Generic prompts produce generic designs. When an AI tool suggests a layout that could belong to any product, the problem is often not the tool. It is the missing context. A short, structured brief gives it what a thoughtful collaborator would ask for.
Include the person and the moment
Describe who is using the design and what just happened before they arrived. “A nurse checking medication schedules at the start of a night shift, on a shared tablet” leads to very different suggestions than “a user viewing a schedule.”
State the outcome and the evidence
Say what success looks like and what you already know. Include a few anonymized research observations, the main complaint you are addressing, and anything that has already been tried. Label which statements are verified and which are assumptions.
Name the constraints
List your design system, platform, accessibility requirements, content rules, and technical limits. Mention what must not change. Constraints do not limit creativity; they make suggestions usable.
Ask for reasoning, not just results
Request options with tradeoffs, assumptions, and open questions for each. Ask the tool to point out where its suggestion might fail for people with different needs. Reasoning you can inspect is far more useful than a confident single answer.
A simple template
- Person and moment: who, where, and what just happened.
- Goal and outcome: what they need and how we will know it worked.
- Evidence: what we observed, labeled verified or assumed.
- Constraints: system, platform, accessibility, and content rules.
- Request: the specific job, the number of options, and the format.
- Review: ask for tradeoffs, risks, and questions to test.
Keep sensitive and identifying information out of tools that are not approved for it, and follow your organization’s policies. Then review everything the tool produces as you would a teammate’s first draft: with curiosity and a clear standard.
Try it yourself
Rewrite the last design prompt you gave an AI tool using the six-part template. Run both versions and compare which suggestions you could actually take into a design review.