← BackThe method library
Every crease.
One growing library.
Plooi turns design-research methods into draggable, wireable cards on one canvas. Each method here is a self-contained crease — feed it inputs, get structured outputs you can fold into the next. AI does the legwork; you keep the judgment. Six families, fifty methods, open during the alpha — image and video generation run on your own API key.
New to Plooi? See why a canvas beats a chatbox →
View A · by phase
Four phases, in one glancethe shape of a workflow
The methods cluster naturally into four phases. Most workflows trace a path through several of them — and a few methods pull on two phases at once.
01tap to filter ↓
Phase 01
Discover
Generate, capture, observe — raw material in.
Desk ResearchMarket ResearchCompetitor ResearchCultural Probes
Question ZeroSynthetic UserStakeholder AnalysisMarket Trends
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Phase 02
Synthesize
Cluster, label, surface patterns — sense out of noise.
Insight SynthesisUser PersonaEmpathy MapJobs To Be Done
Sentiment AnalysisCustomer JourneySWOT AnalysisInterview Guide
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Phase 03
Define
Frame the problem, scope the bet — sharp questions.
Value PropositionBusiness Model CanvasCreative BriefUser Stories
Elevator PitchMinimum Viable ProductDecisionEpics
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Phase 04
Ideate
Generate concepts, sketch futures — quantity then craft.
Crazy 8sBrainstormingStoryboardWireframes
IdeationHow Might WeMoodboardImage Gen
Research & Analysis14 methods
Input Idea
Capture the raw starting idea and frame what you're actually exploring.
Question Zero
Surface the single most important question to answer before anything else.
Desk Research
Pull existing sources into one grounded briefing, with citations kept.
Market Research
Live web research on your topic — sourced findings, not recall from memory.
Competitor Research
Map rivals, their positioning, and the gaps they leave wide open.
Market Trends
Track the shifts shaping your space — and where they're heading.
Market Sizing
Estimate TAM, SAM and SOM with assumptions you can defend.
Sentiment Analysis
Read the emotional tone across real user voices at scale.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats on one honest board.
Insight Synthesis
Turn scattered findings into a handful of sharp, usable insights.
Stakeholder Analysis
Map who holds influence, what they need, and how to keep them aligned.
Jobs To Be Done
Reframe features as the jobs people are really hiring you to do.
Kano Model
Sort features into basics, performance drivers and delighters.
Cultural Probes
Gather lived context from people in their own world, over time.
Synthetic User
Rehearse an interview against your persona before you spend a real one.
Audience & Users8 methods
User Persona
Goal-driven archetypes grounded in evidence — no stock-photo clichés.
Empathy Map
Says, thinks, does, feels — four quadrants that surface unmet needs.
Target Group
Define and segment who you're really building for.
Interview Guide
A discovery script that gets past surface answers to real motivation.
User Flow
The concrete steps a user takes to reach a goal in your product.
Customer Journey
Emotions, frictions and opportunities across the whole experience.
User Stories
As a ___, I want ___, so that ___ — scoped and ready to build.
Card Sorting
Let users group concepts to shape an information structure that fits.
Strategy & Positioning9 methods
STEEP Scan
Social, tech, economic, ecological, political — the forces moving your field.
Creative Brief
Align goals, audience and tone before the work begins.
Tone & Style
Define the voice your product speaks in — and stays in.
Value Proposition
Match jobs, pains and gains to what you actually offer.
Elevator Pitch
The idea, sharp enough to land in a single breath.
Business Model Canvas
Nine blocks from value to revenue, on one sheet.
Minimum Viable Product
The smallest build that honestly tests the bet.
Decision
Weigh what the canvas found, then commit to one call in writing.
Epics
Group loose work into named themes, each with a clear cut.
Ideation & Creation7 methods
Ideation
Generate a wide field of directions, fast, before you converge.
How Might We
Turn problems into open, optimistic prompts worth solving.
Brainstorming
Diverge widely with structure that keeps the bad ideas flowing too.
Affinity Mapping
Cluster messy notes into named themes — AI proposes, you adjust.
Crazy 8s
Eight rough sketches, eight minutes, no preciousness allowed.
Moodboard
Set the visual direction before a single pixel is committed.
Future Scenario
Imagine plausible futures to pressure-test today's decisions.
Content & Documentation6 methods
Script Gen
Draft scripts and copy from your project context, on brand.
Storyboard
Six frames to feel an idea before you spend a week building it.
Use Cases
The concrete situations your product has to handle well.
Product Backlog
Prioritised, ready-to-pull work — folded straight from research.
Information Architecture
Turn a loose pile of items into a sitemap — hierarchy and navigation.
Wireframes
Low-fidelity structure, settled before any visual design.
Production & Media6 methods
Context Engineer
Sharpen the brief for the next method — your draft and the rewrite, diffed.
Image Gen
One image from your prompt or a connected scene — a frame, not a set.
Video Gen
A short clip from a prompt, or one scene straight off the storyboard.
Audio Gen
Speak the script — one voiceover track, in the voice you pick.
Music Gen
A thirty-second bed from a mood you describe in words.
Compositor
Two or more video clips joined into one cut, in the order you set.
No methods match "".
View C · constellation
A sketch of how the methods cluster.
Plooi's methods cluster naturally into four phases — Discover, Synthesize, Define, Ideate. Common workflows trace a path through several phases. Not every method is drawn here — this is a map of the terrain, not an index; the full list is in the families view above.
Core method
Specialized variant
Common pairing
Drag any method onto your canvas — Plooi reads the context of where it's been dropped and auto-fills the prompt template.
The whole pointStart with a sheet.
A canvas, not a chatbox
Start with a sheet.
End with a workflow.
Pick a method, feed it inputs, fold the output into the next. Your team runs the whole sheet forever.