Design brief template
A design brief in eight sections: the problem, the constraints, and the room for judgement. Fill it in by hand from the example, or answer the questions and let the page write it.
For anyone commissioning design work who has been asked “can you send a brief?” and is not sure what goes in one.
This 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 design brief is not a description of the design. It is a description of the problem the design has to solve, the constraints it has to solve it within, and the way its success will be judged. When a brief does those three things, your designer can start. When it does not, they start anyway, and the first round of work is really the brief being written by other means, at your expense.
The document above is a design brief with those three things in it. A design brief is a category, not a document: the questions that matter for a website are not the questions that matter for a pack or a film. This page ends by routing you to the brief that fits, and each of those writes the specifications your designer would otherwise have to ask for.
The decisions that move the quote
The problem, not the solution. The most common failure is a brief that specifies the answer: a blue site with a big hero image and three columns. That is an instruction, and a good designer will either follow it and produce something ordinary, or ignore it and produce something you did not ask for. State what the work has to achieve and for whom, and leave the shape to the person you are paying to decide the shape.
The constraints. Brand colours defined in Pantone. A logo that exists only as vector. A legal line that must appear at a minimum size. A page count divisible by four. A press date six weeks before the launch. These feel like details. They are the direction.
What exists, and what does not. Every unticked item on the asset list is a line in the estimate: photography to shoot, copy to write, a typeface to license, a dieline to create.
Scope in numbers. Templates, pages, artwork files, cuts, language versions. "A brochure" that means a 48-page catalogue has said nothing. Counts are where quotes go wrong, and they are the easiest thing to state precisely.
Taste, shown rather than told. Five references you like and two you would avoid, each with a reason. Then tone as positions between named opposites.
Who judges it. The number of people who must approve, and what happens when they disagree, is the strongest predictor of how many rounds a project takes. One named decision-maker protects the schedule better than any date.
The one thing that must not be got wrong. Every project has one. It is rarely written down because it is obvious to the person who knows it. Put it at the top.
Mistakes we see most
“We want a clean, modern site with a big hero image, a blue palette and three columns of services.”
“The site has to make a first-time visitor book a call within one visit. Our brand blue is fixed; everything else is open. Show us how you would do it.”
The problem and the one real constraint, with the solution left to the designer.
“A brochure for the new range.”
“A 32-page A5 brochure, 1,500 copies, for the trade show in May. Photography exists; copy does not.”
Scope in numbers, and what exists. Now it can be priced.
“The management team will review.”
“Mette signs off. Jonas and Anna give comments, but Mette decides. One round of changes after the first presentation.”
One decision-maker, named. The schedule is protected.
Pick the brief below that matches the work. Each asks these questions in its own terms.
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.