Playground 1
AI-Accelerated Step 1
The four-step co-creation workflow starts with a brief you write — not the AI. Fill in the spec below: audience, value frame, hero metric, distance strategy, Story Spine. The form assembles your brief into a copyable prompt you can use anywhere, and optionally generates a Step 2 draft right here.
Remember: the AI executes Step 2. You own Step 1. The quality of the draft is a direct mirror of how precisely you define the spec.
How this workflow operates
Fill the spec
Audience, value frame, hero metric, distance strategy, output format. Each field collapses one degree of ambiguity.
Copy the brief
Your spec is assembled into a ready-to-paste AI prompt. Use it in Claude, ChatGPT, or generate the draft right here.
Review the draft
Treat the output as raw material. Check tone, check structure, check that your editorial decisions survived the generation.
Fact-check before publishing
Every specific claim must be verified against source material. The model does not know your data — it estimates.
Build your spec
Start with Audience, Value Frame, Hero Metric, and Output Format. The Story Spine is optional but significantly sharpens the draft — use the Story Spine Builder in Module 1 if you want to pre-map the beats before generating here.
Step 1 — Define the spec
Who specifically? Include their role, concerns, and what they already know.
Which door does this audience walk through? Don't lead with 'climate' if they respond to economics.
The single most concrete, credible number that will anchor the story. Include units and source if known.
What psychological distance makes this audience feel the problem isn't theirs?
How will you pull the problem into the audience's time, place, and world?
The format determines length, tone, and structure.
Map the six beats in whatever shorthand works for you. The labels don't appear in the draft — they're planning scaffolding. E.g.: Setup / Normal / Break / → Effect / → Effect / Decision
Your assembled AI brief
AUDIENCE: (not specified) VALUE FRAME: (not specified) HERO METRIC: (not specified) PRIMARY DISTANCE BARRIER: (not specified) COLLAPSING STRATEGY: (not specified) OUTPUT FORMAT: (not specified)
This brief is always ready to copy — paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, or any AI tool. The button above generates a draft right here.
Fill in Audience, Value Frame, Hero Metric, and Output Format to unlock the generator.
More prompts for the full workflow
These prompts cover the other stages of the four-step workflow. Copy any of them into Claude or ChatGPT and fill in the bracketed placeholders with your own content.
›Research assistant — find your hero metric and distance barrier
You are a climate research assistant helping me build a Step 1 co-creation spec. I'm working on a communication piece for this audience: [DESCRIBE AUDIENCE] My topic area is: [E.g. urban heat islands / wildfire risk / coastal flooding / energy transition] Help me find the best hero metric for this audience and topic. I need: 1. A single concrete statistic — ideally local or regional — that will anchor the story 2. The source and year so I can verify it 3. One sentence explaining why this metric will resonate with this specific audience over other available statistics 4. The single most likely psychological distance barrier this audience will have to this topic Keep each answer to 2–3 sentences maximum. Do not editorialize or add recommendations beyond what I asked.
›Story Spine mapper — generate the six beats from your spec
Help me map a Pixar Story Spine for a climate communication piece. My Step 1 spec: - Audience: [WHO SPECIFICALLY] - Value Frame: [ECONOMIC / HEALTH / STEWARDSHIP / SECURITY / OTHER] - Hero Metric: [YOUR SPECIFIC STATISTIC] - Distance Barrier: [GEOGRAPHIC / TEMPORAL / SOCIAL / UNCERTAINTY] - Collapsing Strategy: [LOCAL DATA / PRESENT TENSE / PERSONAL STORY / OTHER] Write the six Story Spine beats. Each beat should be 2–3 sentences. Constraints: - "Until one day" must introduce the hero metric as a discovery or disruption, not as a headline - "Because of that (×2)" must show causal consequence, not just additional facts - "Until finally" must give THIS specific audience a concrete decision or action — not a generic call to action - Do not use the word "climate change" or "the environment" in any beat unless the value frame specifically calls for it
›Content multiplier — generate Step 4 variants for additional audiences
I have a verified Step 2 draft. Help me generate Step 4 variants for additional audiences. My original draft: [PASTE YOUR VERIFIED DRAFT HERE] Original spec: - Audience: [ORIGINAL AUDIENCE] - Value Frame: [ORIGINAL FRAME] - Hero Metric: [YOUR STATISTIC] - Output Format: [ORIGINAL FORMAT] Generate two additional variants: 1. [NEW AUDIENCE 1] using [NEW VALUE FRAME 1] — [NEW OUTPUT FORMAT] 2. [NEW AUDIENCE 2] using [NEW VALUE FRAME 2] — [NEW OUTPUT FORMAT] For each variant: - Adjust the entry point and vocabulary to the new value frame - Keep the same hero metric — change how it's positioned, not what it says - Match the length and format requirements - Do not copy language from the original draft
›Fact-check checklist — verify every claim before publishing
I need to fact-check the following AI-generated draft before publishing. Identify every specific claim that requires source verification. Draft to check: [PASTE YOUR AI DRAFT HERE] For each verifiable claim, return: 1. The exact claim as written 2. What type of source would verify it (peer-reviewed study, government data, NGO report, news article, etc.) 3. A specific search query I can use to find the source 4. Whether the claim is specific enough to be verifiable (flag any vague claims that cannot be fact-checked) Do not make up sources. If you don't know whether a claim is accurate, say so. Your job is to produce the verification checklist, not to verify the claims yourself.
Take it further
Paste into Claude Project Instructions to turn any Claude conversation into a full Step 1–4 co-creation workflow assistant with built-in editorial guardrails.
co-creation-claude-skill.md
Worked example
Load the example in the builder above to see a complete Step 1 spec and generated draft. Below is what a completed spec looks like — compare it against what you produce.