Automate Repetitive Design Tasks
Build a personal prompt library for the tasks you run every week: writing copy variants, formatting specs, generating accessibility checklists, and more.
The situation
You spend an hour every week writing the same types of content: error message variants, accessibility rationales, handoff notes. It is mechanical, it is repetitive, and it happens in every project.
You'll build a personal prompt library for your five highest-repeat tasks and run each one in under 30 seconds.
What you walk away with
Your five highest-repeat design tasks turned into reusable prompt templates
Each prompt refined until the output needs zero editing before use
A maintenance routine so the library stays lean and does not get stale
The difference one prompt makes
Don't
Write the error message for this form field.
Do this
Write 3 variants of the inline error message for an invalid email field. Tone: direct, not apologetic. Max 12 words each. Do not start with "Oops" or "Sorry". Return as a numbered list.
Identify your most repeated tasks
Think about the last three projects. What tasks did you do more than twice that felt like wasted time? Common answers: writing 3 variants of a button label, reformatting a design spec for a dev ticket, generating placeholder text that fits the layout, writing an accessibility rationale for a component. Create that file now and add one prompt for a task you do every week.
Write and refine each prompt once
Run each task with a specific example from your current project. Refine the prompt until the output is something you would actually use without edits. That refined prompt is the one you save. A prompt that needs output editing every time is not done yet.
Build and maintain your prompt library
Create a PROMPTS.md file in your project (or in a personal notes app). For each prompt: give it a name, record the exact text, and note what good output looks like. Review it every month. Remove prompts that have stopped working or that Claude now handles without instruction. Add prompts for any new task types you have started doing repeatedly. A stale prompt library is worse than no library: you waste time running prompts that produce output you have to edit, which defeats the purpose.
# PROMPTS.md -- Design Prompt Library
## error-message-variants
**When to use:** Writing error states for mobile flows
**Prompt:**
Write 3 error message variants for [product].
Context: user was [action].
Errors: [type 1], [type 2], [type 3].
Format: message + CTA label. Cause in plain language, one next step each.
**Good output looks like:** specific cause, one CTA, no jargon
## a11y-checklist
**When to use:** Before handing off any interactive component
**Prompt:**
Write an accessibility checklist for this component: [description].
Cover: touch target (min 44x44px), contrast (WCAG AA),
ARIA label, keyboard nav, focus order.
Flag any item that needs a design decision, not just a dev fix.
**Good output looks like:** checklist with pass/flag/fix per itemCommon mistakes
Four failure modes in building a prompt library.
- Saving prompts that need output editing. A prompt is not done until the output is usable without changes. If you save a prompt and then edit the result every time, the prompt has not solved the problem. Iterate on the prompt until it produces clean output, then save it.
- Building the library too fast. Adding all your tasks at once produces a library you never refine. Add one prompt at a time, run it on a real task, and only save it once it produces output you would use. Quality over completeness.
- Using vague task names. "Copy" and "spec" are not usable names when you are scanning a list of 8 prompts under deadline pressure. Use names that say what the prompt does: "error-message-variants" and "a11y-checklist-per-component" are findable. "Copy" and "Check" are not.
- Never running the monthly review. Prompts that worked six months ago may produce worse output now because Claude has improved and handles certain requests differently. Remove prompts Claude now handles well without instruction, and update prompts where the output quality has drifted.
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