Purpose: Sketching helps product teams rapidly generate, communicate, and iterate on early design ideas in a low-fidelity, low-risk format.
Design Thinking Phase: Ideate
Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis
Difficulty: ⭐
When to use:When starting a new product or feature conceptTo explore divergent thinking in a team sessionTo clarify complex flows and requirements through visual representation
What it is
Sketching is a foundational idea generation method where designers visually explore potential solutions on paper, whiteboards, or digital canvases. It helps translate abstract thinking into tangible forms without the constraints of fidelity or feasibility, allowing more creative freedom and collaboration early in the design process.
📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.
Why it matters
Sketching accelerates problem solving by giving teams a fast, shared language to think through interactions, layout, or IA models. It allows cross-functional feedback early — before decisions become expensive to change — and reveals assumptions hidden in verbal discussions. For senior designers and product leaders, it’s a vital tool to spark co-creation, align vision, and drive innovation momentum quickly.
When to use
- Facilitating team ideation sessions or workshops
- Breaking down complex user flows or systems
- Prototyping content structure or layout strategy
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 by clearly defining the user task or problem space.
- Set a timer: 5–8 minutes per concept is ideal to push out unfiltered ideas.
- Use simple shapes — don’t over-render. Focus on flow, structure, or key interaction points.
- Work solo before going group. Encourage diverse perspectives before aligning ideas.
- Facilitate sharing, critique, and clustering of ideas to spot patterns and opportunities.
- Keep a running “parking lot” for surprising directions or later-stage exploration.
Example Output
Below is a fictional sketch breakdown from a team exploring how to streamline booking for a medical appointment app:
- Concept A: Step-by-step booking card using vertical flow. Focused on accessibility and keyboard shortcuts.
- Concept B: Calendar-first layout with inline symptom tagging and pre-filtered provider lists.
- Concept C: Conversational UI concept using GPT-style microchat with smart prompts and reminders.
- Feedback clustering revealed interest in combining visual calendar with contextual chat for user scaffolded support.
Common Pitfalls
- Overworking fidelity: High detail too early leads to design critique, not exploration. Stay rough.
- Groupthink: Avoid group sketching from the start — start alone to preserve idea diversity.
- Skipping context setting: Without user goals or constraints, sketches can wander or miss relevance.
10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Sketching – 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 Mobile UI Sketch Concepts for a Booking Flow”
Generate Mobile UI Sketch Concepts for a Booking Flow
Context: You are a UX designer sketching early concepts for a new healthcare appointment booking experience on mobile.
Specific Info: Users struggle with drop-off after selecting a service but before confirming their provider. Key devices: mobile, key users: time-poor professionals, design principle: reduce friction per tap.
Intent: Generate 3 distinct low-fidelity layout ideas that make the selection-to-confirmation flow more seamless.
Response Format: Return a short description of each layout idea, including rationale, key interaction points, and design metaphors. Use list format.
If user goals or design constraints are unclear, ask clarifying questions before responding.
Suggest a follow-up technique or sketching direction to explore next.
Prompt Template 2: “Ideate UI Variations with Different Mental Models”
Ideate UI Variations with Different Mental Models
Context: You are facilitating a team ideation session for redesigning an online bill-payment feature.
Specific Info: Users expect either banking-style workflows or conversational-style experiences. Product goals: increase completion, reduce support calls.
Intent: Explore alternate UI models that reflect distinct user mental models for paying bills.
Response Format: Provide a comparison table of 3–4 interface metaphors with explanation of the user framing each one serves best.
If industry or behavioural data is needed, request supporting examples before proceeding.
Suggest what to sketch next based on the most promising metaphor.
Prompt Template 3: “Critique and Improve a Sketch”
Critique and Improve a Sketch
Context: You are a product designer reviewing an initial sketch of an onboarding flow for a SaaS productivity tool.
Specific Info: The sketch includes 4 screens focused on task setup, personalisation, and tutorial hints.
Intent: Identify UX flaws, unnecessary complexity, and areas to simplify or enhance clarity.
