How to Write a Design Brief

Whether you need to capture design-specific information for logo design, graphic
design, interior design, product design, or website design, the right design brief template
can help you make sure you’re getting all pertinent details. You also need the right
template to assure stakeholders that mission or scope creep don’t derail the client’s
design project. 

Additionally, whether you’re the designer or the client, avoid working in a silo. Instead,
work side by side with each other so that you have a mutual understanding of what’s
expected of the design project initially, its progress, and its objectives and required
deliverables. 

When using a design brief, it’s helpful to remember two golden rules: 

 A good design brief leads to the successful launch of a product, service, or

environment. 
 A product cannot succeed in today’s competitive market without a great design brief to
start.

Successful Components of a Design Brief

Although the subject matter will determine the specifics of a design brief, the following
components are crucial to ensure adherence to typical design plans, as agreed upon by
designer and client: 

 Project Name/Title: Enter the name or title of the design brief (either how you or the
client refer to it). 
 Client Details: Include all of your client’s contact information (name, phone number,
email, etc.), as well as their business, what they do, what they sell, and so on. 
 Project Details: Enter all relevant project summary, research sources, scope, findings,
and research details. 
 Objective: Provide details of the client’s goals, desired outcomes, and measurable
objectives. 
 Creative/Design Elements: Record all of your client’s desired design elements. (This is
a perfect opportunity for moodboarding to determine what they like design-wise and why
they like it, as well as to inspect existing design models for what they’re looking for.) 
 Target Audience: State the target audience for the design project. 
 Attitude: Describe the project’s tone. Does the client’s brand have a personality? What
is the attitude that the client wants to convey with this design project? 
 Competitive Analysis: Capture any competitive-analysis details. Who — or what — is
the design project’s competition? 
 Image Requirements: List the media that the client wants for the design project
(graphics, photography, multimedia, etc.).
 Schedule: Define the projected timeline for the design project. What are the important
dates and deadlines? 
 Budget: Provide details of the client’s budget, including monetary amounts (or another
medium of exchange), financial sources, or notes on additional financial projections.

How To Write The Software Development Project Brief

Frank Hamilton
04 Oct 2022 • 7 min read

Software development is as in-demand as it could possibly be today. Big and small

companies alike (and even independent entrepreneurs) are regularly hiring software
developers to create programs, applications, and various online tools.

But just like with anything else, software development requires proper planning to create
a product successfully. Hence, here’s why you need a software development project brief
and how you can write one yourself.

What Is a Software Development Project Brief?

A software development project brief is pretty much what it sounds like. It is a project
brief or plan for developing some kind of software – a program, app, or online tool. A
software development project brief is necessary to plan out how you will be developing
your software and what you will need for it.

At the same time, such project briefs are often used in communication between software
developers and people who need software to be created. In some cases, clients will
approach software developers with complete project briefs. In other cases, a client can
explain their ideas and a developer will make their own brief. Then, both parties will
need to agree on the project details and finalize them through the brief.

As you can see, software development project briefs play an important role during the
negotiation and planning stage of software development, so they shouldn’t be
overlooked. Without further ado, here’s how you can start writing your own software
development project briefs:

#1 Write Down Ideas for the Project

First of all, you need to make a list of ideas you have for the project. If a client
approached you with their own ideas, then you will have to propose more of your own
and discuss them together. For example, you could propose some React app ideas if they
are interested in something like this. Sometimes clients know exactly what they want
while in other cases they will only have a vague idea of the software they need to be
developed by you.

If you have the opportunity to create the said software from scratch, then you should
definitely take the lead and propose ideas. Not all the ideas you write down while
brainstorming will be used, so having a longer list will give you more options to choose
from. It is important to keep in mind your own abilities and resources when listing ideas
so that you don’t end up working on a project you don’t know how to handle.

#2 Decide How Many People You Will Need

Some projects will require more people to complete while others can be done by a single
software developer. This depends both on the scope of the project and its complexity.
Moreover, it can also depend on the type of software being developed and even whether
or not it is developed from scratch or it is a remake of existing software.

For example, if you are developing an online tool, you will need to choose hosting and a
domain name for it. But if the tool exists already, you will need to work with it and
improve it instead of building it from nothing. Some projects are therefore better handled
by one person while others will need to be completed by a team of software developers
and other professionals (e.g. UX
designers). 

#3 Consider Getting Professional Help

Speaking of working in a team, you might want to consider getting professional help for
writing your software development project brief. If you are a software developer, you
may not be very familiar with writing practices and conventions. It could be better to let a
professional writer handle the brief while you supervise the writing process.

