AIPrompts
How to write a good prompt
The answer you get from AI depends on what you write to it. A simple four-part pattern, and a weak and strong version of the same request.
A prompt is the request you write to an AI tool. When one person gets a useful answer from a tool and another gets a generic one, the difference is usually in the request. Writing a good prompt takes no technical knowledge; it's the same as writing a good job description.
Four parts
1. Context: who are you, what's the situation? Say what you do, who you serve and why this request came up. The AI doesn't know you; without context it gives an answer that fits everyone.
2. Task: what exactly do you want? Not "write something", but "write three different Instagram captions". Say how long it should be and how many options you want.
3. Example: what should it look like? Add a text you like, something you've written before or a sample of your own style. One example does as much as a long description.
4. Format: how should the result look? Bullet points, a table, plain text? Emojis or not? Formal or casual?
The same request, twice
The weak version:
Write an Instagram post for my cafe.
The strong version:
We run a small coffee shop in Kadıköy, Istanbul; most of our customers are young people working in nearby offices. This week we added homemade lemonade to the menu. Write three different Instagram captions: one witty, one simple, one that opens with a question. Each should be three sentences at most, speak to the reader casually and use one emoji at most. Our style is like this post: "We don't love Mondays either. But we do love filter coffee."
In the second request, the AI knows who it's writing for, what you're announcing, how many options you want and what your style is. The answer follows from that.
Three habits
Don't try to finish in one go. The first answer is a draft. Keep going with "make the second one shorter" or "less formal"; the result gets closer the more you talk.
Say what you don't want. Limits like "no over-the-top adjectives" or "don't mention prices" rule out unwanted answers from the start.
Check the result. AI can state wrong information with confidence. Read anything with figures, dates or claims before you publish it. We explain why in what AI is, and what it isn't.
Same with a designer
These four parts work just as well when briefing a designer. If you have a good prompt, half of a good brief is already done. Our design brief tool asks the same questions in order.