Figure out if a design pattern is actually solving the right problem
A modal, a wizard, a dashboard — each is the right answer to some problem, and it's easy to reach for a familiar one instead of the one this problem actually needs.
- Use it for
- Designers who've settled on a UI pattern and want to check it's actually the right one before building it out.
UI patterns — a modal, a multi-step wizard, a dashboard, an inline edit — each solve a specific kind of problem well, but they're often reached for out of familiarity or convention rather than a genuine match to the problem's shape, which produces an interface that technically works but fights the actual task at every turn. This prompt checks the chosen pattern against what the problem actually needs before building it out.
When not to use this
For a well-understood, conventional interaction where the standard pattern is clearly appropriate, this scrutiny adds nothing. This is for when you're not fully sure the pattern you've reached for is right.
Did this work?
You know specifically whether the chosen pattern fits this problem's actual shape, or whether it was reached for out of familiarity.
Tested on claude-opus-5. Evidence status is draft; it moves to battle-tested only on recorded runs, never by hand.