You can hire an experienced writer from the custom writing reviews site Best Writers
Online. Working with a professional writer who has background knowledge in software
development is the best way to create a project brief that includes all the relevant details
about the project and helps you communicate with your client effectively.

#4 Prepare the Information You Will Need

In some cases, you will need to do some research before you write the project brief.
Preparing this information before you start writing the project brief will help you make
important decisions already and write a detailed and organized brief.

The information you may need is usually about the software you need to develop. You
can look at similar programs or apps and find resources about this specific type of
software (e.g. listen to podcasts for software developers that could have some relevant
information for you).
#5 Start with the Basic Details for Your Project
Once you have gathered all the relevant information for writing the project brief, you can
actually start working on it. Once again, you can hire an expert writer from the writing
services reviews site Writing Judge to help you write your project brief in case you don’t
have experience in something like this. In any case, it’s best to start with the basic details
of your project, including:

 Company Information – The name of your company, the company website, the type of activity
the company is involved in, the company’s location, and contact details.
 Software Overview – The basic details about the project and the software that will be
developed (you will go into more details later on).
 Project Budget and Timeframe – The project budget, deadlines, and goals (you will describe
these in more detail in later sections).

#6 Plan Which Tools You Will Be Using

The next thing you should decide is which tools you will be using for developing the
software. There are quite a few tools for software developers that can be helpful for
working on all kinds of projects, but you will also need to decide which specific tools you
will need for this specific project.

Choose the tools based on the type of software that needs to be developed (program, app,
or online tool) as well as its requirements. Likewise, consider your own proficiency in
using the tool so that you don’t have to spend time learning how to use it.

But remember that not everyone you work with will have the same technical knowledge
you do. When collaborating across departments, consider integration platforms to connect
multiple tools, like syncing Asana and GitHub, Trello and Jira, and more.

#7 Focus on the Project Details and Requirements

Next, you can get into more details about the project. This will be the bulk of your project
brief, so you might want a specialist writer from the writing agency Trust My Paper to
handle it for you. There are quite a few aspects of the project and the software to think
about such as:
  Type of Software – Will it be a mobile app? A program for Mac computers? An online tool? Or
something else?
 The Core or Concept – What is the software about? What is its main purpose?
 Target Audience – Who is the target user of the software? What are their interests, preferences,
skills, and pain points?
 Features and Benefits – Which features or functionality will it have? Which problems will it
solve for the users? What benefits do the users get?
 Technical Details – Which devices will the software run on? Is there a need
for data synchronization? Will it work offline, online, or both? Will the software be integrated
with other software?
 Design Details – What will the software look like? How will the design correspond to the
functionality?
 Extra Details – Will it be free or paid software? If it is free, will there be monetization methods
used (e.g. in-app ads)?

#8 Consider the Techniques You Will Be Using

Another thing to consider is your method of software development or rather which
techniques you will be using to develop the software. There are ways you can improve
your productivity as a software developer which will already help you streamline your
workflow and complete the project faster.

On the other hand, you should also think about the more technical side of the project and
which methods you will need to use to develop the software. It is crucial to decide this
now so that you don’t struggle with it once you start developing the software.

#9 Set Deadlines and Determine the Budget

Setting deadlines (along with project goals) and determining the budget is one of the last
but most important parts of writing your software development project brief. The
deadlines you set need to be realistic and in line with your goals for the project.

Likewise, try to be reasonable when estimating your budget needs. If there are any extra
resources you need, note that down. Consider any unexpected situations where you may
need to have a backup budget to spend.

#10 Proofread and Edit the Project Brief

 Last but not least, proofread and edit your project brief carefully. Before you send it to
your client to read, you have to make sure that there are no linguistic or factual mistakes
that could make you look unprofessional.

In addition to that, check that the project brief is formatted properly. If you need to,
include any supporting visuals (e.g. screenshots of existing software that you use as an
example of what the end product will look like).

Final Thoughts
All in all, creating a software development project brief is not that hard after you’ve done
it a few times and know what you are doing. But if you are only starting out, then you
should use this guide to help you figure out how to create a detailed and useful project
brief.

