Brand brief template
What a brand or identity brief has to decide before a designer can start: who it is for, what it must not become, and what already exists. The applications are briefed as print, web or motion.
For founders and marketing leads briefing a new identity or a refresh.
Motion, web or print. Free, no account. About ninety seconds.
Start an identity briefThis is what a finished brief contains, with an example line in each section. Write it by hand from this, or answer the questions below by tapping and the page writes it for you.
The one thing that must not be got wrong
Every brief has one. It is rarely written down because it feels obvious to the person who knows it.
“The launch date is fixed by the trade show. Everything else can move.”
What we are making
The work in physical terms, so it can be counted and priced.
“A campaign identity and its first three applications: a film, a landing page and a poster.”
Who it is for and what they should do
One person, one verb.
“For a buyer who saw us last year and did not order. They should book a meeting at the stand.”
Tone
Positions on scales, not adjectives.
“Bold rather than understated. Considered rather than energetic.”
References
Work to sit beside, and work to avoid, one reason each.
“Like the 2024 Design Week identity for its type. Not like last year’s stand; too busy.”
What exists
What the designer will not have to make.
“Logo, guidelines, product photography. No copy yet.”
Budget, dates, sign-off
A band, the date, and who says yes.
“Around 200k DKK across all three pieces. Show opens 12 May. Two people sign off; Mette decides a tie.”
Open questions
What is not decided, said plainly.
“Whether the film is live action or animation. Whether the poster is printed or screen only.”
You answer the questions. The brief writes these.
- Print method from the quantity
- Whether a dieline is needed
- Bleed, safety and resolution
- Lead times and the real artwork deadline
- The regulatory content list
A brand brief and a design brief are often confused, and the confusion costs money in both directions. A brand brief describes who a company is, who it is for, and how it wants to be understood. A design brief describes one piece of work. A studio handed a brand brief when it needed a design brief spends the first week asking what it is being asked to make. A studio handed a design brief when it needed a brand brief makes the piece well and finds out afterwards that it fits nothing else.
The document above shows a brief for the first pieces of work under a brand. Answer the questions below by tapping and choose a new identity when the brief asks what you are making: the scope, the applications and the file set follow from it. Each application after that, a pack, a site or a film, is briefed in its own type, because that is where the specifications live.
The decisions that move the quote
Who the company is, in plain words. Without the mission statement. Two sentences a new employee could repeat.
Who it is for. One concrete person rather than a segment. Their job, their situation, what they already believe about you and the alternatives.
What it does that the alternatives do not. One thing. If there are three, pick the one a customer would mention to a friend.
How it wants to be understood. Positions between named opposites, not a list of virtues. Considered or energetic. Understated or bold. Traditional or contemporary. A brand cannot be both the cheapest and the most considered, and a brief that makes those choices gives designers something to work with. A brief that lists virtues gives them a mood board.
What already exists. A name, a mark, colours, a typeface, a tone of voice, photography. Say which of these the new work has to respect and which it is allowed to replace. This is the line between a refresh and a new identity, and the two are very different quotes.
What must not happen. The competitor it must never resemble. The old identity it must not echo. The word that must never appear. Constraints of this kind are the most useful lines in a brand brief.
The first applications. A brand only exists on things. Name the first three pieces of work, because they decide what the identity has to survive: a favicon and the side of a van are different tests.
Mistakes we see most
“Our brand values are quality, innovation, sustainability and being human.”
“We are the roaster that tells you which farm the beans came from. Considered rather than energetic, warm rather than cool. We must never look like a supermarket own-brand.”
A position, two scales and one thing to avoid, instead of four virtues.
“A brand refresh, keeping the essence.”
“Keep the name and the wordmark. Replace the colours, the typeface and the photography. The symbol is open to change if you make the case.”
What is fixed and what is free. That is the difference between two weeks and two months.
“The brand will be rolled out across all touchpoints.”
“First three applications: the coffee carton, the website, a launch film for Reels. Each is briefed separately, against this brand brief.”
Three named pieces, each routed to the brief that can specify it.
HereBriefly does not write the brand brief for you, on purpose. That document needs the company to have decided things a page of taps cannot decide for it. Once the brand exists and a piece of work needs briefing against it, pick the brief below that matches the application.
What it asks, and why.
These are the questions in the print and packaging brief. The other two briefs ask their own.
- ScopeWhat are you making?
Packaging, editorial and signage share almost nothing. Naming which removes most of the tree.
- ScopeWhat kind of packaging?only when it applies
The container decides whether a dieline is needed, whether the artwork wraps, and whether a structural supplier must be involved before design starts. A missing dieline is the most common packaging delay there is.
- ScopeWhat size, and how many pages?only when it applies
Page count decides the binding, and a count not divisible by four cannot bind. It is the print rule people break most.
- ScopeWhat kind of signage, and where?only when it applies
A door sign and a vehicle wrap are different trades. The kind, the environment and the count decide material, survey and installation before anyone designs.
- ScopeHow much identity, and applied to what?only when it applies
A logo alone and a full identity with guidelines are a fourfold difference in scope, and the applications decide what gets designed on it.
- ScopeWhich templates?only when it applies
Each kind of template has its own sizes and format, all of them known. Naming the kinds is the whole specification.
- CraftHow many are being made?only when it applies
Quantity decides the print method, and the method decides whether spot colours and finishes make sense. You are not expected to know this; the printer will assume it.
- CraftWhich finishes and colours?only when it applies
Each finish is a separate vector file and an extra proof. Foil and emboss carry tooling costs that make short runs disproportionately expensive.
- CraftWhat must be on it, and who prints it?only when it applies
Missing regulatory content is the second most common cause of packaging reprints, after dielines. A named printer turns bleed, type sizes and colour profile from assumptions into facts.
- CraftHow are colours defined?only when it applies
Colour is decided once, for an identity, and everything printed on it inherits the decision.
- LookWhat already exists?
A logo that only exists as a JPEG cannot be printed at this quality, and this is found out late almost every time. A logo and guidelines that do exist make this a job of applying them.
- LookWho is this for, and where will they see it?
Where it is seen changes the design more than who buys it. Online product photography is almost never mentioned and changes everything.
- PracticalitiesBudget range
A band is a signal about which kind of job is on the table, not a commitment. Without one the designer guesses.
- PracticalitiesKey date
A date only means something next to the minimum production window. If they do not fit, better to know now.
- PracticalitiesThe one thing that must not be got wrong
Every project has one. It is rarely written down because it feels obvious to the person who knows it.