Quick Reference Guide
AI Design Quick Reference
35 key concepts and rules. Designed to print on a single page to keep near your desk.
The Art of User Experience in the Age of AI
Cheat sheet · 35 named patterns
Foundations
The frame the book runs on
- Agent-Readiness
The product is ready when an agent can use it on a user’s behalf
- System of Systems
Design the seams, not the screens
- Interaction Budget
Every product spends a finite amount of the user’s attention
- Humane Default
The default is the design. Make it the one you would defend
Trust
The math, the architecture, the contract
- Trust Equation
Usefulness times Predictability times Visibility. Multiplicative
- Predictability
A user can guess what the system will do before it does it
- Visibility of Mechanism
The user can see how the system reached its answer
- Reversibility
A user can undo the action, easily, at any time
The Manipulation Matrix
Two questions. Four quadrants. Pick yours honestly
- Facilitator
You would use it. The user would thank you
- Entertainer
You would use it. The user would not thank you
- Peddler
You would not use it. The user would thank you
- Dealer
You would not use it. The user would not thank you
The Audit Interface
Showing the work as a first-class part of the product
- Audit Interface
The work the agent did, presented as a reviewable surface
- Reviewable Action
Every action is shown, named, and reversible
- Kill Switch
A single, obvious control to stop the agent now
- Reasoned Output
Why this answer, in plain language, on the same screen
The Creepiness Line
Personalization is a contract, not a feature
- Creepiness Line
The threshold past which personalization stops feeling helpful
- Context Collapse
When data from one context appears in another it does not belong in
- Consent Hygiene
The user knows what was shared, with whom, and why, at the moment of use
- Data Minimum
Collect the least the product can work with. Then collect less
The Behavioral Contract
What the agent will do, refuse, and ask
- Behavioral Contract
The user-facing statement of what the agent does and does not do
- Refusal as Feature
A principled no is part of the product, not a failure of it
- Asked by Default
The agent asks before acting on anything that cannot be undone
- Graceful Decline
When the system says no, it says why and what to do next
The Economics of Attention
What the product costs the user
- Attention Debt
Interruptions the product owes back to the user
- Cognitive Load
The work the user does to use the product
- Identity Cost
What the user gives up about themselves to use it
- Time Cost
The minutes the product takes that the user will not get back
Craft
The patterns that show up in every working system
- Prompt as Microcopy
A prompt is UI copy. A designer should review it
- Designer in the Loop
Designers ship the prompt, not just the screens around it
- Principled No
The system refuses for a reason it can name
- Practitioner-Grade
Built for someone who ships, by someone who ships
Evaluation
Twelve questions for any agent product
- The Twelve
A short rubric the team can run in a working session
- Evaluation Protocol
How the team scores it together, before shipping
- Red Team the Product
Before launch, ask what a hostile user would do with this