# Working with the concept board

Canonical URL: https://support.optimonk.com/en/articles/working-with-the-concept-board

You describe the popup you want, and a few moments later you are looking at a board of design
concepts. Here is what happens in between, what those cards are, and how to steer them.

## 1. Say what you want

The composer greets you with **What should we build?** and *Just tell me what you want — or start
from an example below.* Under **Or start from an example** are four starters: **Welcome popup**,
**Exit-intent discount**, **Spin-to-win**, and **Suggest ideas**. The first three drop a
ready-made brief into the box for you to edit; **Suggest ideas** instead starts a wider round
built from what we read on your site.

## 2. A few questions first

Before anything is drawn, we usually ask a little. The thread header switches to **A few
questions, then concepts start**, and the composer to *Type your answer — e.g. "yourstore.com,
exit-intent 10% off"…* If we do not know your site yet, the header says **Enter the target
domain — we'll align brand context to it** instead.

The questions arrive as a single card, not one at a time — chip rows written for your case,
never more than four questions, each with two to five options. One question, or none at all, is
a perfectly normal outcome.

Every question also offers **Other…**, which opens a free-text field. Answering the last open
question starts the round by itself; with an Other field open there is a button,
**Generate 4 concepts**. Half-finished answers are kept if you step away.

## 3. While the concepts are drawn

The header reads **Generating concepts — they appear live below…** and the composer locks with
*Concepts are still generating — refine when all four are ready…* A note above it says *Usually
about a minute. Feel free to look around — we'll email you the moment your designs are ready.
*The email is real; **Hide this note** puts the note away.

The cards fill in live, each with a progress bar and a rotating line — *The master is at work…*,
*Mixing the colors…* and so on. The last two (*Adding the finishing touches…*, *Almost there…*)
only appear past 70%, so a card never claims to be nearly done at 10%.

A design round produces **four** concepts; a **Suggest ideas** round produces six. When they land
you get a card saying **Your designs are ready** — *Take a look and pick the one you love, or
select a few to A/B test.* — with a **Show me** button.

## 4. What is on a card

- A letter badge in the top-left: **A**, **B**, **C**…
- The design itself. **Click to enlarge**.
- The concept's name, a short one-to-three-word label written together with the design.
- On **Suggest ideas** rounds, one sentence saying why this idea fits your shop.

The letters are seats, not permanent IDs: if a design drops out the survivors are re-lettered
from A, so you never stare at a lone "Variant C".

Two things can appear instead of a picture: **This variation didn't meet our quality bar, so
we're not offering it.** (usually filtered off the board before you see it) and **Preview didn't
finish**.

## 5. "This is a plan, not a popup yet"

Open a card and you get two panes, **Desktop plan** and **Mobile plan**, plus a chat panel that
opens with: *This is {name} for {domain} — a plan, not a built popup yet. Tell me what to change
and I will redraw it. Earlier versions stay available.*

That is literal: a concept at this stage is a picture. The real, editable popup is made later,
when you press Build it.

The mobile pane says **Drawing the mobile version… about 15 s** while it is drawn; if nothing is
running, **The mobile version is drawn when you build it**. On a multi-step popup the later steps
show **Step 2 · drafted after coupon** — that frame is empty on purpose.

## 6. Refine it by writing what you want

The chat box under the plan asks **What should I change?**, with suggestions for this particular
plan above it under **Try:**.

Send a change and the panel narrates it: *Got it — redrawing {name} with your change. Starting
with the desktop plan…*, then *Desktop plan ready — drawing the mobile plan now…*

**Only that one concept changes.** The others are untouched, and each card keeps its own
conversation.

Every redraw makes a new version and keeps the old ones. Under the plan is a strip of version
thumbnails labelled **v1**, **v2**… with the active one marked **current** and the others
offering **Back to v1**. Picking an older version makes it the active plan again.

Not signed in, you get **10** free redraws per design, and from two remaining the panel says
*{count} free redraws left for this design. Sign up to keep going.* Signed in, past ten redraws
you get a nudge rather than a block: *That's a lot of redraws — building it lets you edit the
real popup directly.*

## 7. Choosing between concepts

For one design, open it and use **Next: targeting** in the header. That selects it and starts the
setup that leads to the build.

When a board's designs are fully built, the cards get a checkbox and the bar below reads *Your
designs are fully built — select the one you like, or several to A/B test them against each
other.* There is a **Select all** shortcut, and the button changes from **Create campaign from
this** to **Create campaign with A/B test** on the second tick. Up to eight; the first one you
tick becomes the primary variant.

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