writing your creative brief

A design brief is something that is vital to any design project as it will provide us with all the information needed to exceed your expectations. The design brief allows you (the client) to focus on exactly what you want to achieve before any work starts on the project. We can’t stress enough how important a good design brief is, it will ensure that you get a high quality design that meets your needs.


How To Write An Effective Design Brief
If you answer these questions below in an ordered and detailed fashion, your design brief will be 90% complete, the other 10% will come from further questions from us after you submit your brief.
We realise this may look a little daunting and that it is not always possible or relevant to answer every question, however we are only providing this to save you money and to aid us in achieving the best results.
So provide as much detail as possible!


What does your business do?
You should never assume that we will know anything about your company.
Be clear and concise and avoid jargon when replying.
What does your company/organisation do?
What is your companys history?


What are the goals? Why?
What is the overall goal of the new design project?
What are you trying to communicate and why?
Are you trying to sell more products or get awareness of your product/service?
How do you differ from your competitors?
Do you want to completely reinvent yourself or are you simply updating your promotional material?
You could also provide old promotional material to assist us.


Who is the target market?
What are your target markets demographics & phychographics?
ie. the age, gender, income, tastes, views, attitudes, employment, geography, lifestyle of those you want to reach. If you have multiple audiences, rank them in terms of importance.


What copy (text) and pictures are needed?
The copy and pictures used in a design are as crucial as the design itself and you should clearly state who is going to be providing the copy and pictures if needed. We may need to look into getting a professional copywriter/photographer, we can discuss this if required.
What copy needs to be included in the design?
Who is providing the copy?
What pictures/photographs/diagrams etc need to be used? Who is providing these?
Do any diagrams/charts provided need to be re-created in a corporate style?


What are the specifications?
What size is the design going to be?
Where is it going to be printed/used? The web, business cards, stationery, on your car etc?
What other information should we know in regards to specifications?

Have you got a benchmark in mind?
You could provide us with some examples of what you consider to be effective or relevant design even if it is from your main competitors. This will set a benchmark for your design.
Try to provide us with things not to do, and styles that you do not like or wish to see in your design. This will give us a better idea of what to avoid and will avoid disappointment on your behalf.


What Is Your Budget?
Although we realise it’s not always possible, providing a budget up front prevents us from wasting valuable time and resources when trying to maximise your budget.


What is the time scale / deadline?
Try to give us a detailed schedule of the project and set a realistic deadlines for the completion of the work. You should take into account the various stages of the design project such as consultation, concept development, production and delivery.
Rushing design jobs helps no one and mistakes can be made if a complex job is pushed through without time to review, however, there are times when a rush job is needed, and in these cases you should be honest and upfront about it.


We hope you have found this useful and appreciate you taking the time to read it.
We all want to achieve the very best results.