Response Format: Return annotated feedback per screen with improvement suggestions, using bullet format.
Request clarifications if interaction logic is unclear.
Ask what success metric this flow is optimising for next.
Prompt Template 4: “Explore Layout Concepts for Data-Rich UIs”
Explore Layout Concepts for Data-Rich UIs
Context: You’re designing a dashboard interface for a logistics monitoring platform.
Specific Info: End users are dispatch managers and operational staff. Data types: live location, time-sensitive alerts, task assignments.
Intent: Generate alternative sketch concepts for arranging high-density data while maintaining scan-ability.
Response Format: Return 3 UI layout concepts (e.g. cards, modular grids, map-centric) with rationale.
Ask what key decision moments or scanning behaviours should shape the information hierarchy.
Prompt Template 5: “Sketch Alternative CTA Designs With Contextual Prompts”
Sketch Alternative CTA Designs With Contextual Prompts
Context: You are exploring different ways to surface contextual calls-to-action after a user completes a transaction.
Specific Info: Your product is a peer-to-peer payment app. Users complete transfers and abandon post-confirmation upsell offers.
Intent: Generate 2–3 contextual UI prompts that feel natural and helpful without being intrusive.
Response Format: Describe each CTA placement and interaction style. Include potential microcopy examples.
Offer suggestions on how to test CTA performance in sketches or prototypes.
Prompt Template 6: “Design Sketch Concepts That Balance Speed and Trust”
Design Sketch Concepts That Balance Speed and Trust
Context: You’re designing a money transfer UX for first-time users unfamiliar with fintech apps.
Specific Info: Users are anxious about fraud and must act quickly. Need clarity before they proceed.
Intent: Sketch layout options that guide fast decisions while building trust (e.g. verification steps, visuals).
Response Format: Return a bulleted list of 3 sketch idea summaries with trust-building strategies per flow.
Ask whether localisation will affect interface or trust signal expectations.
Prompt Template 7: “Prototype Input Patterns for Mobile Onboarding”
Prototype Input Patterns for Mobile Onboarding
Context: You’re optimising the onboarding sequence for a task management mobile app.
Specific Info: The first 3 screens collect task habits, preferred categories, and deadline frequency.
Intent: Generate alternative input UI types (e.g. toggle, chip, natural-language) that speed up form fill.
Response Format: List 3 UI patterns, screen by screen, with pros/cons for speed and comprehension.
Ask users' level of technological literacy if appropriate.
Prompt Template 8: “Generate Whiteboard Prompts to Drive Team Sketching”
Generate Whiteboard Prompts to Drive Team Sketching
Context: You’re leading a cross-functional workshop for a new file-sharing concept.
Specific Info: Current solutions are fragmented across devices. Goal: unify mental model.
Intent: Craft provocative sketching prompts that invite divergent thinking and playful exploration.
Response Format: Return 5 sketch prompts suitable for sticky-note or whiteboard sessions.
Suggest how to frame each prompt using “how might we” questions to guide diverse outputs.
Prompt Template 9: “Map User Goals to Sketchable Screens”
Map User Goals to Sketchable Screens
Context: You’re creating a lo-fi prototype for a community events app.
Specific Info: Users want to discover nearby events, RSVP, see friend activity.
Intent: Help identify which screens should be prioritised and sketched to support core tasks.
Response Format: List top 5 user goals, with corresponding screen concepts and sketching suggestions.
Ask for inclusion of edge-case tasks or secondary features if relevant.
Prompt Template 10: “Explore Microinteraction Concepts in Sketch Form”
Explore Microinteraction Concepts in Sketch Form
Context: You are designing success feedback moments (e.g. check-ins, applause animations) for a learning app.
Specific Info: Audience: Gen Z learners. Tone: playful-motivational. Device: mobile with haptics.
Intent: Generate fun and effective microinteraction ideas to include in sketch flow.
Response Format: Describe 3 microinteraction sketch ideas with animation reference cues and user reaction triggers.
Suggest where visual rhythm or sound cues might enhance feedback.
Recommended Tools
- Pen and paper
