Product design question
You own the first version of Lovable’s theming and design system experience. What product principles and core requirements would you define so users can get polished, consistent output by default while still having room to experiment?
- Lovable
- Product design
- Hard
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What this question tests
Tests defining product principles and core requirements for a first theming and design system experience, balancing polished defaults against room to experiment.
How to approach it
- Set the core principle: good defaults should require zero decisions from the user, while customization should be discoverable but never mandatory to get a professional result.
- Define core requirements: a constrained set of typography scales, color palettes, and spacing tokens that are pre-validated for contrast and consistency, applied automatically on generation.
- Allow experimentation through a bounded customization layer, swapping within the validated palette and scale options, rather than fully freeform values that can break consistency.
- Require every AI-generated app to pass an automated consistency check, spacing, contrast, typography hierarchy, before being shown to the user as done.
- Design the escape hatch for advanced users, direct CSS or token overrides, but keep it a deliberate, separate action from the default flow so beginners never stumble into it accidentally.
- Validate the principle by testing with both a non-designer and a power user on the same generated app, checking neither feels blocked or overwhelmed.
What a strong answer includes
- States a clear tension to resolve, zero-decision defaults versus real experimentation, rather than treating them as automatically compatible.
- Proposes a bounded palette and token system instead of fully freeform styling, keeping output consistent by construction.
- Requires an automated consistency check before generation is considered done, catching regressions before users see them.
- Separates the advanced override path from the default flow so it doesn't compromise the beginner experience.
Common mistakes
- Offering full freeform styling from day one, which undermines the promise of polished defaults.
- Hiding customization so deeply that advanced users feel constrained and churn.
- Skipping an automated consistency check and relying only on the model's judgment for every generation.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you decide when to expand the token system with new options?
- What would you do if power users want values outside the validated set?
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More questions from Lovable
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 7: AI UX and human oversight: design for a system that is wrong sometimes
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop