Working with AI - Best Practices

Discover tips and best practices for getting the most out of Pistachio design tools. These strategies will help you create better designs faster and more efficiently.

Use the Right Terminology

Pistachio uses the following terms to describe design: Node, Screen, Paragraph (text block with multiple sections of different styles), Path (vector path), Layer (shape with image or color fill and stroke), Variant (a named visual deviation from the default state), Action (navigation or variant application triggered by user interaction like tap and swipe), Stroke, Fill, Gradient, Horizontal and Vertical Alignment. Although AI can understand vague commands, using these terms will help avoid confusion.

Understand AI Limitations

AI is great at following specific instructions and making changes according to a template, but it cannot generate creative designs on its own. Pistachio is built to help you automate repetitive work like creating variations of a design, applying consistent design rules, and fixing responsive issues, so you can focus on originality and creativity.

Be Specific in Your Prompts

The more specific and detailed your instructions are, the better results you'll get. Instead of "make it look good," try "use a modern gradient from blue to purple with rounded corners and subtle shadows." Use design presets in the chat window to set color palette, layout, typography, interaction, and responsiveness for the conversation. When possible, provide examples or references as an existing design component or an image.

Break Down Complex Tasks

Instead of asking for an entire app at once, break it down into smaller components. Design one screen at a time, then combine them for a cohesive experience.

Manage Context Carefully

AI can get confused if it is handling too much context in a single conversation, so be aware of the chat history and keep each conversation focused on a single task. In addition, token usage grows exponentially with the length of the conversation, so creating a new conversation for each task also reduces costs.

Second Time is the Charm

AI responses are inherently random, even if you give the same prompt. If you are not satisfied with the result, use Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z on Mac) to undo AI changes and try again in a new conversation. This is especially useful for the fast model, which sometimes gets stuck in the middle of a task.

Know When to Use Image Input

Use the image attachment in the chat window to explicitly ask the model to analyze an image. Conversely, use a rectangle with image fill to ask the model to directly use the image in the design.