In this paper, we analyze the term ”prospective design” from various perspectives. The theoretical-, research- and empirical-based approximations are centralized. Furthermore, a working definition of ”prospective design in human-computer interaction” is proposed in the first part of this paper. In practice, however, the mere definition of prospective design and awareness that user, context, technical system and task have to be known is not enough. Therefore we propose a new model of performance shaping factors in the second part of this paper. This model gives recommendations for human-computer interaction design and research in terms of factors that should be considered for a prospective design of user interfaces. The utility of this new model is shown using a case study in alarm psychology.