Print brief template
A print brief for collateral, editorial and signage: the piece, the quantity, the finishes, what must be on it, and the date that sets the real artwork deadline.
For anyone briefing brochures, reports, posters, signage or stationery.
About 10 questions, mostly taps. Free, no account. About ninety seconds.
Start a graphic design or packaging briefThis is what a finished graphic design or packaging 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
The constraint that overrides everything else.
“The carton must fit the existing shelf tray. 74 × 74 × 150 mm, no exceptions.”
What we are making
The piece, in physical terms: container, format, count.
“A folding carton for 250 g of whole beans, three variants.”
Dieline and quantity
Whether a dieline exists, and the run as a range. Print method follows.
“Dieline exists from the current printer. First run 5,000 per variant, then reorders of 2,000.”
Specifications
Written for you from the quantity and container: method, bleed, safety, resolution, finishes to confirm.
“Offset litho at this quantity. 3 mm bleed, 5 mm safety, 300 dpi. Matt lamination to confirm with the printer.”
What must be on it
Regulatory and mandatory content, so nothing is discovered at artwork.
“Ingredients, allergens, net weight, best-before space, barcode, recycling mark, origin.”
Audience and job
One person, one verb, one shelf.
“For someone standing in front of six coffees in a Meny. They should pick this one up.”
Tone and references
Positions on scales; packs to sit beside and to avoid.
“Warm rather than cool. Understated rather than bold. Like La Cabra’s bags. Not like the supermarket own-brand.”
What exists
Logo, guidelines, photography, the current artwork files.
“Logo and guidelines. Current artwork as PDFs only, no source files.”
Budget, dates, sign-off
A band, the date it must be on the shelf, and who says yes. The real artwork deadline is worked out from the shelf date.
“25–60k DKK for design. On shelf 3 March, so artwork to the printer by 20 January.”
Open questions
What is not decided, said plainly.
“Whether the third variant launches with the other two. Who supplies the barcode numbers.”
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
Print is unforgiving in a way screens are not. A website can be fixed after launch. A print run cannot, and the cost of a mistake is the whole run again. That is why a print brief carries more specification than any other kind, and why most of that specification is something you do not know and the printer will assume. This template carries it for you.
The document above is a finished print brief for collateral, editorial or signage. The decisions below are the ones that decide the method, the files and the date.
The decisions that move the quote
Format and extent. Trim size and page count come first, because everything follows from them. Page count decides the binding: folded under four pages, saddle-stitched to around forty-eight, perfect bound above. It also has to be divisible by four to bind at all, which people routinely break and which the brief catches as you type.
The quantity. Under five hundred is digital. Above two thousand is offset. In between it depends on the finishes. The method decides whether spot colours make sense, what the colour profile is, how long the press needs, and whether tooling for foil or embossing is affordable at this run.
The finishes. Foil, spot UV, embossing and die cutting each need a separate vector file and an extra proofing stage. They carry tooling costs that are the same for fifty copies as for fifty thousand, so at short runs the finish can cost more than the print.
Colour. Brand colours defined in Pantone become spot separations where that is economic and a CMYK conversion where it is not. Colours not yet decided are a design task before they are an artwork task. Say which is true.
Who prints it. A named printer turns bleed, minimum type size and colour profile from assumptions into facts. A printer still to be found means print management is part of the job. Either way, print costs are quoted separately from design fees.
The delivery date. Not the artwork date. The date the piece is needed. The brief works back through print lead time, shipping and any legal review, and writes the real artwork deadline.
Whether the logo exists as vector artwork. A raster logo cannot be printed at this quality. It is checked first because it is discovered late almost every time.
The thing fixed by law or by a physical fact. The barcode that must scan. The page count that must bind. The colour that must match the last run. That is usually the one thing that must not be got wrong.
Mistakes we see most
“A brochure for the trade show, around 30 pages.”
“A saddle-stitched A5 brochure, 32 pages, 1,500 copies, matt uncoated stock. Delivered to the stand in Herning by 10 May.”
Thirty pages cannot bind. Thirty-two can. The quantity sets the method.
“Colours as per the brand.”
“Brand colours are Pantone 5535 and 7401. At 1,500 copies, we expect a CMYK conversion; tell us if spot colour is worth it.”
Named colours and a run length let the designer decide the separations.
“Needed for the show on 10 May.”
“On the stand 10 May. Working back: delivery 8 May, print by 1 May, so artwork to the printer by 24 April, with the legal line approved by 17 April.”
The delivery date is not the artwork date. Here the subtraction is done.
Answer the questions below by tapping, and the brief works out the binding, the print method, the bleed and resolution, and the real artwork deadline for you.
What it asks, and why.
- 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.