03 Oct How to Write a Design Brief

Writing a clear, concise brief is the key to a successful project. Get it right and you will reap the rewards. Get it wrong and it could seriously compromise results and, if that’s not bad enough, have a less than favourable impact on budget and time scales!

How to write a design brief

With the above in mind we’ve put together a simple guide on how to write a design brief:

What is a design brief?

Design is a problem solving discipline and as such great design must begin with the design studio developing a complete and thorough vision and understanding of the problem to be solved!

Enlightenment is best found in the design brief. It’s fair to say that most clients have some understanding of the necessity for a complete and useful design brief. However actually putting one together can be a lot more difficult and time consuming than expected.

Is there a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way?

There is no absolute right way to format your brief – it’s OK to compose a ‘narrative’ with paragraphed text, although a ‘bullet point’ list will work equally as well. On the whole we would expect that the format you adopt will reflect the complexity and depth of the information it is designed to impart to the designers.

There is only one golden rule – the brief must be ‘written’ and never verbal! Despite common belief a well written, extensive brief will not only save time on production but it will also act as a solid reference point serving to enhance and focus creativity!

Does every project need a design brief?

Not at all. Many projects could be considered ‘ongoing’ or ‘routine’. Minor changes to existing documents, price list revisions etc, which wouldn’t require a full brief as it might take longer to write and process than to actually complete the entire job!

How long should a design brief be?

Again, it depends entirely on the complexity of the project however one should never produce a short, simple brief at the expense of information… information is power!

A good brief is as long as it needs to be!

Who is responsible for writing it?

Writing the brief is entirely down to you – you are the expert at what you do and nobody knows more about your business than you and your colleagues. However we are experts at what we do and so, when it comes to ‘developing’ the brief we believe there should always be a commitment to ‘co-ownership’.

As the design experts we see it as our responsibility to highlight any potential design, production or time issues that may arise from the specifics of the brief before the actual work begins.

If you’d like more insight into writing a design brief click to see the ‘Essential Elements’

If you would like more information about branding or any of our creative design services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – For more information about Baboon, give us a call on 01159 503 956 for click to Make an Enquiry