Including Images, Audio, & Video

Whether it’s your main thumbnail or something you add within your content, your media should serve your message, not compete with it. These guidelines apply to any image, audio, or video you submit.

Main Content Images or Thumbnails

Your thumbnail is often the first thing people see, so make it count. It’s part of how people choose a Plan, and it’s how they get to know your ministry and your content. A high-quality, engaging image helps people decide whether to explore your content. Your images should represent what people should expect from your ministry and the content behind it. Keep in mind, most people will see it on a small phone screen, so simple and clear beats busy and detailed.

Look like yourself. Your image should look like your ministry. If you’re known for your photography, your illustration, your handwriting, or the people you serve, let that show in your image. Don’t reshape how you look to match what seems to perform well. People remember and trust a ministry that looks like itself, and we want to see you at your best.

✅ What To Do

1. Choose one strong image, not a cluttered collage. A single clear focal point reads better than a lot of small details.
2. Keep text minimal, if you use any at all. Text that’s easy to read on a phone is often too small to read as a thumbnail, and heavy text doesn’t translate well across languages.
3. If your image includes title text, keep it consistent with your actual Plan title. Two different titles on the same Plan are confusing for readers.
4. Choose images that appeal to your audience, while keeping our diverse, global Community in mind.
5. If your thumbnail features a speaker, keep it modest in a way that’s respectful across cultures — not just what feels appropriate in your own.
6. If your content is based on a book or other media, feel free to use related imagery so it’s easily recognizable.
7. Let your image show what makes your ministry and content yours, whether that’s your own photography, artwork, or style. Stay true to the look people already know you by, and keep it consistent across your Plans so people recognize you at a glance
8. Your square and landscape images should each relate clearly to your ministry and content, and complement each other. They don’t need to be identical. Some Partners use the same design in both. Others use a ministry logo or signature image in the square and an image specific to the Plan in the landscape. Either approach works.

❌ Things To Avoid

1. People come to Scripture looking for truth. Don’t use images that look strange, distorted, or obviously low-quality — they can make people doubt whether your content is trustworthy before they’ve even opened it.
2. Skip layered effects, crowded callouts, and lots of small text. If your image is hard to take in at a glance on a phone, simplify it.
3. AI-generated thumbnails must be clearly illustrated, never photorealistic, and disclosed as AI-generated. See Working with AI, and Giving Credit for where the disclosure note goes.
4. Don’t submit AI-generated images with visible errors, such as distorted hands or faces, garbled or misspelled text, or objects that don’t make sense. We won’t publish these.
5. Avoid AI-generated images that look generic or over-rendered. Images made quickly, with no one minding the craft, don’t serve the people who see them.

Additional Media in a Bible Plan

You can add additional images, video, audio, and links within your Bible Plan to add value beyond the core devotional text.

Selecting Audio Narration

Audio narration reads your written content aloud, word-for-word, as an accessibility feature. You can choose from a variety of auto-generated natural voices or upload your own custom narration.