5 AI prompts I use every week as a UX designer

After 10 years in design at Ogilvy, WPP, and across startups and enterprise teams I've learned one thing about AI: the quality of your output is entirely determined by the quality of your input.

Most designers use AI like a search engine. They type a vague request and get a vague answer. The ones who get real value treat Claude like a thinking partner they give it context, constraints, and a clear goal.

These are the 5 prompts I use almost every week. They cover the full UX workflow: from research to IA to copy to critique to client communication. Each one has a specific structure that forces better output. Copy them, adapt them, make them yours.

01 User Research

Synthesise interview notes into insights

User interviews produce hours of notes and transcripts. The synthesis stage — finding patterns, naming behaviours, extracting implications — is where most designers lose time. This prompt cuts that process from 2–3 hours down to 20 minutes. Claude won't invent insights; it extracts patterns from exactly what you give it. That's the key instruction: do not invent — only extract.

Prompt — copy and use

Here are notes from [N] user interviews. Identify the top 5 behavioral patterns. For each: name the pattern, quote one user directly, and state the UX implication. Do not invent — only extract from the text below. [Paste notes]

Copy prompt

02 Information Architecture

Audit a navigation structure

Before running a full card sort, this prompt gives you a fast sanity check on your IA logic. Paste your current navigation and Claude reviews it against standard mental model expectations — flagging misplaced items, missing categories, and labels that won't land with users. It's not a replacement for real user testing, but it's an excellent first filter before you invest time in research.

Prompt — copy and use

Here is the current navigation structure of [product name]: [Paste IA] Review it as a UX expert. Identify: 1. Any items that are misplaced or confusing 2. Missing categories users would expect 3. Labels that don't match mental models Keep feedback specific and actionable.

Copy prompt

03 UX Copy

Write microcopy for any screen state

The blank-page killer. I use this for error messages, empty states, onboarding flows, confirmation screens, tooltips — any moment where you need copy that sounds human. The structure is important: screen context, user's emotional state, a hard word limit, and a request for 3 variants. The word limit forces clarity. Three variants force a real decision rather than a review debate.

Prompt — copy and use

Screen: [screen name] User just: [action they completed or failed] Tone: [calm / friendly / urgent / reassuring] Word limit: Headline max 6 words. Body max 18 words. Write 3 variants. Each: headline + body + CTA label. No jargon. No exclamation marks.

Copy prompt

04 Design Critique

Get a structured heuristic review

Before any client presentation, I run this prompt on my own screens. It pre-catches issues I've gone blind to from staring at the design too long. By asking Claude to use Nielsen's 10 heuristics as a framework and rate severity, you get structured, actionable feedback — not general opinions. It won't replace a real design review, but it's an invaluable pre-check that's saved me from embarrassing feedback rounds more times than I can count.

Prompt — copy and use

Review this screen description using Nielsen's 10 heuristics. [Describe the screen or paste a Figma summary] For each violation found: - Name the heuristic - Describe the specific issue - Suggest a concrete fix Rate severity: Low / Medium / High.

Copy prompt

05 Stakeholder Communication

Turn design decisions into business language

This is the most underrated prompt in my toolkit. The ability to translate design thinking into business language is what separates designers who get buy-in from designers who get ignored. I use this before every stakeholder update, before presenting to clients, before writing decision documents. Specify the audience clearly — the output for a PM is very different from the output for a CEO.

Prompt — copy and use

I made this design decision: [decision] The reason was: [UX rationale] Rewrite this as a 3-sentence stakeholder update. Audience: [product manager / CEO / client] Focus on: business impact, not design process. Avoid: design jargon, passive voice.

Copy prompt

3 rules that make every prompt work better

The structure behind the prompts matters as much as the prompts themselves.

Rule 01: Always add context

Who the user is and their emotional state produces dramatically better output than just describing the task.

Rule 02: Set hard word limits

Without constraints, Claude fills space. With constraints, it finds clarity. This is true for copy, critique, and summaries.

Rule 03: Always ask for 3 variants

One answer leads to one debate. Three give you a real creative range and a proper decision to make.

AI doesn't make designers redundant. It removes the friction from the parts of design work that don't require your judgment — the first draft, the sanity check, the translation layer between design thinking and business language.

"The goal isn't to work less. It's to spend your hours on the decisions that only you can make."

These prompts are starting points. As you use them, you'll adapt them to your workflow, your clients, your product context. That's the point — they're frameworks for thinking, not scripts for copying.

If you found this useful, I publish AI workflows for designers and business owners every week at sreedhartruly.com/ai. No fluff. Just the workflows I actually use.