Architectural Design Brief – The Checklist

Table of Contents

 Architectural Design Brief – The Checklist

 Introduction
 What is an architectural design brief?
 Scroll to the end to download this article as a handy PDF guide!
 Types of Design Brief
 How the Brief Evolves
 Helping Your Client Develop a Brief
 Our Design Brief checklists
 Residential Client Brief Checklist:
 Commercial Client Brief Checklist:
 Helpful links
 Download the Guide!
 You might also be interested in:
 Conclusion
 
Introduction
 
What is an architectural design brief?
The architectural design brief forms the very beginning of the design
process. It is a project management document containing crucial
project information with set outcomes that need to be achieved upon
completion. It can provide an overall plan for the project and also be a
useful reference document when tracking progress and efficiency. The
brief is relevant in both educational and professional settings.
Student projects are often based around a real life project, with an
imaginary client often included.  A live project usually exists in order to
fulfil the needs of a client, which then forms the grounding for a project
brief. Typically the client’s requirements will be drafted in a document
called the Strategic Brief. The architect will then need to develop a
response to this in a key document called the Project Brief. It will often
contain information about the project, stakeholders and deliverables
alongside constraints such as the estimated time and costs required
for completion.
Now it is important to note that depending on the level of involvement
the client wants the architect to have, the chosen architect(s) may be
in charge of putting either one or both of the client requirements and
project briefs together. A thorough and informative design brief is
therefore an imperative part of the design process. It is an essential
point of reference not only for the architect, but for all people involved
in the design and implementation of the project.
The more information we can gain from the client in the early stages of
design, the more effective our decision making and problem solving
process will be.
Scroll to the end to download this article as a handy PDF guide!
Types of Design Brief
There are two main types of architectural design briefs that we will
focus on here which in many ways are quite different from each other.
There is the private or domestic client that may be looking to have a
home designed. They could be someone that has never employed an
architect before, and have little or no experience of the architectural
design and construction process. The commercial client however,
generally is more experienced, and often has very different priorities to
a domestic client.
How the Brief Evolves
It is important to remember that the design brief can evolve over the
life of the project, it is not a static document that is completed at the
start of the process. The brief must be developed with the client and
end users to reflect the changes and challenges that occur as the
project progresses. Having brief evaluations at set stages in the
project helps to ensure that all stakeholders involved are on the same
page. It is important that the brief not only fulfils the aesthetic
aspirations of the client but also the functional requirements and
needs too. With student projects that are developed without a client
focus, it is possible to consider the site or place as the client, and
consider the needs of the site itself, and how the project design is
going to meet those needs.
Helping Your Client Develop a Brief
Often clients, particularly domestic, may find it daunting to compile a
design brief and as such it is important that we, the professionals,
guide our clients to give us the information we need.
We have put together two checklists/questionnaires (which are
certainly not exhaustive) to go through with your clients to help you get
the information you need from your client in order to inform your
design and fulfil your clients requirements. These lists will take you to
the technical design stage where you will have a new set of questions
and a new brief that will have to be developed.
Our Design Brief checklists
Briefing requirements will vary from project to project depending on
scale and need. You will also find some aspects will be dictated by
local authority regulations, planning requirements and conservation
restrictions – it is important to be mindful of this from the outset.
You may also find that the brief will change and develop as you work
on your early proposals as you interact with your client and gain a
better understanding of their needs.
See below our checklist of questions that you can start off asking your
client:
Residential Client Brief Checklist:
 Initial Client Questions:
 Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
 Full site address
 Details of any other important parties in the design process
About your client:
 Describe your current home. What do you like and dislike about it?
What is missing, and what would you change.
 What kind of ideas do you have about design and / or materials? Do
you have any images from magazines/internet that show us a style
that you like?
 Are there any particular design features that are important to you?
 What kind of style do you require for the project? e.g. contemporary,
traditional, industrial, bold, elegant, minimal etc.
 Do you have any specific materials or surfaces in mind that you would
like to see included in the project?
 Do you have specific time requirements for the project to be
complete?
 What are your budget requirements?
 Do you have any specific accessibility requirements, for example is
anyone in your family disabled or do you have any regular visitors that
would have special needs?
Sustainability & Energy Efficiency:
 Do you have any specific considerations toward sustainability and
energy efficiency – is there a particular system you would like to use:
i.e., solar panels etc.
 Have you considered using alternative energy and heat sources?
 How much time and energy would you be willing to invest to maintain
your home?
About the site:
 Why did you choose this site? 
 Is there anything about the site that you particularly like or dislike?
Anything you would like to keep or remove?
 Are there any particular views within the site that are particularly
important to you?
About the occupants:
 How many people will be living in the new home?
 Do you foresee new additions to the home? (ie children) 
 Are there any pets that will need to be accommodated?
About the lifestyle:
 Describe your lifestyle and the kind of spaces that you need? For
example, work from home, entertain often, etc
 How much time do you spend in the different areas of your home
(indoors and outdoors)?
 What type of entertainment systems do you require? Music, TV,
projectors, speakers throughout the house?
 What type of storage do you require? Specific hobbies that require lots
of storage space? Large wardrobe space?
 Indoor spaces:
 Number of floors / rooms / spaces and use for each?
 Are there any particular areas that are to be more private than others?
Or particular rooms that you would like to have connected?
 Do you have any preferred room layouts/relationships or orientations?
– a south facing kitchen for example.
Outdoor spaces:
 Do you have any specific ideas or plans for the outside spaces that
you would like us to consider? 
 Any specific requirements for entry or street access?
 Have you thought about landscaping or including a garden? (green or
blue spaces)
Specific questions for clients looking to extend or renovate
current homes:
 What would you like to see in your newly extended/renovated home
that it currently lacks?
 What additional areas / functions / activities will be housed in the new
proposed space?
 Do you have any particular preferences for the relationship between
the rooms?
 Would you be happy to reconsider the internal layout?
Commercial Client Brief Checklist:
 Initial Client Questions:
 Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
 Full site address
 Details of any other important contacts in the project team
Client Information:
 Why is this project being developed?
 Why did the client choose this site?
 Who are the other participants of this project?
 Does the client have any specific wishes with regard to design?
 What attitude do they have towards architecture and design?
 Will the drawings need to be understandable by non experts?
 Has the client worked with an architect before? If so, who?
 What are the time constraints of the project?
 Are there any particular phasing requirements?
Fees:
 On what basis is the calculation of fees based?
 Should the project cost be estimated in order to base the fee
calculation?
 What is the client budget?
Basic Design Factors:
 Depending on the type of project questions will vary, however some of
the domestic questions may apply.
 What is the client looking to achieve with this project?
 What do the surroundings look like? Landscaping, trees, orientation,
climate etc?
 What are the existing buildings and surrounding buildings? What
materials are they?
 Does any later construction need to be taken into account now?
 What sort of materials would the client like to use?
 Are there any specific design goals? sustainability targets for example.
 Does the client/company have any leaning toward a sustainable
energy efficient ethos?
 Would they like to include new technologies in the project?
 What are the infrastructure requirements of this project?
Occupants:
 Who will use the building?
 What are the requirements of the users of the building?
 Are there any specific accessibility requirements?
 There will be many more questions in this category following discovery
of proposed building occupants.
Spaces:
 What floors / rooms / spaces are required? (Indoor and Outdoor)
 How would the spaces need to connect?
 Are there specific spatial requirements?
 Are there any specific external landscaping requirements?
 Are there any specific mechanical or electrical requirements?
Helpful links
League table advice: Briefing documents for building design –
Designing Buildings RIBA Plan of Work (architecture.com)
Download the Guide!
Download this helpful article as a pdf to keep for reference later.
Click here to download the PDF
You might also be interested in:
We have lots of helpful architecture content. Be sure to check it out:
 Conclusion
Above are just a few of the things that need to be considered when
developing the initial architectural brief. It is key to really take the time
to understand the requirements of your client and the site in order to
develop solid design solutions for your project. If you think there are
any questions/points missing, we would love to hear from you. Please
comment below to let us know your ideas. Thanks!
Architectural Design Brief – The Checklist
Table of Contents

