A designer's guide to Cursor: How to build interactive prototypes with sound, explore visual styles, and transform data visualizations | Elizabeth Lin

Elizabeth Lin is an independent design educator who has crafted learning experiences for Khan Academy, Primer, and Lambda School. She currently runs design is a party, an alternative online design school where she teaches courses like The Art of Visual Design and Prototyping with Cursor. In this episode, she shares how designers can leverage Cursor to create interactive prototypes with sound, explore different visual aesthetics, and transform basic designs into polished interfaces—all without deep coding knowledge.

What you'll learn:

1. How to use Cursor to explore different design aesthetics—from brutalist to Y2K to cyberpunk
2. A simple workflow for creating interactive sound elements in prototypes that would be difficult with traditional design tools
3. A step-by-step process for transforming an ugly dashboard into a polished design using strategic prompting
4. Why broadening your inspiration sources helps Cursor generate more unique and creative design
5. Techniques for teaching AI tools to understand your design preferences and taste
6. A practical approach to creating data-driven prototypes by connecting Cursor with Notion databases
7. How to use Cursor Rules to streamline your prototyping workflow and avoid repetitive setup tasks

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Brought to you by:

Lovable—Build apps by simply chatting with AI

Retool—AI that's designed for developers, and built for the enterprise

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Where to find Elizabeth Lin:

Website: https://www.lalizlabeth.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethylin/

X: https://x.com/lalizlabeth

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Where to find Claire Vo:

ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/

Website: https://clairevo.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/

X: https://x.com/clairevo

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Elizabeth

(02:20) Demo: Exploring different visual styles with Cursor

(08:20) Comparing different design iterations from the same prompt

(12:35) Building a working piano prototype with one prompt

(16:30) Understanding what’s happening behind the scenes

(18:28) Practical design team scenarios using Cursor

(21:00) Step-by-step walkthrough of transforming an ugly finance dashboard

(27:29) Using targeted prompts to improve layout and visual design

(29:22) Building data-driven prototypes powered by Notion databases

(31:12) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Tools referenced:

• Cursor: https://cursor.sh/

• Notion: https://www.notion.so/

• v0: https://v0.dev/

• ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/

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Other references:

• Edward Tufte: https://www.edwardtufte.com/

• Robinhood: https://robinhood.com/

• Cash App: https://cash.app/

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/

• Neopets: https://www.neopets.com/

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/

• Shad CN: https://ui.shadcn.com/

• Sketch: https://www.sketch.com/

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co.