Ok, so what is a design brief? Well for the people who aren’t in the know, have a read of this post and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding. First off lets define it though:

A design brief is a written explanation which is given to a designer which helps to outlining the aims, objectives and milestones of a design project. A detailed and communicative design brief is a crucial part of the design process. It helps develop a bond and clear understanding between a client and a designer and works as a point of reference for all involved.
With that hopefully giving you the general idea, it’s time to take your hand and walk you through the procedure of the ultimate Strafe Creative design brief!

The starting point – Your company profile

Start your design brief with a simple short bio of your company. People under estimate how important this can be, make sure to spend time on this and don’t assume that the designer will necessarily know or even understand anything about your industry or sector.

What your designer needs to know:
- What your organisation does
- How long you have been established and how many staff you employ
- What your niche market is
- How you fit in to your industry sector
- Why was the company set up

Your aims

Clear goals are what are needed in this section; remember that the overall design can have a huge influence on the success of a company’s marketing strategy, so clear set goals are key.

Examples of this would be:
- Gain exposure/PR
- Generate sales?
- New products/services
- Encourage enquiries?
- Gain newsletter subscribers?
- Obtain information from your audience?
- Encourage them to tell a friend?

Right we’re doing well so far, let’s move onto……

Target audience/ demographic

Detail your most important types of clients. (or if you’re feeling clever this is called: primary, secondary and tertiary audiences.)Make sure to detail information regarding your current client base and if you’re looking to move into new markets or not.

If you have details on any demographic figures regarding your target demographic that may be useful to the designer. Another good way work out this is to sit down and write up what you perfect client would be, even going into the minor details will help the designer. These may include:
- Age
- Sex
- Income
- Hobbies
- Brands they would like
- Influences
- Occupation
- Location

The company’s budget and time scale

Most people aren’t always comfortable telling their designer the budget they have in mind for a project but a ball-park figure allows the designer to scale a marketing strategy (and therefore the price) around your company’s budget.

Time scale is also an important concern and can greatly affect the price that a designer would charge you. For example needing a full brochure designed in a week would mean long hours and stress for a designer and they would charge you accordingly for this service.

On the other hand, if you plan ahead and give the designers plenty of time, they will be able to work out a more sensible price for you. Remember to always, always detail any specific deadlines that have to be met.

Who have you asked?

Confer with with as many people within your company as possible before sending the brief, if your company is just yourself or small group feel free to let family and friends to get involved as long as they understand the concept of your business. We recommend this because it’s amazing to see the differences in opinions’ that people will have of your companies aims and objectives.

Resolving any differences in opinion will save considerable time and expense further down the line.

Language

This needs to come across in two different manners, firstly the brief you are writing needs to be clear, and concise but feel free to include your emotions in the brief as this is always helpful to any designer.

The second is to do with possible printed items. For example if a brochure was being produced you need to inform the designer of the style of writing you wish to be conceived across the project.

Design examples (Super important)

We at Strafe Creative feel this is one of the most important sections to cover, and providing examples of what you consider to be effective or relevant designs is always a great help to any designer.

If you have any, always try to include some of your company’s current marketing material, just because they don’t relate to this new project doesn’t mean they aren’t relevant. Remember that the past of the business helps to shape the future.

In this section your dislikes and likes should be portrayed, so make sure to include any particular examples you love and hate. As well as these examples always include a brief explanation of why. Sometimes clients aren’t sure why they like a certain design style, but as a general guide to look at would be:

- Colour

- Demographic aimed at

- Imagery/pictures used

- Quantity and quality of text

- Layout (use of space)

- Tone

- Typography (types of fonts used)

- The atmosphere that particular designs create

Just because (as an example) your having a leaflet designed doesn’t mean you can only show examples of the same medium. If you like a certain website, or brochure, feel free to include these as well. We even get clients showing us adverts or designs they have seen in films and just goes to show that we can take inspiration and influences from all around us.

If you manage to fill in all these details, well done! You’ve now completed the best design brief a designer could ever ask for. Now the next step is to send that to us lovely chaps at Strafe Creative at hello@strafecreative.co.uk or give us a ring on 0844 243 5205 and we can start this new exciting project with you.