Ideation Workshops 💡 Prompts

SUMMARY

Purpose: Ideation workshops allow design and product teams to collaboratively explore divergent solutions before narrowing in on a direction.

Design Thinking Phase: Ideate

Time: 60–90 min session + 1–2 hours synthesis

Difficulty: ⭐⭐

When to use:You're stuck with incremental ideas and need fresh perspectives.Cross-functional alignment is needed on potential product solutions.You’re preparing for a design sprint or roadmap planning cycle.

What it is

Ideation workshops are structured collaboration sessions where designers, researchers, developers, and stakeholders rapidly generate ideas together in response to a defined problem. The aim is to go wide — quantity over perfection — before refining and converging on viable paths forward.

📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.

Why it matters

Ideation workshops push teams beyond default assumptions. When run well, they create a shared understanding of opportunities and a richer solution space. Teams build alignment early, reduce rework later, and encourage creative confidence across disciplines. They’re especially useful in cross-functional settings where design, engineering, and product leadership converge on complex challenges.

When to use

• After foundational research has revealed unmet or ambiguous user needs
• During product discovery, to generate concepts before prototyping
• Before a roadmap presentation when stakeholder input is crucial

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

Here’s a simplified facilitation roadmap:

• 1. Set a Clear Problem Statement: Ensure the framing is human-centred and challenge-driven (e.g., “How might we improve onboarding for users with limited digital literacy?”).
• 2. Prep Materials: Include personas, journey maps, and prior insights to ground thinking. Use tools like FigJam, Miro, or Google Jamboard.
• 3. Select Ideation Techniques: Use structured activities like Crazy 8s, SCAMPER, or “Worst Idea First” to loosen creative rigidity.
• 4. Encourage Individual and Group Thinking: Alternate between solo ideation time and group sharing to balance creative styles.
• 5. Cluster Ideas by Themes: Group similar solutions and label them together (e.g., “onboarding shortcuts”, “peer support”, “progressive guidance”).
• 6. Quick Prioritisation: Use voting dots, 2x2 matrices, or Kano models to prioritise top directions.
• 7. Debrief and Next Steps: Document in a shared workspace and agree on what ideas move to concepting or validation.

Example Output

Fictional Project: Redesigning finance app onboarding for gig workers.

• Problem Framing: “How might we reduce drop-off for first-time users managing multiple income sources?”
• Clustered Themes:
  • “Multiple Accounts View” ideas
  • “Earning History Snapshot” concepts
  • “Tax Tips Micro-Coaching” features
• Top Ideas Selected for Prototyping:
  • A progressive Q&A setup flow triggered by behaviour
  • An adaptive financial dashboard filtered by income type
  • Contextual tax help tips based on entered data

Common Pitfalls

• Jumping to Solutions Too Early: Teams often want to “get to the build.” Stick with divergent thinking long enough to explore widely.
• Low Psychological Safety: If people feel judged, ideas shrink. Frame the session as judgment-free exploration and model openness.
• No Post-Workshop Follow-through: Documenting is not enough — assign clear next steps and owners. Otherwise, ideas die on whiteboards.

10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Ideation Workshops – 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: “Generate Workshop Idea Clusters from Raw Input:”

Generate Workshop Idea Clusters from Raw Input:

Context: You are a UX facilitator reviewing ideation workshop outputs for a web-based productivity tool.  
Specific Info: The team shared 50 Post-it notes (digitally), ranging from UI enhancements to behavioural nudges.  
Intent: Help cluster the ideas into meaningful themes to spot patterns and recommend focus areas.  
Response Format: Return a list of 4–7 thematic groupings with sample ideas under each, and suggest one direction for further exploration.

Ask any clarifying questions about the product or user goals if needed.