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UX Atlas
AI workflowCraft conventionIntermediate

Design Brief to Wireframe Direction

Generating structural options early, which is useful for breadth and unreliable for quality.

Definition

A model can propose several structural approaches to a brief: which content appears, in what order, in what layout family. Used for divergence it widens the option set; used for convergence it produces generic work.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. Prompt for divergence
  3. Better uses than generating layouts
  4. Continue from here

Prompt for divergence

text
Propose four structurally different approaches to this screen.

Brief: [problem, audience, primary task, constraints]
Content available: [what actually exists]
Platform and viewport: [target]

For each approach give:
- The organising idea, in one sentence
- Content order and grouping
- The layout family (single column, split, sidebar, three-pane, grid, feature-and-supporting)
- What it optimises for, and what it sacrifices
- Who it would suit worst

Make the four genuinely different, not variations on one idea.

Better uses than generating layouts

  • Asking what content the brief implies is needed but has not been specified.
  • Asking which established patterns apply, so you can evaluate them deliberately.
  • Asking for the strongest argument against your current direction.
  • Asking what a specific user segment would struggle with.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Principles behind this

The reasoning this solution is an application of.

Often used with

These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.