Mobile UX Prompting: Using Physical Constraints Instead of Design Requests

VideoRay FernandoResource

Ray Fernando shares an AI prompting strategy designed to improve mobile app interfaces. Because AI models have never physically held a phone, they default to unergonomic screen layouts. Instead of asking models to design freely, the prompt sets strict physical realities such as one-handed thumb reach and short interaction times.
Playing loads YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

Key points

  1. AI models lack physical awareness of smartphones and generate layouts without understanding hand ergonomics.
  2. The prompt defines the scenario as one-handed use of a large handset (iPhone Pro Max).
  3. Screen division: the top 65 per cent holds no critical controls and is reserved for passive trust-building information like transcripts or detected input.
  4. Primary actions are kept strictly in the bottom area reachable by the thumb.
  5. Interactions are constrained to roughly 1.5 to 2 seconds and designed for immediate, intuitive comprehension.
  6. Interface design prioritises removal over addition, maximising clarity by eliminating clutter.

Why it matters

AI coding assistants frequently scatter interactive elements across the entire display or place key controls near the top, making modern large smartphones awkward to use with one hand. Providing concrete ergonomic constraints in prompts enforces sensible mobile UX patterns from the start.

Analysis

Fernando shifts the prompting strategy from requesting visual designs to defining mechanical boundary conditions. Dividing the display into an upper passive zone for reassurance and a lower zone for thumb interaction reflects standard mobile ergonomics, which generic AI prompts typically overlook. Stating clear usability constraints prevents bloated or unreachable layouts.

Transcript

Show the full transcript (554 words)
My latest AI app just feels off. It made me realize that the models I use to build these apps have never actually used a phone. They can't feel what's in my hands, so whatever they give me, they just think it's perfectly fine. And I realized, I actually have to tell it, "Here's my phone. Here are the problems with using it." And here's what I tell it. It should be much more of like a phone design because you have a lot of space on an iPhone Pro Max screen. So we have stuff at the bottom, and then you also want to be mindful of people's fingers because most people's thumbs can only reach a certain range. And so we have to like think about this and kind of decompose it apart a little bit further. And the way that I'm thinking about this is that whenever a person is using their left or right hand, there's a certain reachability aspect. So we should grade higher for things that are reachable within a thumb point of view, and then use the rest of the space that's on top as far as any information that the user needs to see, but doesn't necessarily need to interact with. So I want you to think a little bit deeper here about this problem and think about gestures and taps and things that we can do. But we want to keep it as simple as possible. We should pretend we only have like about one and a half to two seconds to do an interaction, and we shouldn't need the user to interact. It should be as simple as possible so that even a baby can pick this up and really intuitively understand what to do here. So that's it. A thumb reach, one and a half seconds, a baby can actually figure this out. None of that is special. I've been using a phone for all my life, and what's real is that the model actually has not. So I actually have to say that out loud. You can see the passive zone and the thumb zone. So we're kind of seeing how the model's now understanding what our intent is, and how we can design some UX interactions, and it gets us to start thinking about, "How do we want to do this here, right?" Like here in Spanish, so like you can, with one thumb, without reaching too far, you can do all these interactions here, right? So the top 65 has no important controls, and only shows what helps the user trust the system. So that's the detected input, transcript. Like all the other stuff that's peripheral can just like literally just be up here. You actually get more value taking things out of the interface than you do actually keeping them there. You don't want to have too many things in the way. So I'm not really asking the model to design here, I'm just telling it what's actually going on with my phone. There is a thumb, there is about a second and a half, and a baby should figure it out. That's the prompt. And if you want me to keep building this out, just drop a comment, and let's just go ahead and see where this goes.

Links and tools from this entry

Summary generated by AI (Gemini 3.8 Flash, 27 September 2026). It may contain errors – the original source is authoritative.

Similar in content, found by the AI search.

  • X post:Kailash

    UI Skills: Curated Guidelines and Prompts for Higher-Quality Interfaces

    Kailash highlights five specialised skills from ui-skills.com designed to help developers and AI coding agents build better frontend interfaces, fluid physics-based animations, refined shadows, and accessible components.

    7.3kbookmarks248.3kviews

    Web development· Resource

  • Prompt:admin

    create styleguide.

    A structured system prompt instructs AI models to act as brand strategists and senior UI/UX designers to create comprehensive digital style guides and design system foundations for websites.

    AI & LLMs· Resource

  • Repository:nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill

    UI UX Pro Max Skill: Design Intelligence for AI Coding Assistants

    The open-source UI UX Pro Max Skill equips AI coding tools with structured UI/UX knowledge, integrating 192 reasoning rules and 79 searchable design styles for cross-platform interface development.

    132.1kstarsPython

    AI & LLMs· Tool

  • Video

    Video:Chase AI

    Improving Web Design in Claude Code in Three Steps

    Chase AI outlines a three-step workflow to eliminate generic 'AI slop' when designing web interfaces with Claude Code. The method combines a personal design library, specialised CLI tools like Impeccable or the Higgsfield MCP, and an iterative build workflow featuring in-browser tweak bars.

    AI & LLMs· Tutorial

  • Video

    Video:Lukas Margerie

    Redesigning UX Flows in Minutes Using the Mobbin MCP

    Lukas Margerie shows how to fix broken user flows in AI-generated web applications using the Mobbin Model Context Protocol (MCP). Using an AI-built gym app called Forma, he replaces a standard signup form with a structured onboarding flow featuring social login, goal-matching quizzes, and a guided product tour.

    AI & LLMs· Tutorial

Let's talk about your project

Locations

  • Mattersburg
    Johann Nepomuk Bergerstraße 7/2/14
    7210 Mattersburg, Austria
  • Vienna
    Ungargasse 64-66/3/404
    1030 Wien, Austria

Parts of this content were created with the assistance of AI.