Design Prompts
Complete List
Pick a prompt at random; apply it
Hate it? Try another
Move along the continuum
Assume the inputs are wrong
Add chaos and noise
Use something that worked before
Sleep on it
How would a robot do this?
Quicker might be better
Give it a punchline or a kicker
Leave evidence of the scaffolding
Find the third side
Stick to one flavor, one hue
Play out the toy version
Fake it
Hand-make that which is always perfect
Trace the arc
Do something boring in a new way
Work on the fabric not the dress
Invert the scale
Imagine the work as a series of disconnected pieces
Fully expose the function
Nudge subtly
Just like a child would make it
What does the universe need from this piece?
Start with the cheap ready-made
Abandon the current formula
Russian dolls, or nested hierarchies
Attend to the details as if you were royalty
The main event happens in the margins
Remove the foundation
Random collisions
Make a mountain out of a molehill
Use only off-the-shelf parts
Make a hole in the center
Let absence / silence / white space do the work
Change the title to be less clever or less clear
Try to invent the opposite of what you have
Emphasize the part you keep stepping over
Do what is most improbable
Clearly mark the beginning, middle, and end
If the impossible was possible, then what?
It is finished; stop now
Lean into the right kind of inconsistency
Do the other thing
Map out the metaphors
It is all surface and facade
What if this was for religion?
Halfway through, summarize it all into a pitch
Reverse the order
Discard the theme, embrace the delights
Designed by an alien
Plot it into a grid
Do the most obvious thing imperfectly
Try a constraint you hate
Exaggerate fiercely
Zoom in or out
Redefine what success looks like
This is only a small part
Retreat to first principles
Move what is outside in
Symmetrical vs asymmetrical?
Take the easy way
Transform, or disrupt
Lean into extravagance
Don’t be afraid of cliches
Add another constraint
Don’t change anything
A trope might work here
Repeat relentlessly
Imitate a previous mistake
Do both options
How would a 6-year-old use this?
Shift the resolution up or down
What is happening outside?
Take the metaphor seriously
Switch the polarity
Ask your mother what to do
Change what you’re optimizing
Go with the most obvious
Use a method you can’t justify
Hide behind the obvious
Remove the mystery
What is the formula so far?
Group, regroup, ungroup
Can’t add more until you subtract
Do it like a robot would
Insert huge emptiness or silence
It is all flow
Change the speed
Do the most unexpected thing
Expand it 10 times bigger
Undo the last three steps
Switch your audience
Bury a hidden Easter egg
Take it to where it becomes childlike
Subtract the silhouette
Don’t avoid ugly
What do the tools want?
Maximize one variable
Permit the unacceptable
Start with the stupid
Turn it upside down, flip it sideways
Say it without saying it
What would your adversary do?
Use the wrong or unprofessional tool
Forget consistency
Use something found
Keep the profile, change the behavior
Do silly
Make it easy to copy
Wait, wait, then rush
End with the beginning
How would a dog do it?
Time is malleable here
Push it to the extreme and don’t retreat
Begin in the middle
Add energy where it makes you laugh
Move the keystone
Start with the toughest edge case
Generalize
Remove a required dependency
Who are the allies?
Explain it out loud
Add an unexpected dual use
Reverse inside / outside
Apply a default filter
Follow a vintage pattern
Keep it astoundingly simple
Add grit, noise, dirt
Employ the most retro idea
Make the decoration the main event
Old plus new
Do the parody of it in parallel
Start with the most extreme position
Reduce the number of ingredients
Act like the hero
Do the unreasonable, then dial back
Try the most boring thing possible
Act as if it was a relic from the future
Rest for as long as possible
Reward the second viewing / hearing / reading
Exhaust all the possibilities along the way
It is just the prototype
Give it a name
Spoil the ending
Revive an out-of-date fashion
Conflate everything you’ve done so far into the first part
Return to your very first idea
Identify the scaffolding and remove it
Stretch out the middle
What if it never ends?
Turn it into a joke
Repeat, repeat, repeat
Remove noticeable details
Imitate a master, then eliminate the reference
If it were legendary what would it need?
Reconsider your last mistake
Isn’t it so obvious?
Start with the end
Break the sacred rules
What would your mentor do?
Divide into three parts
Make it all about the transitions
Title first, then make the work fit the title
What am I afraid of?
Celebrate the imperfections
Use only three ingredients
It is a secret
Return to the first sketch
Make the hidden rules visible
Unpolish
Don’t play the hero
Make it in 10 minutes
Don’t stress one thing more than another
Hybrid style
Reverse the order
Highlight the flaws as features
Simplify, simplify then exaggerate
Focus on the overlapping parts of the concept
Repeat the most recent thing
Focus on the boundary
Move it to a different room
Develop the fifth idea
What else can this do?
Push on the ambiguities
Very slow
Retrace your steps as the next step
Whisper
Delete 40%
Reduce it to a gesture
How would an algorithm do this?
Recursion is worth a try
Lean into its embarrassments
All edges, no center
Find the verb and do more of that
Favor asymmetry
Pretend it is ubiquitous
Pretend it was grown instead of made
Beautiful cutaway
The manual becomes the piece
Be far more specific
Something sudden
List all the ways it could fail, and rehearse the last one
Yes, then what?
Trade clarity for atmosphere
You need multiples
Count to 10 and restart
Surprise ending
Return to the old way
Read the room
What’s the sign that it is finished?
Put a frame around it
Introduce a delay that must be respected
Reduce it to just one thing
Big and loud, even if it looks like failure
Elevate an error as intentional — Brian Eno
Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them — Brian Eno
Voice nagging suspicions — Brian Eno
Use unqualified people — Brian Eno