 Architectural Design Brief – The Checklist

 Introduction
 What is an architectural design brief?
 Scroll to the end to download this article as a handy PDF guide!
 Types of Design Brief
 How the Brief Evolves
 Helping Your Client Develop a Brief
 Our Design Brief checklists
 Residential Client Brief Checklist:
 Commercial Client Brief Checklist:
 Helpful links
 Download the Guide!
 You might also be interested in:
 Conclusion
 
Introduction
 
What is an architectural design brief?
The architectural design brief forms the very beginning of the design
process. It is a project management document containing crucial
project information with set outcomes that need to be achieved upon
completion. It can provide an overall plan for the project and also be a
useful reference document when tracking progress and efficiency. The
brief is relevant in both educational and professional settings.
Student projects are often based around a real life project, with an
imaginary client often included.  A live project usually exists in order to
fulfil the needs of a client, which then forms the grounding for a project
brief. Typically the client’s requirements will be drafted in a document
called the Strategic Brief. The architect will then need to develop a
response to this in a key document called the Project Brief. It will often
contain information about the project, stakeholders and deliverables
alongside constraints such as the estimated time and costs required
for completion.
Now it is important to note that depending on the level of involvement
the client wants the architect to have, the chosen architect(s) may be
in charge of putting either one or both of the client requirements and
project briefs together. A thorough and informative design brief is
therefore an imperative part of the design process. It is an essential
point of reference not only for the architect, but for all people involved
in the design and implementation of the project.
The more information we can gain from the client in the early stages of
design, the more effective our decision making and problem solving
process will be.
Scroll to the end to download this article as a handy PDF guide!
Types of Design Brief
There are two main types of architectural design briefs that we will
focus on here which in many ways are quite different from each other.
There is the private or domestic client that may be looking to have a
home designed. They could be someone that has never employed an
architect before, and have little or no experience of the architectural
design and construction process. The commercial client however,
generally is more experienced, and often has very different priorities to
a domestic client.
How the Brief Evolves
It is important to remember that the design brief can evolve over the
life of the project, it is not a static document that is completed at the
start of the process. The brief must be developed with the client and
end users to reflect the changes and challenges that occur as the
project progresses. Having brief evaluations at set stages in the
project helps to ensure that all stakeholders involved are on the same
page. It is important that the brief not only fulfils the aesthetic
aspirations of the client but also the functional requirements and
needs too. With student projects that are developed without a client
focus, it is possible to consider the site or place as the client, and
consider the needs of the site itself, and how the project design is
going to meet those needs.
Helping Your Client Develop a Brief
Often clients, particularly domestic, may find it daunting to compile a
design brief and as such it is important that we, the professionals,
guide our clients to give us the information we need.
We have put together two checklists/questionnaires (which are
certainly not exhaustive) to go through with your clients to help you get
the information you need from your client in order to inform your
design and fulfil your clients requirements. These lists will take you to
the technical design stage where you will have a new set of questions
and a new brief that will have to be developed.
Our Design Brief checklists
Briefing requirements will vary from project to project depending on
scale and need. You will also find some aspects will be dictated by
local authority regulations, planning requirements and conservation
restrictions – it is important to be mindful of this from the outset.
You may also find that the brief will change and develop as you work
on your early proposals as you interact with your client and gain a
better understanding of their needs.
See below our checklist of questions that you can start off asking your
client:
Residential Client Brief Checklist:
 Initial Client Questions:
 Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
 Full site address
 Details of any other important parties in the design process
About your client:
 Describe your current home. What do you like and dislike about it?
What is missing, and what would you change.
 What kind of ideas do you have about design and / or materials? Do
you have any images from magazines/internet that show us a style
that you like?
 Are there any particular design features that are important to you?
 What kind of style do you require for the project? e.g. contemporary,
traditional, industrial, bold, elegant, minimal etc.
 Do you have any specific materials or surfaces in mind that you would
like to see included in the project?
