Every project starts with a brief, whether or not anyone calls it that. Sometimes it’s a document, sometimes it’s an email, or a conversation, or that flash of inspiration from a brainstorming meeting. What actually matters isn’t the format, it’s if it gives us enough to work with.
It’s worth being upfront about why this matters: research by Better Briefs found roughly a third of marketing budgets are wasted on poor briefs, and the large majority of agencies say briefs are routinely neglected. It’s partly why we take briefing seriously on our end, see our commitment to getting this right. So, what’s the best way of getting this right?
First, what is a design brief?
A design brief is whatever tells whoever’s designing what you need, why you need it, and what success looks like once it’s done. It doesn’t need to be formal, and it doesn’t need to be long. It needs to give the person doing the work enough to actually work from.
Get it right and it saves everyone time, it means fewer rounds of “that’s not quite it,” fewer surprises at review stage, a result closer to what you wanted the first time round. Skip it, or rush it, and the work is likely to drift; budgets stretch, timelines slip, and everyone ends up frustrated by round three.
Here’s how to write one that actually helps.
A design brief isn’t a form to fill in
Most guides to writing a design brief read like a checklist: goals, audience, budget, timeline. None of that is wrong, it’s all useful but it can miss the point. To work best the brief has to get everyone; that’s you, your stakeholders (anyone with sign off / feedback input power) and whoever’s designing working from the same understanding of the problem before anyone starts on the solution.
The best briefs we’ve received weren’t necessarily the longest, or the fanciest. They were the ones where it was clear the client had really thought about what the problem or opportunity was, even if they couldn’t articulate every detail. The worst ones weren’t short on information, sometimes they contained more information than the best ones, but they were short on the thinking. A 10 page document that never really gives you the “why” is far less useful than three honest sentences that do.
What actually helps ensure an effective brief?
A handful of things make the difference between a brief we can work with immediately and one that needs three follow-up conversations before any design starts.
1. Define the problem, not the deliverable
“We need a new website” tells us less than “our current site doesn’t reflect what we do anymore and we’re losing enquiries to competitors who look more established.” The second version tells us what success looks like. The first just tells us the deliverable.
Weak: “We need a new website.”
Strong: “Our site doesn’t reflect what we do anymore, and we’re losing enquiries to competitors who look more established.”
2. Name the audience, specifically
Not a generic audience description but the actual people. A report written for a board of trustees needs different typesetting decisions than one written for the general public. A website for existing customers renewing a service requires a different design to one built to win new ones.
3. Say what you don’t want
Negative direction can be just as helpful as positive direction. “Not corporate, not stiff” narrows things down faster than a mood board of adjectives.
Weak: “Something modern and professional.”
Strong: “Not corporate, not stiff — closer to [a named reference], but with more warmth.”
4. Show examples, and explain what’s working about them
Not just links, but what specifically works about them. “I like this” gives us a pointer. “I like how this makes complex pricing feel simple” shapes the direction.
5. Give an honest budget range
We understand numbers can feel uncomfortable, and there’s a concern that giving a number means the fee proposal gets built to hit that figure rather than set out the true cost of the deliverables. But vague budgets lead to proposals that don’t match expectations in either direction. A range, even a rough one, saves everyone time. For specifics on this in relation to websites read our guide to how much a website costs.
Weak: Budget left unstated.
Strong: “Somewhere in the £X–£Y range, depending on scope.”
Do you need design / web knowledge for a design or web brief?
You don’t need to have all the answers.
None of this requires being a design expert, or knowing the right terminology, or having a fully-formed vision before the first conversation. It’s our job to provide the technical solutions and terminology where required, and use our graphic design and / or web design expertise and experience to help you shape a vision.
Some of the most useful briefs we’ve had were honest about what wasn’t yet known, for example: “we’re not sure what this should look like, but here’s the problem we’re trying to solve.” That’s a perfectly good and valid starting point. A good briefing conversation should fill in the gaps a written brief can’t; it’s not a test you need to pass beforehand.
Briefing across disciplines
Whether it’s graphic design, typesetting, or a website build, the underlying questions are the same; what’s this for, who’s it for, what does good look like — even if the specifics differ. A typesetting brief needs to be clear on how the document will actually be read (cover to cover, or dipped into for reference). A website brief needs to know what someone should be able to do on the site, not just what pages it should have. The discipline changes the details. It doesn’t change the thinking.
Effective brief checklist
A quick check before you send a brief anywhere, to us or anyone else:
- The core problem: does this explain why the project is starting now, not just what it should produce?
- The audience: is this the actual people who’ll use it, or a generic persona?
- The non-negotiables: have you said what you don’t want, as well as what you do?
- The decision makers: is everyone whose sign-off matters named, not just implied?
If it answers those four, it’s already better than most.
What next?
If you’re sitting on a half-formed idea, don’t worry about polishing it into a ten-page document first. Drop us a rough bulleted list, or get in touch for a short conversation and we’ll help pull the brief out of the noise.
