Decode Any Design Brief
A brief is never the real problem. Use Claude to interrogate it like a skeptical PM and surface what is actually being asked for.
The situation
A brief just landed. Three sentences, no data, and the word "modern" used twice. The PM wants wireframes by Friday and has already moved on to the next thing.
You'll send back a set of sharp clarifying questions before you open Figma, and you'll know exactly what problem you're actually solving.
What you walk away with
The vague words in your brief decoded — what each one is actually hiding
The real problem behind the ask, stated in one sentence
Five sharp clarifying questions ready to send before you open Figma
The difference one prompt makes
Don't
Can you help me with this brief? "Redesign the onboarding flow. More modern, cleaner, friendlier."
Do this
Interrogate this brief as a skeptical PM. List: undefined terms, missing data, unstated assumptions, and the three questions to send back before designing anything. "Redesign the onboarding flow. More modern, cleaner, friendlier."
Paste the brief exactly as you received it
Do not clean it up or interpret it. Paste it raw. The vagueness is the point: that is what Claude is going to interrogate. Then use this prompt to start the interrogation.
# Example brief (paste yours instead):
"We need a redesign of our onboarding flow. It should be more modern,
cleaner, and friendlier. Users keep dropping off and we want to fix that."
# Then send this interrogation prompt:
Interrogate this brief as a skeptical PM. List: undefined terms,
missing data, unstated assumptions, and the three questions to send
back before designing anything.Extract the real problem
After the interrogation, ask Claude to name what is actually being asked for. Often the real brief is hiding under one of the vague words. Use this prompt to pull it out.
# Use this prompt after the interrogation:
Based on your interrogation, what is the real brief hiding under
the vague language? State it in one sentence.Generate your list of clarifying questions
Turn the analysis into a professional, concise list of questions you can send back to the client or PM. Specific questions land better than vague ones. Sending these before designing prevents you from locking into one interpretation of a problem that may not exist.
# Ask Claude to format the questions for sending:
"Write 5 clarifying questions I can send to the client.
Professional tone. Short. Each question has a one-line explanation of why it matters."Common mistakes
Four failure modes designers hit when using this process.
- Cleaning the brief before pasting it. When you paraphrase or tidy up the brief, you remove the vagueness Claude needs to interrogate. Paste it raw, exactly as received, including typos. The imprecision is the signal.
- Skipping to solutions. Running the interrogation and then immediately opening Figma defeats the point. Send the clarifying questions first and wait for answers before touching any design tool.
- Asking too many questions. If Claude gives you 12 questions and you send them all, the client stops responding. Pick the 3 that would most change what you design. Everything else can wait.
- Treating the interrogation as the final brief. The interrogation output is a diagnosis, not a brief. Once you have answers from the client, run Step 3 to rewrite it into something designable.
What's next?
Write a sharper briefNew guides, when they ship
One email, roughly weekly. CLAUDE.md templates, workflows I actually use, and the cut-for-length stuff that does not make the public guides. One-click unsubscribe.
Or follow on Substack