 Do you have specific time requirements for the project to be
complete?
 What are your budget requirements?
 Do you have any specific accessibility requirements, for example is
anyone in your family disabled or do you have any regular visitors that
would have special needs?
Sustainability & Energy Efficiency:
 Do you have any specific considerations toward sustainability and
energy efficiency – is there a particular system you would like to use:
i.e., solar panels etc.
 Have you considered using alternative energy and heat sources?
 How much time and energy would you be willing to invest to maintain
your home?
About the site:
 Why did you choose this site? 
 Is there anything about the site that you particularly like or dislike?
Anything you would like to keep or remove?
 Are there any particular views within the site that are particularly
important to you?
About the occupants:
 How many people will be living in the new home?
 Do you foresee new additions to the home? (ie children) 
 Are there any pets that will need to be accommodated?
About the lifestyle:
 Describe your lifestyle and the kind of spaces that you need? For
example, work from home, entertain often, etc
 How much time do you spend in the different areas of your home
(indoors and outdoors)?
 What type of entertainment systems do you require? Music, TV,
projectors, speakers throughout the house?
 What type of storage do you require? Specific hobbies that require lots
of storage space? Large wardrobe space?
 Indoor spaces:
 Number of floors / rooms / spaces and use for each?
 Are there any particular areas that are to be more private than others?
Or particular rooms that you would like to have connected?
 Do you have any preferred room layouts/relationships or orientations?
– a south facing kitchen for example.
Outdoor spaces:
 Do you have any specific ideas or plans for the outside spaces that
you would like us to consider? 
 Any specific requirements for entry or street access?
 Have you thought about landscaping or including a garden? (green or
blue spaces)
Specific questions for clients looking to extend or renovate
current homes:
 What would you like to see in your newly extended/renovated home
that it currently lacks?
 What additional areas / functions / activities will be housed in the new
proposed space?
 Do you have any particular preferences for the relationship between
the rooms?
 Would you be happy to reconsider the internal layout?
Commercial Client Brief Checklist:
 Initial Client Questions:
 Full contact details of client – address, phone number, email
 Full site address
 Details of any other important contacts in the project team
Client Information:
 Why is this project being developed?
 Why did the client choose this site?
 Who are the other participants of this project?
 Does the client have any specific wishes with regard to design?
 What attitude do they have towards architecture and design?
 Will the drawings need to be understandable by non experts?
 Has the client worked with an architect before? If so, who?
 What are the time constraints of the project?
 Are there any particular phasing requirements?
Fees:
 On what basis is the calculation of fees based?
 Should the project cost be estimated in order to base the fee
calculation?
 What is the client budget?
Basic Design Factors:
 Depending on the type of project questions will vary, however some of
the domestic questions may apply.
 What is the client looking to achieve with this project?
 What do the surroundings look like? Landscaping, trees, orientation,
climate etc?
 What are the existing buildings and surrounding buildings? What
materials are they?
 Does any later construction need to be taken into account now?
 What sort of materials would the client like to use?
 Are there any specific design goals? sustainability targets for example.
 Does the client/company have any leaning toward a sustainable
energy efficient ethos?
 Would they like to include new technologies in the project?
 What are the infrastructure requirements of this project?
Occupants:
 Who will use the building?
 What are the requirements of the users of the building?
 Are there any specific accessibility requirements?
 There will be many more questions in this category following discovery
of proposed building occupants.
Spaces:
 What floors / rooms / spaces are required? (Indoor and Outdoor)
 How would the spaces need to connect?
 Are there specific spatial requirements?
 Are there any specific external landscaping requirements?
 Are there any specific mechanical or electrical requirements?
Helpful links
League table advice: Briefing documents for building design –
Designing Buildings RIBA Plan of Work (architecture.com)
Download the Guide!
Download this helpful article as a pdf to keep for reference later.
Click here to download the PDF
You might also be interested in:
We have lots of helpful architecture content. Be sure to check it out:
Conclusion
Above are just a few of the things that need to be considered when
developing the initial architectural brief. It is key to really take the time
to understand the requirements of your client and the site in order to
develop solid design solutions for your project. If you think there are
any questions/points missing, we would love to hear from you. Please
comment below to let us know your ideas. Thanks!
How to Write a Creative Brief in 11 Simple Steps [Examples +
Template]
Download Now: Free Creative Brief Templates

