Lesson 6 of 7 · 8 min
Keep a design journal
Goal:Start the habit that turns experiments into skill.
Working with AI, you'll see hundreds of results a week. Without a journal they blur together. With one, every experiment teaches you something you can reuse.
A journal entry takes two minutes and has four parts. The most important one is your judgment: what works, what doesn't, and why. That's the part that turns into taste.
- 1Prompt"Three posters for Design Night…"
- 2OutputThree options, one hides the date
- 3JudgmentB works: the date reads first
- 4Next moveAsk for a bigger date on A
Entry that teaches nothing
- Prompt: poster
- Output: some posters
- Judgment: B is nice
- Next: try again
Entry you'll reuse
- Prompt: "three posters for Design Night, date readable on a phone"
- Output: three; A hides the date
- Judgment: B works because the date reads second and the button sits where the eye ends
- Next: ask for B with a warmer palette
Not every judgment is useful later. Pick the one that would actually help you next month.
You compared three posters from your brief. Which judgment will help you most next month?
A result didn't work. Which note is most useful?
Make it a habit
Write right after a session
Two minutes while it's fresh beats twenty minutes on Sunday.
Keep it in one place
A Journal page in your Figma file works well: paste screenshots next to your notes.
Review every week
Read your last entries and highlight one pattern, like "my prompts forget the audience".
Turn patterns into rules
Add what you learn to your assistant's instructions or your prompt library.
Now write your first real entry. Use the poster you made in Lesson 1, or anything you tried in this unit.
Your entries
No entries yet. Your first one can be the brief from Lesson 4.
Entries are saved in this browser only. Download them to keep a copy.
Three entries, one pattern
Write three journal entries from this unit's experiments, then look for what they have in common.
- 1Write three entries, each with all four parts.
- 2Paste a screenshot next to each one on your Journal page.
- 3Read them together and write down one pattern you notice.
- 4Share your most useful judgment in the discussion.
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