A well-thought-out design brief is a gift to your designer, allowing for a much smoother design process and significantly aiding in getting the project from A to B in the shortest timeframe. When approaching the work, there must be a shared understanding of limitations and clear communication on deliverables from both sides. Without this, there the brief itself will be rendered redundant, and an endless, costly, back-and-forth between the designer and the client will likely ensue.
How to write a design brief
A good design brief should be concise enough that anybody reading it can understand the scale of what is required. A good way to measure this can be to put the brief under an unrelated person’s nose and see if they can clearly interpret what it is you need from the designer. If they can clearly explain back to you your vision, it’s usually a good indicator that it’s ready to be sent to your designer.
Things to include in your design brief – good practices
- The client – Include a brief overview of your business and the services you provide.
- Project scope – You should aim to include information such as what medium/format the document needs to be in, a rough timeline and your expectations of deliverables.
- Target Audience + Message – Defining your audience is an incredibly important step and one that is most often overlooked when creating a design brief. Outline your customer. If you have different types of customers, which group are you aiming to reach with this work? Think about what message or action are you trying to get across to the target audience.
- Competitors – Aim to include 3-5 examples of your main competitors, this can be as simple as sharing a URL, or if you have some competitor analytics, this can be very helpful to share with your designer.
- Mood-board – If you have the time, it can often be extremely helpful to your designer to share things you have seen that you like, and even things you have seen that you do not like. Anything that can help get you on the same page quickly is a bonus, and don’t forget it’s perfectly okay to work on this with your designer if you don’t know what it is that you want just yet.
- The End Goal – It’s also helpful to share with your designer the reason for undertaking this work, eg, for increased brand awareness, a refresh or update of design language, or a special event you want to highlight to your customer.
- Deadline – If there is a hard deadline, make sure this is clearly communicated to your designer early on so they can accommodate the work within their schedule.
- The work in detail – Include helpful information for aspect ratios and resolution such as where the work is going to be shared and when, as well as across which platforms.
- Other relevant information to discuss - Project budget, approval and final sign off.
Remember, do not be afraid to discuss all aspects of the project with your designer if you are unsure exactly what it is that you want! You can then work together to complete the brief, instead of both being left somewhat in the dark about expectations and with too many open options.
Bad Practices
The ‘You already know what I need’ – Designers aren’t mind readers (although sometimes this would be a beneficial skill to possess), so assuming your designer will just ‘get’ what it is you are after with no further explanation is like joining a gym, never going, and expecting results. Costly and frustrating, but not unexpected if you do not put the work in!
The ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ – On the umpteenth revision of the job that just won’t complete, costing you money and potentially your designers future services, please help your designer out! Include examples of work that you have seen and liked, and if possible, what it is you like about it to avoid this mistake.
The ‘Phoenix’ brief – Much like a phoenix, this brief dies at the end of one week and is reincarnated at the start of the next in completely new guise, with new deliverables, objectives and deadlines. This is a designer’s nightmare scenario. Whilst understanding that things may change during the project they will expect to see minor changes as a project evolves, but a constantly evolving brief is not a good brief.
The ‘Miracle-worker’ – ‘Can you make it bigger, so it looks smaller?’ Or ‘Can you just photoshop in/out the XYZ?’ Unfortunately, no. There are lots of tricks and edits that can be employed in the design process to achieve the desired results, but defying the laws of physics or combining three photos all taken with different lighting and angles into one cohesive picture? Alas, no.
The ‘You have 2 hours’ – As a designer your day-to-day is already mapped out, sometimes for the entire week. Yes, of course, they will try and accommodate your request, but sending over a brief with a few hours left on a Friday afternoon requiring to see something before end of play, will most likely not end with a productive or impactful design. You are much more likely to be met with, thank you, we can discuss this further on Monday.
Conclusion
Writing a concise design brief with clear deliverables, will not only increase the working relationship between you and your designer, but save you time and money in the long run.
The alignment of goals and mutual understanding through clear communication only aids in the elimination of any surprises down the line and makes for a smooth journey for the designer, and ultimately, for your businesses design goals.