibility) explains the mechanics. A vertical cover where the word Unboxed sits over a bright patch of gradient and is hard to read Response off: the brightest part of the background lands under the word. The same vertical cover with a calmer, deeper area of gradient behind the word Unboxed Response on: the Mark calms behind the word and the ink is chosen for contrast. For a title that needs more presence, the Lettering treatments add character without a plate: Contour, Inline, Cut, Extrude, Double, Trail, Riso and Halo. Use one per series so viewers learn it. ## Video, captions and recording in the same place Most creators bounce between a design app, a video editor and a screen recorder. With Pro, Gradiently includes a video timeline with captions and music, plus camera, screen and voice recording. You review each clip before it goes into the design, and it stays in your browser until you add it. Text can rise, pop, wipe or type itself in. Videos export as MP4 or WebM up to 4K without a watermark where your browser supports it. GIF exports have their own size and file limits. ## A weekly flow you can repeat 1. **Pick your Mark once** Browse the [Market](/market) by colour words such as "deep teal" or by look, try a few on real thumbnails, then claim the one you keep coming back to. 2. **Fill in your brand kit** Add your logo, a heading and a body font, your palette and your voice. The kit can read your website to fill in its name, description, colour and icon. 3. **Design the hero piece first** Make the thumbnail properly, because it is the hardest format. Everything else inherits its words and hierarchy. 4. **Copy it to every size** Tick the story, the Shorts cover and the feed post. Check each one, nudge anything that needs it, and leave the rest. 5. **Batch the recurring posts** For episode lists or weekly schedules, bulk create builds one page per row of a spreadsheet; one Undo removes the whole batch. If you would rather describe than drag, the **Designer**, Gradiently's AI, asks what it needs, writes the words in your kit's voice, lays the design out in your Mark and makes the other sizes. You can also work from ChatGPT or Claude: once connected, an assistant can search Marks and create designs that open in your Studio. [Connect an AI assistant](https://gradiently.design/guide/connect-ai-assistant) walks through it. ## Free or Pro for a creator ### Free - Design with any unclaimed Mark - Keep up to 3 designs - A one-time allowance of AI credits - PNG or JPG at 720p with a small watermark - Exports need a Mark you own ### Pro - Exports up to 4K, no watermark, every format - Copy to every size in one step - Video timeline, captions, music and recording - Bulk create, brand kit, version history - AI credits every month, owned Marks kept free Free is enough to find your Mark and test it on real thumbnails. A working channel posting every week will usually want Pro for the sizes, the video tools and clean 4K exports. Claiming a Mark is a one-time payment that includes the first year of keeping; after that, keeping is free with Pro. [Gradiently free vs Pro](https://gradiently.design/guide/gradiently-pricing-explained) lays out the rest. ## FAQ ### What is the best design tool for creators who post on several platforms? Look for one that keeps a consistent look and resizes a finished design for each platform. Gradiently does both: every design sits on a Mark you can own, and Pro lays one design out again at every size in one step. ### Can I make YouTube thumbnails in Gradiently? Yes. The YouTube thumbnail size is built in at 1280×720, along with Shorts covers, channel art and every other common platform size. ### Do I have to claim a Mark to use Gradiently? No. You can design with any Mark nobody has claimed for free. To export a design, its Mark must be yours, so you claim the one you want to publish with. ### Can Gradiently edit video? With Pro it has a video timeline with captions and music, and it records camera, screen and voice in the browser, then exports MP4, WebM or GIF where the browser supports it. ### Will another creator end up with the same background as me? Not with a Mark you have claimed. Each Mark has exactly one owner at a time, and only the owner can export with it.