Basha Coleman

Published: April 26, 2023

The first step in any successful project is drawing up a game plan with a clear objective. It's one
of the reasons marketers love creative briefs.

A creative brief acts as a roadmap that takes a project from ideation to completion. It ensures the
scope, timeline, key stakeholders, and purpose of the project are communicated clearly. The
creative brief is the single source of truth for everyone working on a project. If questions come
up or tasks become unclear, the creative brief will steer things in the right direction.

→ Free Download: Creative Brief Templates

What is a creative brief?

A creative brief is a short document that sums up marketing, advertising, or design project
mission, goals, challenges, demographics, messaging, and other key details. It's often created by
a consultant or a creative project manager. The goal of a brief is to achieve stakeholder
alignment on a project before it begins.

The Purpose of a Creative Brief

Whether you’re a consultant pitching a creative brief to a client, or a project manager presenting
a brief to your team, start by speaking with the project stakeholders. These discussions will help
 you understand the company's mission, project goals, and challenges your team faces. Then,
you’ll have enough information to write a compelling brief that focuses on what’s really
important to your company or client.

The idea of a creative brief sounds simple, but it can be hard to wrap a lot of important details
into just a few pages. Therefore, a creative brief is typically comprised of eight sections that can
fit on one to two pages.

How a Creative Brief Works

Creative briefs are pretty standard documents within just about every marketing, advertising, or
design team. For smaller projects that live in-house (like designs, templates, marketing assets,
etc.) the brief is owned by the team who will be executing on the information in the brief. This is
usually the creative team, but this team can fall within the brand department or even live within
marketing.

For more advanced, long-term projects that involve an agency, the creative brief is owned by the
creative team or agency who will be executing the work. This is because they'll work closely
with the stakeholders on the project to understand what is needed, plus they'll bring their own
expertise and competitive research to the brief that the internal team may not have access to.

These types of creative briefs aren't rare, but they are created infrequently due to the nature of the
projects they support. So for this post, we'll focus mostly on the day-to-day creative briefs that
you're likely to use often. Here's how they work.

