# Design by describing: writing briefs an AI designer understands

[Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/voice-to-design)

Describing a design out loud feels easy until the result comes back wrong. The fix is rarely more words. It is the right five facts, said plainly.

## The short version

- To design by describing, tell the AI designer the format, the exact words, who it is for, where it will be seen and one feeling it should give.
- Vague style words such as modern, clean or eye catching give an AI almost nothing to work with; concrete comparisons and plain facts do.
- Colour is easiest to describe with a lightness word, a hue and a temperature, such as deep teal or warm cream.
- Edits work best one at a time, pointing at a single part of the design.
- Gradiently's Designer asks for what it needs, writes the words in your brand kit's voice and lays the design out on your Mark.

To **design by describing**, give the AI five facts in plain words: the format, the exact words that must appear, who it is for, where it will be seen and one feeling it should leave. "A portrait Instagram post for our yoga studio's new 7am class, Mondays and Thursdays, calm and early morning" beats a paragraph of style adjectives every time. Everything you leave out becomes a guess, and guesses are where AI designs go generic.

## The five facts every description needs

| Fact | Why it matters | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Format | Sets the shape and how much fits | Instagram Story, 1080×1920 |
| Words | Stops the AI inventing your message | "New 7am class. Mondays and Thursdays." |
| Audience | Changes tone, type size and density | Office workers fitting yoga in before work |
| Place | Decides how fast it must read | Seen while scrolling, for about a second |
| Feeling | Picks between valid options | Calm, early, unhurried |

Five facts, one line each. Most weak results are missing the second or the fifth.

If you only add one thing to your habit, make it the words. When you leave copy to the AI, it fills the space with whatever is safest. [Social media copywriting](https://gradiently.design/guide/writing-copy-for-visuals) has help with short headlines if writing them is the hard part.

## Swap vague style words for plain facts

"Modern", "clean", "premium" and "eye catching" are what everyone asks for, so they push the result towards the average of everything. Translate each into something you can see.

### Vague

- Make it modern and clean
- Something eye catching
- Premium feel
- Fun but professional
- Use our colours

### Describable

- Lots of empty space, one short headline, no icons
- One big word, high contrast, nothing else competing
- Dark background, small type, slow gentle motion
- Bright colour, plain sans serif, no jokes in the copy
- Deep navy background, coral only on the date

A useful trick is to describe a place or object rather than a style: "like a quiet hotel lobby at night" or "like a printed theatre ticket". People and AI both picture those more precisely than a list of adjectives.

## How to describe colour so it comes out right

Colour names are where descriptions drift most. "Blue" covers everything from navy to sky. Give three parts: a lightness word (deep, mid, pale), a hue (teal, plum, amber) and, if it matters, a temperature (warm, cool). Then say where the strongest colour should sit.

- Deep teal: `linear-gradient(160deg, #042f2e 0%, #0f766e 100%)`
- Warm cream: `linear-gradient(160deg, #fef7ed 0%, #fde3c4 100%)`
- Deep plum: `linear-gradient(160deg, #3b0a2a 0%, #8e3a6d 100%)`
- Pale cool blue: `linear-gradient(160deg, #e0f2fe 0%, #93c5fd 100%)`

Lightness, hue and temperature in two or three words. Each of these is a description an AI can act on.

The same words work for finding a background. Gradiently's Market search understands colour words such as "deep teal", so you can describe the look you want and browse Marks that match. [Find a gradient by colour](https://gradiently.design/guide/search-marks-by-colour) shows how.

## Say what matters most, and what can go

Designers rank information before they place it, and an AI needs the same ranking from you. If you list five facts with equal weight, you get five things the same size. Tell it which one people must see first, which comes second, and what can be dropped if space runs out.

- **First:** the one thing someone should take in at a glance, usually the headline or the date.
- **Second:** the detail that makes it actionable, such as the time, the place or the offer.
- **Optional:** your logo, a web address or a small line of supporting copy.
- **Leave out:** anything that belongs in the caption rather than the image, such as hashtags or long explanations.

Saying "the date matters most" is often the single sentence that turns an acceptable result into a useful one. [The Gradiently Designer guide](https://gradiently.design/guide/designer-ai-guide) covers what else it can do, from editing designs to applying your brand kit.

## Descriptions you can copy

```text
A portrait Instagram post for Northside Yoga.
Words: "New 7am class." Detail: "Mondays and Thursdays, from 12 October."
For office workers who want to move before work.
Calm and early morning. One headline, nothing else.

A 1280x720 YouTube thumbnail for my channel.
Words: "I quit coffee for 30 days."
Read in under a second on a phone. Bold, two lines at most.

An A5 flyer for a school book fair.
Words: "Book fair. Friday 20 November, 3pm to 6pm, main hall."
For parents. Friendly, plenty of space, date easy to find.
```

Three descriptions, each with format, words, audience and feeling. Change the facts and reuse them.

A calm portrait yoga studio post announcing a new 7am class on Mondays and Thursdays

What the first description can come back as: the exact words, lots of space, a calm background.

## Let the AI ask, then edit one thing at a time

A good AI designer asks before it guesses. Gradiently's **Designer** does: describe what you need and it asks for what it is missing, writes the words in your brand kit's voice, lays the design out on your Mark and makes other sizes. Answer its questions briefly; they are usually the facts from the table above.

1. **Describe the job** Format, words, audience, place and feeling, in a sentence or two.
2. **Answer what it asks** If it asks about the date or the audience, that was a gap. Fill it once.
3. **Point at one change** "Make the date larger" works. "Make it better" does not.
4. **Ask for the other sizes last** Once the main design is right, ask for the story and the banner. They inherit everything you fixed.

You don't need to ask for boxes or shadows behind the words. A Mark knows where the text sits and calms behind it, and Auto ink picks light or dark type line by line. Asking for a plate usually makes the result look worse.

> **Describe once, reuse forever** Put your voice, audience and what the brand does in the brand kit, and you can leave them out of every description. [Brand voice for AI](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-kit-voice) explains each field.

If you work from ChatGPT or Claude rather than the Studio, the same habits apply; [MCP design prompts](https://gradiently.design/guide/mcp-prompts-for-design) adapts them. For longer jobs that need a proper brief, use the [design brief template](https://gradiently.design/guide/ai-design-brief).

## FAQ

### How do I describe a design to an AI?

Name the format, the exact words, who it is for, where it will be seen and one feeling. Concrete facts work far better than style adjectives.

### Why do AI designs look generic?

Usually because the request left gaps. The AI fills each gap with the most common choice, so vague requests produce average designs.

### How should I describe colours to an AI designer?

Use a lightness word, a hue and a temperature, such as deep teal or warm cream, and say where the strongest colour should sit.

### Does Gradiently's Designer write the words for me?

Yes, if you want it to. It writes in your brand kit's voice, though giving it the exact words you need is the surest way to get them.