SUMMARY
Purpose: Design Rationale helps teams communicate the ‘why’ behind design decisions through clear storytelling and artefact documentation.
Design Thinking Phase: Prototype
Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis and documentation
Difficulty: ⭐⭐
When to use:Presenting high-stakes design work to cross-functional stakeholdersAligning on design trade-offs during workshops or critiquesDocumenting rationale for future onboarding or continuity
What it is
Design Rationale is a method for explaining and defending design decisions with clarity. Rooted in storytelling and grounded in user-centred evidence, this approach ensures that design choices are intentional, traceable, and understood by stakeholders. It transforms your sketches and wireframes into a narrative backed by reasoning and research.
📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.
Why it matters
Design Rationale serves as a communication bridge between UX practitioners and business, engineering, or executive teams. It brings clarity to the intent behind user interface decisions, helping non-design peers engage with the process and contribute meaningfully. More importantly, it positions UX design as a series of considered decisions—not aesthetic guesswork.
When to use
- Before significant design hand-offs or presentations
- When tracking design evolution across sprints
- During feedback sessions to align priorities and criteria
Benefits
- Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
- Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
- User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.
How to use it
- Start with the “Why”: Ask yourself or your team why this design choice was made—what goal or challenge does it address?
- Frame with Storytelling: Use narrative arcs (context, challenge, response, result) when presenting design artefacts, user flows, and prototypes.
- Connect to Evidence: Tie each decision back to user research, behavioural data, or usability findings.
- Document Decisions: Create rationale summaries in product requirements, design systems, or Figma comments to ensure traceability.
- Share During Review: Use the rationale as a framework during team reviews and stakeholder walkthroughs to limit subjective feedback.
Example Output
Design Rationale Example – Mobile Onboarding Flow (Fictional):
“We introduced a three-step onboarding sequence to mitigate abandonment observed during initial app use (42% drop-off). Research indicated users hesitated at asking for permissions too early, so we delayed those prompts until step 2. Icons and microcopy were updated to improve clarity, tested with five users via Maze. This reduced exit rate to 18%. We considered a single-screen intro but deprioritised due to lower information retention during A/B testing.”
Common Pitfalls
- Overexplaining trivial choices: Focus rationale on decisions that significantly impact usability or outcomes—avoid stretching to justify every minor visual tweak.
- Lack of supporting evidence: Linking decisions to actual user data or feedback builds credibility—don’t rely on hunches or aesthetics alone.
- Misaligned storytelling: Tailor your rationale to your audience (PMs, devs, execs)—avoid design jargon when it clouds understanding.
10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Design Rationale – UX/UI Edition
How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)
Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.
C.S.I.R. stands for:
- Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
- Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
- Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
- Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)
Level up your career with smarter AI prompts.Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.
Prompt Template 1: “Explain My Design Decisions for Stakeholder Review:”
Explain My Design Decisions for Stakeholder Review:
Context: You are a Product Designer preparing to present a redesigned [onboarding experience] to your cross-functional team.
Specific Info: The new flow reduced [user drop-off by 30%], includes [delayed permission requests], and uses [simplified visuals].
Intent: Summarise the rationale behind each change in a way that speaks to business, tech, and design stakeholders.
Response Format: Bullet list with each decision, its "why", supporting data, and relevant trade-offs.
Ask if any metrics or team priorities need clarification. Suggest a follow-up slide or visual explanation for presentation use.
Prompt Template 2: “Craft a Design Story Using User Research Signals:”
Craft a Design Story Using User Research Signals:
Context: You are a UX Lead preparing a narrative to explain why the current [checkout redesign] meets both user and business goals.
Specific Info: You ran usability testing with [8 participants], saw [significant hesitation at coupon entry], and made [3 major interaction changes].
Intent: Translate your findings into a compelling story arc that justifies the redesign.
Response Format: Short narrative using the structure: context → user pain → design response → result or benefit.
Offer alternate framings for PM or C-suite audiences if useful.
Prompt Template 3: “Summarise Design Trade-Offs for Documentation:”
Summarise Design Trade-Offs for Documentation:
Context: You are finalising design documentation in Figma for a [settings overhaul] across mobile platforms.
