Writing Effective prompts

Prompts serve as a crucial bridge between your visual thinking and the AI’s ability to interpret and generate images. While your sketch provides the foundational structure and form, the prompt guides how that sketch is brought to life, adding context, materiality, mood, and style.

An effective prompt provides direction without being overly prescriptive. It gives the AI just enough structure to align with your design intent, while still leaving space for variation and creative discovery.

What Makes a Prompt Effective?

A well-crafted prompt typically does the following:

• Specifies design details that are difficult to express in a sketch, such as:

  • Materials (e.g., brushed steel, linen, matte plastic)

  • Lighting (e.g., soft studio light, golden hour, dramatic shadows)

  • Surface treatments or finishes (e.g., glossy, weathered, iridescent)
    
    

• Indicates areas open to interpretation, encouraging variation without compromising intent

  • For example, using terms like experimental, futuristic, or organic alongside defined form
    
    

• Includes technical rendering guidance if needed:

  • Scene setup (e.g., studio background, depth of field)

  • Camera style (e.g., DSLR, wide-angle lens)

  • Output quality (e.g., photorealistic, sketch-style, hyper-detailed)

  
  

The Risk of Vague Prompting

When a prompt is vague, inconsistent, or too broad, the AI is forced to "fill in the blanks" without clear guidance. This often leads to results that:

• Miss critical details, such as the correct materials, scale, or orientation

• Default to generic interpretations, which lack distinction or visual interest

• Wander from your intent, producing outputs that feel off-brand or misaligned with your vision

Prompt Checklist

1. Define the Subject

• What is the object you're designing?
  → e.g., Sleek coffee table, oversized puffer jacket, modular bookshelf

2. Add Material & Finish

• What is it made of, and how should it look?
  → e.g., Polished aluminum, wool felt, matte wood grain

3. Describe Lighting & Mood

• What kind of atmosphere or rendering style?
  → e.g., Studio lighting, moody sunset, bright catalog photo

4. Specify Style or Context

• How should it feel or be framed?
  → e.g., Futuristic, Scandinavian design, minimalist interior

5. Use Modifiers (Optional)

• Add depth with camera style or rendering type
  → e.g., Wide-angle view, DSLR fashion photo, photorealistic rendering
  
  

Avoid Vague Prompts

Vague: Cool chair, dramatic lighting
Better: Modern lounge chair, curved plywood frame, soft gray fabric, product photo in studio lighting, white background, clean shadows

Pro Tips

• Be clear, not long. Specific words beat big words.

• Think like a director. Set the scene for your design.

• Sketch + Prompt = Best results. Use both.

In Summary:

Strong prompting is about clarity of intent. It's not about writing long or complex text, but about being precise in your goals while leaving the right amount of space for the AI to contribute meaningfully. The better you understand what you want, the better the AI can help you express it.