← Back to all free guides
A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

5 Sites For Better
AI Design

If your AI designs keep coming out generic, you’re missing the most important step. The best AI designers aren’t better at prompting. They’re better at collecting inspiration.

AI can build almost anything now, but it can’t read your taste. Ask it for a landing page with no direction and it hands you the average of every landing page it has ever seen. That’s why so much AI design looks the same.

The fix isn’t a cleverer prompt. It’s real creative direction, and direction starts with references. Before I ever open a chat, I pull from these five sites.

The 5 Sites

01

Mobbin

A huge library of real, shipped app screens (over 600,000 of them) plus the user flows behind them. Everything came from an app that actually launched, so you’re looking at design that already works. On a paid plan, its MCP server connects to Claude Code, Claude Desktop and web, Claude Design, ChatGPT, Cursor and more, so AI can pull real screens itself instead of me pasting screenshots. (Mobbin MCP setup)

Visit Mobbin →

02

Awwwards

Award-winning websites from some of the best studios in the world. I go here for high-end layouts, bold animation and direction that feels expensive. I find one or two sites with the energy I’m after, then point AI at that feeling instead of describing a look I don’t have words for yet.

Visit Awwwards →

03

Cosmos

Think Pinterest built for designers. It’s where I build moodboards before a project, gathering colors, type and layouts that belong together. You can even search by color. Once the board feels right, the board becomes the brief. It’s free to join.

Visit Cosmos →

04

Pinterest

Still one of the fastest ways to explore colors, branding and overall direction. Not the fancy answer, but nothing beats it for casting a wide net in a hurry. I search a feeling, save fifteen things in two minutes, then keep the three that keep showing up.

Visit Pinterest →

05

NameThatUI

A visual dictionary of UI components. Spot a design element and have no idea what it’s called? Look it up and get the real name, plus a paste-ready prompt for coding agents. This matters more than it sounds, because AI can’t build what you can’t describe.

Visit NameThatUI →

How To Actually Use Them
  1. Gather 3 to 5 references. Not fifty. Just the few that keep pulling you back.
  2. Write one sentence per reference on what you like about it, like the spacing or the color. Name it so AI knows what caught your eye.
  3. Ask AI to combine, never copy. Copying gets you a worse version of someone else’s work. Blending the feeling of all of them gets you something new.

Here’s the prompt I use. Attach your screenshots, fill in the brackets and send it to Claude, ChatGPT or any AI design tool.

My Creative Director Prompt
You are my creative director. I'm attaching design references I love. Turn them into clear creative direction, then design something original for my product. Don't copy any single reference. My product: [what it is and who it's for, e.g. "a booking page for my yoga studio, for busy moms in their 30s"] What I need designed: [landing page / app screen / pitch deck / social post] My references: [attach 3 to 5 screenshots or paste the links] What I love about each one: - Reference 1: [e.g. the huge serif headline and all the white space] - Reference 2: [e.g. the warm terracotta and cream color palette] - Reference 3: [e.g. how the pricing cards stack on mobile] Must-haves: [brand colors, logo, fonts, required sections] Avoid: [anything you hate, e.g. purple gradients, stock photos of laptops] Do this: 1. Write a short direction brief first: the mood in 3 words, color palette with hex codes, type pairing, layout rules and one signature detail. Wait for my OK. 2. Then design it, combining the feeling of these references into something original for my product. 3. After the design, list which choice came from which reference so I can tell you what to push further. Rules: no generic stock layouts. If a reference conflicts with my must-haves, the must-haves win. Ask me before adding anything I didn't mention.

The Line That Changes Everything

Combine the feeling of these references into something original for my product. That one shift is how you stop getting generic AI designs and start getting yours.