Creative Brief Outline

1. Project Name

2. Company Background

3. Project Objective

4. Target Audience

5. Competitors

6. Key Message

7. Key Consumer Benefit

8. Attitude

9. Call to Action

10. Distribution

Step 1. The teams who need assistance from the creative team will retrieve the creative brief
template from a repository like OneDrive, Google Drive, or an online form.
Step 2. The team that is requesting the project will complete the brief according to their team's
needs and goals. The completion of the creative brief starts with the team requesting the project
so that they can explain their vision and goals clearly to the creative team.
Step 3. From there, the brief is sent back to the creative team to review. They'll be looking for
timelines, resources, and budget requirements.
Step 4. If they have any questions, they'll go back to the team who wrote the brief and finalize
the details.
Step 5. After that, the project is kicked off, sometimes with the help of a project manager, who
will check-in with stakeholders on the project and keep everything on schedule, within scope,
and within budget.
Step 6. Once the project is complete, both teams will review the deliverables against the creative
brief to ensure everything is completed correctly.

The format of every company's creative brief might vary slightly to suit the needs of the project
or client. Below is a simple outline that will be the foundation of your creative brief. It includes
the most important steps in the creative process and information that'll be relevant to
stakeholders involved in the project.

Once you’re fully informed and ready to write, use the following steps to draft yours. To make it
even easier, I've included a fill-in-the-blank template in the last step.
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How to Write a Creative Brief

1. Decide on a name for the project.

2. Write about the brand and summarize the project’s background.

3. Highlight the project objective.

4. Describe the target audience.

5. Interpret the competitive landscape.

6. Prepare the key message.

7. Choose the key consumer benefit.

8. Select an attitude.

9. Determine the best call to action.

10. Draft the distribution plan.

11. Share the creative brief with stakeholders.

1. Decide on a name for the project.

The first step in developing a creative brief is deciding on a project name. This might sound
simple, but it's one of the most critical components of a creative brief. If you're building a
campaign around a brand new product or service, the campaign name will be the first time many
members of your team will be introduced to it. Referring to the campaign (and therefore product
or service) by the correct name prevents the game of telephone from happening. Without a
specific and clear campaign name, people will make up their own terminology which can alter
the intent of the campaign.

To create a project or campaign name for your creative brief, keep it creative and brief. A few
words or a short sentence should work just fine. If you're launching a product, identify what the
 call to action will be for the target audience, then center the name around that. Here are a few
examples of fictional campaign names:

 The Search for Adventure Campaign- A scavenger hunt-themed amusement park.

 The Don't Forget Your Memories Campaign - A photo frame company.
 The "What's hotter than Pepperco hot sauce?" Campaign - A hot sauce brand.
2. Write about the brand and summarize the project’s background.
Another simple, yet essential section is the company background. If you work in an agency
setting, this is non-negotiable as your team is likely handling several client campaigns at once.
However, if you're developing a creative brief for an in-house project, you'll still want to include
this part. New hires on your team, freelancers, and vendors will appreciate the background that
your internal team is already privy to.

The company background shouldn't be a general history of the company or a copied and pasted
paragraph from the about page. Instead, tailor this to the project at hand. Set the scene with one
or two sentences that sum up the brand’s mission. Follow this with a few sentences that give
background on the brand and what led to the development of the project.

While some creatives have put this information all together in a quick paragraph, others separate
it with headers like “Brand Statement” and “Background.”

Here are some questions to consider when writing a company background for your creative brief:

 Has the company launched a campaign like this before?

 Why is the company choosing to launch this campaign right now?

 What's happening in the market and how will this campaign respond to it?

3. Highlight the project objective.

Here is where the creative brief gets more specific. The project objective should briefly explain
the purpose of the project, the timeline, and the audience it'll target. This can be done in a
sentence or two, but you can get creative and stylize it in sections.

This part of the creative brief will be helpful in emphasizing why the project needs to happen.
The goal aspects will help you and your team align on the project’s expectations. If the company
or client hasn’t identified any major challenges, you can focus this section on goals and
objectives. Explain what a successful project looks like and how it will benefit the company.

Pro Tip: Writing a project objective is very similar to writing a goal, so take a look at this blog
post for more detail on goal and objective writing.
Here’s an example of a sample creative brief for PayPal that offers separate sections for “The
Problem” and “The Goal”:
 4. Describe the target audience.
Next, it's time to define the target audience for the project. This is the segment of your market
that will directly benefit from the product or service being launched. You can take audience
segmentation a step further by identifying a primary and secondary audience. Doing so will give
your team more freedom to explore creative ideas that might resonate with one group more than
the other.

