# Dancing With Chains: Ideating Under Constraints With UIDEC in UI/UX Design

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.18748 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.18748/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 30 Jan 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Vibe Coding in Product Teams: Reconfiguring AI-Assisted Workflows, Prototyping, and Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10652/) (2025)
- [StoryEnsemble: Enabling Dynamic Exploration & Iteration in the Design Process with AI and Forward-Backward Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03182/) (2025)
- [Brief2Design: A Multi-phased, Compositional Approach to Prompt-based Graphic Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11019/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

UI/UX designers often work under constraints like brand identity, design norms, and industry guidelines. How these constraints impact designers' ideation and exploration processes should be addressed in creativity-support tools for design. Through an exploratory interview study, we identified three designer personas with varying views on having constraints in the ideation process, which guided the creation of UIDEC, a GenAI-powered tool for supporting creativity under constraints. UIDEC allows designers to specify project details, such as purpose, target audience, industry, and design styles, based on which it generates diverse design examples that adhere to these constraints, with minimal need to write prompts. In a user evaluation involving designers representing the identified personas, participants found UIDEC compatible with their existing ideation process and useful for creative inspiration, especially when starting new projects. Our work provides design implications to AI-powered tools that integrate constraints during UI/UX design ideation to support creativity.