As we briefly touched in this article on how much it costs to design a logo, a quality design brief is key to the delivery of on-brief quality design.
Design briefs help to align everybody involved with the graphic design process. This could include clients, agency account managers, designers and anybody else involved in the quality assurance (QA) process; for example, a design manager or a creative director.
In this article, we cover how to create an effective design brief that aligns everybody involved.
Contents
What is a design brief?
A brief is an overview of what is required and should detail any important information that will help to inform the process. On that basis, a design brief lays out the design requirements (i.e., design format, size, specification), with supporting information that relates to budget or time allocation, the target audience, any content or messaging that sohuld be used, previous examples and links to any existing brand guidelines.
Design briefs can differ in length based on the type of design required. For example, design briefs that require concept design (i.e., logo or brand design) will typically be much longer than a design brief for a social image. When creating a design brief, it's useful to give as much information as possible - providing it is relevant.
The structure of a design brief
The structure of your design brief will make or break the production output. Whilst (as above), not all design briefs need to be the same length, it's crucial that a solid foundation is laid.
The onus is on both the briefer and the designer to ensure that they are aligned on the brief. The briefing party should provide all of the required information, with examples as references, and the designer involved should ask questions if there is anything they are unsure about.
A solid design brief follows the following structure:
Design brief title - what is the name of the project and deliverable? For ease, follow a structure such as {Project name} - {Design item}. This will make it easier to find both design briefs and design assets in the future.
You may end up with a list of assets such as:
- {Project name} - LinkedIn ad
- {Project name} - Sales Brochure
- {Project name} - Infographic
- {Project name} - Animation
You can then imagine how this would appear as you grow your asset and brief list, in an easy and manageable way:
- Project A - LinkedIn ad
- Project A - Sales Brochure
- Project B - Video
- Project B - Instagram carousel
- Project C - Infographic
- Project D - eBook design
Objectives - what are you trying to achieve? Listing out your objectives helps everybody involved understand what you are trying to achieve. It also helps people respond constructively if they feel like the objectives are better met in other ways, for example, other design formats.
Target audience - who are we trying to engage with and what do we know about them?
Requirement(s) - what is it you want to be created? This should include the design specifications; the format(s) you require, sizes and file type. For example, a logo can be provided in a wide range of formats, such as .jpg, .png, .gif, .eps or .pdf. JPEG files are difficult to edit, whereas .eps files are editable in the right design software (for example Adobe Illustrator). So, it's important that you specify the design specification in the requirements section of your brief.
This should also specify if you want a digital or print-ready asset. Again, the two have different specifications. For example, you are limited a to what you can do with a print PDF. However, a digital PDF can be made interactive with popups.
When listing our design requirements within a design briefing doc, it's important to think about these questions and where necessary, cover them in your list. Thinking about everything you need will help the designer or design team to get the end design(s) to you in the quickest timeframe.
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Which channel(s) are you going to use to distribute your designed content? (Most social media channels have slightly different recommended design specs). In addition, recommended image sizes for both paid and organic social can differ too. Similarly, mobile responsive emails have recommended sizes too - 600px (w) x a variable px (h).
- How will amends be handled? Do you need the artwork provided to you or will you brief amends to the graphic designer or design team? Do you need them to upload the finished designs to Canva for editing?
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Will any of these assets be printed? Print and digital files have slightly different set-ups, such as the need to allow for bleed or print areas. It's better to accommodate these upfront.
Content to be used - what is the messaging you want to use? (This is usually approved and provided at the time of briefing). In addition to messaging and copy, you may also want to provide any logos or specific imagery.
Useful references - are there any similar items that have been produced prior to this brief that could be beneficial? This could include your own branded assets or those of competitors or other brands that you have seen and want to use as inspiration.
It's also useful to include any brand guidelines at this point too, where applicable. If formal brand guidelines are not available, then as a minimum, font typeface and colours should be provided.
Design brief template
Ready to create your first or next design brief? Take advantage of our free design brief template here: