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A good brief ensures that the main parties involved, the client and the designer (be that a sole designer or a design company), are fully focussed and working together towards a defined aim. A good brief ensures that procedures have been established, objectives set, budgets and time lines agreed and that any foreseeable problem areas have been identified (there may be unwelcome surprises en route but good procedures will help offset the effects of those).

For the client, a well-constructed brief allows them the valuable opportunity to clarify the need for the project in the first place. It offers a means of measuring the results against. For the designer, a good brief becomes the key to understanding the problem and the target audience they need to address plus it forms the framework for constructing a creative solution.

Why produce a written brief?

All briefs should be written. Even the most basic brief (eg an additional business card for a new employee) should give the details in writing to the designer so as to prevent any misunderstanding or omissions which can not only lead to frustrations and confrontations but can cause delays or incur costs. The time it takes to write a brief can never be too long!

Who writes the brief?

Ideally a client should call in a designer as early as possible in a project. A good designer will have considerable experiences in creative problem solving that the client will not have. They may be able to offer ways of approaching the design problem that the client has not ever considered.

To be truly useful the design brief should be developed by the client with the creative ‘problem’ together with the designer who will execute the ‘solution’. Both are accountable for the results of the project and a good brief will marry creative objectives with business objectives and thus be a point of reference against which concepts can be tested throughout the project.

What to include

First a few words about what a design brief is NOT.

A design brief should not indicate how the design be executed. That is the designer’s job and the client is paying to get the best of the designer’s experiences and creative talents. The solution is the designer’s responsibilty but, before the project begins, the brief builds the framework that the designer builds on. Simply dictating a design or look or response is a waste of money and may not obtain the results needed.

Essential points that need to be addressed in a clear brief are:

Client company information:
Here you give a short, honest account of the client company. Don’t assume the designer knows anything about the company / industry sector. The client is the fountain of knowledge on this. Outline some basics such as when the company was established; what size; the market; how the company fits into the industry sector.
The specific details of the project:
Clearly state the requirements ie: “We require a brochure….” “We require a website redesign….” “We require a 6 page flyer…”
You may find that you have not yet decided on the format of the solution but this must be established before work on the project begins. Identifying the format is a project in itself and your initial idea of a glossy large brochure may well be better replaced by a series of targeted online campaigns. An experienced designer can often offer advice by referring to previous projects of a similar nature.

Already the process of producing a brief has focussed the project and thus ultimately will make sure money is spent where needed.
Why are you doing the project?
What are the goals that the project has to achieve and specifically what results will indicate success of the project.

“We need to achieve more traffic to our website and specifically we want a X% increase in registrations”

“We feel our product is lost on the shelf, we want to improve our visibility and achieve an increase in sales”

“Our competitors have established an online presence. We feel we need to be seen as relevant and accessible to our customers and want to maintain and build on our position in the market”

“We want to obtain information about our audience”
Who is the target audience? Is this a new or existing audience?
Be as precise and complete in the description of the audience. Include details such as

• age
• sex
• income
• occupations
• location
• lifestyle
• Who are the key stakeholders in the project?
  (Sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution etc?)
• Who are your competitors?

Review what others are doing in your sector and honestly compare it to your present design / marketing / online status.
Budget & Time line
Even if there is only a ballpark figure at this stage it is best to give an indication of the budget. This gives designers a good idea of the type of solution they can realistically provide. No advantage is gained in keeping the budget secret in the false belief that doing so could result in keener prices. Time and momentum can be lost in pursuing unrealistic solutions.

Timescale is an important consideration in solution solving so give any specific deadlines that need to be met.
List elements that must be included:
If there are existing logos/imagery/styling (such as dictated by corporate/brand guidelines) that need to be adhered to or included, list those and give details of how these will be sent to the designer. Ensure that any imagery is of a suitable resolution and that all elements are in a form suitable for end use.

If there is a need for purchasing or commissioning imagery/model-making/illustrations/audio etc outline here the clients licensing policy (limited use, exclusivity, buyout of copyright etc)
What is the approval procedure?
Who gives the final approval. The person with the final approval should logically be involved in the creation of the brief or failing that should approve the brief before the project begins.

The approval process is always slower when committees are involved and often the resulting design less effective due to a tendency to morph several concepts into one many-humped camel. If a committee or group opinion is desired then that should occur at brief creation stage.
How will results be measured?
Give details of how the results of the project will be measured. Plan to hold a review of the project at a later stage after the results have been measured to examine how the project was run, what lessons were learnt and how the experience was for all
involved. This gives a platform to build future projects on and encourages a stronger, more open relationship with all parties involved.

A design brief assists all the key stakeholders involved in the project. A designer needs all the information he can to create an effective design solution. For the client the process of producing a brief clarifies the problem and starts to address it. The brief also indicates how the client can measure if the project is a success. The design brief is the point where the working relationship between client and designer starts in earnest. An honest, clearly written, factual and focussed brief bodes well for the project and its outcome.

Appendix
It is always a good idea to include an Appendix to the brief document.

Here one can include existing design material (with any comments) related to the client company.

Also include competitor samples.

This is an ideal section to include any emotional opinions eg similar projects the client likes or indeed any marketing / designs that the client may think the ‘look’ of, copy tone of, ‘feel’ of is relevant to the client company (these could be in different media formats to the project being undertaken).

The outcome to all this brief planning should be…

All the planning and attention to detail needed to write a brief should result in a focused creative approach. It will drive the project forward in a positive way and should result in fewer areas where the project ‘stalls’ or flounders. Not only that but because the project has been clearly defined less time will be wasted. As anyone who has run a creative project knows, time wasting can be costly not only in financial terms but also in sapping creative juices, enthusiasm and can cause breakdowns in client/designer relationships all which a barriers to achieving a good end solution.

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