Specific Info: You chose [a tabbed layout] instead of [a long scroll list] after testing responsiveness and navigability.
Intent: Communicate the rationale, risks, and rejected options in an inline annotation or dev hand-off.
Response Format: Sectioned summary: “What we chose,” “Why we chose it,” “What we considered,” and “Risks or caveats.”
Ask clarifying questions if any stakeholder motivations are missing.
Prompt Template 4: “Evaluate the Clarity of My Figma Design Annotations:”
Evaluate the Clarity of My Figma Design Annotations:
Context: You are conducting a design critique for a team member’s recent UI update to [product settings].
Specific Info: The file includes component rationale, interaction notes, and copywriting context.
Intent: Assess whether the current annotations are clear, complete, and aligned with team design standards.
Response Format: Provide actionable feedback by section, referencing best practices in design communication.
Suggest the top 1–2 areas for improvement or further clarification.
Prompt Template 5: “Turn Key UI Decisions Into a Presentation Script:”
Turn Key UI Decisions Into a Presentation Script:
Context: You need to pitch your [navigation revamp] to an executive review board.
Specific Info: You integrated new information hierarchy based on [card sorting] with over [150 users].
Intent: Create a script that justifies changes and excites decision-makers with clear outcomes.
Response Format: 2–3 paragraph script including motivating problem, user insight, change made, and early results.
Offer speaking points tailored to PM or Engineering counterparts.
Prompt Template 6: “Challenge a Design Assumption with Counter-Arguments:”
Challenge a Design Assumption with Counter-Arguments:
Context: You’re reviewing a proposed dark mode toggle added late in the sprint.
Specific Info: No supporting user request data, but it’s a stakeholder preference.
Intent: Help frame why or why not this feature should be prioritised based on user value.
Response Format: Balanced table: “Argument,” “Supporting Evidence,” “Counterpoint,” “Recommendation.”
Ask for more user data or business context if assumptions are unclear.
Prompt Template 7: “Generate Alignment-Focused Discussion Questions for Design Review:”
Generate Alignment-Focused Discussion Questions for Design Review:
Context: You are hosting a design review for the new user dashboard experience.
Specific Info: The design introduces [a new data visualisation pattern] and revised navigation.
Intent: Create discussion prompts to surface alignment gaps across design, PM, and development.
Response Format: List of 5–7 provocative and clarifying questions for the team.
Recommend next steps based on question outcomes.
Prompt Template 8: “Create a ‘Design Rationale’ Template for Reuse by Team Members:”
Create a 'Design Rationale' Template for Reuse by Team Members:
Context: You are a DesignOps lead creating shared practices across a distributed design squad.
Specific Info: You want to standardise rationale writing for major flows or features.
Intent: Draft a repeatable Figma-based structure your team can drop into any file.
Response Format: Template with title, date, feature name, “Why it matters,” “Decision summary,” and “Evidence.”
Suggest how to integrate version history or critique feedback.
Prompt Template 9: “Build a Stakeholder-Facing Rationale Summary for Non-Designers:”
Build a Stakeholder-Facing Rationale Summary for Non-Designers:
Context: You’re circulating updated wireframes for executive review.
Specific Info: New interaction choices are based on goal completion metrics and best usability patterns.
Intent: Create a simplified summary of your logic that’s jargon-free and aligns with business priorities.
Response Format: 3-bullet overview per section (Goal, Change, Why it Matters).
Ask if tone or structure needs calibration by audience.
Prompt Template 10: “Analyse a Competitor’s UI and Infer Their Design Rationale:”
Analyse a Competitor’s UI and Infer Their Design Rationale:
Context: You are researching design patterns from competitors in the [health tech] space.
Specific Info: You’ve captured 3 key screens and noted layout differences across platforms.
Intent: Infer why certain choices may have been made, based on likely user needs or constraints.
Response Format: Table with “Observed Element,” “Likely Rationale,” and “Implications.”
Suggest possible insights for your own product roadmap.
Recommended Tools
- Figma – Include rationale via sticky notes, components, or comments
- Jam.Dev – Fast screen annotation for feedback and explanation
- Notion – Good for documenting design decisions and rationale histories
- tldraw – Visual storytelling for user flow explanation
