Phase 3: Ideate

Purpose

The ideate phase generates multiple design options before committing to an implementation. This prevents jumping to the first solution and encourages creative exploration.

Usage

/design:ideate <component-name>

Prerequisites

Requires .metapowers/design/<component-name>/component-contract.md from Phase 2.

What It Does

1. Reads the component contract
2. Generates 3+ distinct design approaches
3. Evaluates each against the contract's constraints
4. Recommends one approach with rationale
5. Optionally creates a FigJam brainstorming board with figjam_create_stickies and figjam_create_table
6. Writes to .metapowers/design/<component-name>/ideation-options.md

Output

Creates .metapowers/design/<component-name>/ideation-options.md containing:

• Multiple design options with visual descriptions
• Trade-off analysis for each option
• Constraint compliance evaluation
• Recommended approach and reasoning

MCP Tools Used

• figma_get_design_system — Fetch the full design system (styles, components, tokens)
• figma_get_variables — Retrieve design variables and their values
• figjam_create_stickies — Create sticky notes on a FigJam board for brainstorming
• figjam_create_table — Create a comparison table on a FigJam board

Next Phase

After ideate, proceed to Prototype to build the chosen design in Figma.