Your VibeCopy Layer Cake Recipe

A flexible creative framework for persuasive writing, strategic clarity, and AI-powered workflows.

The VibeCopy Layer Cake is the system I use to build almost everything inside VibeCopy—from blog posts and card decks to internal docs and creative tools.

It’s made of five core layers:

• Copywriting Frameworks
• Systems Thinking
• UX
• Octalysis
• AI Integration

Each one plays a different role. Together, they give me a repeatable way to build clarity, motivation, and structure into creative work.

What It Solves

Most content frameworks are too rigid or too narrow. They focus on just storytelling or just conversion or just structure.

This framework came from trial and error. I built dozens of outlines and posts, tore them down, rewrote them with ChatGPT, looked at what stuck—and why. What I needed was something that could flex across formats and work styles.

This framework works because it’s:

• Modular – I can use just one layer or all five.
• Creative-friendly – Built to support idea generation, not suppress it.
• Tool-aware – Designed to integrate with AI and prompt-based workflows.

What Each Layer Does

Copywriting Frameworks

The structure. I pull from AIDA, PAS, 4 Ps, ACCA, and others depending on the job. I don’t use one fixed format—I select the right persuasive model for the context.

Systems Thinking

The logic layer. It helps me trace root causes, zoom out, and understand how each choice affects the whole. I use it to clarify why something isn’t landing or converting.

UX

The experience layer. I use it to control pacing, flow, and scannability. Clean headers. Short paragraphs. Built-in breathers. This is what keeps a reader moving.

Octalysis

The motivation layer. Based on Yu-kai Chou’s Octalysis Framework, I use this to build in challenge, feedback, curiosity, surprise, and meaning. It’s how I make content feel alive and active—not passive.

AI Integration

The build-with layer. I write prompts as I write content. I design workflows that can be reused or turned into cards. This layer isn’t just about AI output—it’s about shaping the process with AI in mind from the beginning.

Where I Use It

I use this framework in almost everything I make:

• Blog posts – The structure and prompts all trace back to Layer Cake.
• VibeCopy.ai cards – Each one is built using a variation of this system.
• Product docs & flows – Submission systems, onboarding, landing pages.
• Internal strategy docs – Including this one.

How This Post Uses It

This post is an example of the framework in action:

• Copywriting Frameworks – Loosely based on AIDA, with a CTA at the end.
• Systems Thinking – Each section flows logically from why → what → how.
• UX – Short sections, clear headers, easy to scan.
• Octalysis – A challenge at the end builds engagement and progression.
• AI Integration – Developed through iterative prompt work with ChatGPT.

Try It: The Layer Cake Challenge

Take a piece of your own work—a blog post, a pitch, a landing page, or even a note to yourself—and run it through the five layers.

1. Copywriting Frameworks – What structure (if any) did you use? Would another work better?
2. Systems Thinking – Where does the logic break down? Is one section propping up the rest?
3. UX – Can someone skim it and still get it? Is the pacing doing its job?
4. Octalysis – What keeps the reader moving? Where’s the tension or surprise?
5. AI Integration – Could you turn any part of this into a reusable prompt or workflow?

Mini-win: Make one change based on your findings. Just one.
Next step: Save your updated version and label it “Layer Cake v2.”

If you’re building with it, name it. Tag your updated version #vibecopy.

This is the framework that runs through everything I build inside VibeCopy. I hope it helps. Tell me your thoughts in the comments

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