When crafting the target audience section, be sure to include the following:

 Demographics - Simple demographic information gives your team insight into exactly who the audience
is. This includes data points like age, income, education, ethnicity, and occupation.

 Behaviors - Buying behaviors, trends, and other customer history make up the target audience behaviors.
These provide important context to the creative brief because they explain where the customer is in their
buyer journey.

 Psychographics - This is how the audience thinks and feels about your brand and the product or service
you sell, in general.

 Geographics - Digital, physical, and hybrid campaigns will benefit from having geographics stated
explicitly in the creative brief so that media buyers can price ad slots in each market.

Pro Tip: Your creative brief shouldn't be too long, and this section can take up quite a bit of
space. To make this section more digestible, consider using buyer personas.
Here’s how the sample brief for PayPal noted above thoughtfully explains a new product’s target
audience:
5. Interpret the competitive landscape.
Knowing what your competitors are doing is advantageous for the whole team. You can use
competitive data to come up with ideas that haven’t been tried yet, learn from their failed
projects, or build a project that improves on a strategy they’ve used in the past.

Include a quick list of competitors with similar product or service offerings. Briefly list a few
things your company has in common with them, how your brand has differentiated itself already,
and a few areas where this project can help you get ahead.Get Your Free Templates

6. Prepare the key message.

The key message can be the most difficult part of the creative brief to develop because just about
every stakeholder will have a different opinion of what it should be. To get buy-in faster, try this
simple trick. Ask yourself "We're launching this project, so what?" The "so what?" is your key
message. It explains why your target audience should stop what they're doing and pay attention
to your campaign.

The key message includes the pain point, what the audience's experience might be like without
the pain point, and the benefit they'll receive as a result of your company's solution. This
framework places the customer in the spotlight of the campaign. Instead of telling them what this
product or service could do for them, it positions them as the main character in the journey from
problem to solution.

7. Choose the key consumer benefit.

If you're launching a new product, there are likely several features and benefits that the target
audience will experience when they decide to purchase it. However, it's very difficult to structure
a campaign around several different features. That's why marketers and creatives use something
called a key consumer benefit (KCB) in the creative brief to keep everyone aligned on the
primary benefit being communicated. To choose the right KCB, you'll want to get input from the
project stakeholders and rely on consumer data to guide the decision.

Pro Tip: Your KCB won't always be the fanciest feature of your product. The benefit that
solves the biggest problem for your audience is a great choice for the KCB.
8. Select an attitude.
The tone and voice of your campaign create the overall attitude and that should be consistent
throughout every creative element that's being developed. Identifying a few adjectives that
describe the attitude of the campaign can help copywriters draft copy that sends the correct
message within the right context. Graphic designers can use colors and techniques to portray the
tone and voice as well.

In this section of the brief, you should also note the appropriate voice for your audience. While
some audiences, like those in the business world, prefer more formal language, others might
engage more with a casual, relatable tone. To substantiate your decision to choose a particular
brand voice and tone, you could write something like, “Our brand voice is a casual and carefree
tone because it speaks to younger Gen-Z audiences.”

Pro tip: Use a thesaurus to find specific words that evoke nuanced emotions and attitudes for a
hyper-targeted campaign.

9. Determine the best call to action.

Finally, your audience needs something to do once they see your campaign. The good thing
about CTAs is that they don't have to be physical actions. A CTA could have a goal to change
thoughts and perceptions about your brand which doesn't require the audience to do anything at
all.

Your creative brief might include several different CTAs, especially if you have a primary and
secondary target audience. But it's a good idea to have one primary CTA that drives the project
objective we talked about earlier.

10. Draft the distribution plan.

When the project is done, you’ll need to make sure your audience actually sees it. List a few
channels or platforms on which you plan to announce the launch, as well as any promotional
content you plan to create.

When drafting this section, think about your target audience. Don’t waste time on a promotional
strategy that they won’t see. For example, if you’re promoting a project to Gen-Z, you’ll want to
invest in social media rather than billboards or newspaper ads.

11. Share the creative brief with stakeholders.

Once you’ve drafted a creative brief, share it with the team you’ll be working with. You’ll also
want to circulate it around the company via Slack, email, or presentations. If you’re a consultant
working outside of a client’s company, encourage your clients to share the brief internally.
As you or your clients spread awareness, you should be open to answering questions or taking
feedback from colleagues in case they have any great ideas. This strategy will improve team
alignment, increase support of the project, and ensure that all of your colleagues are on the same
page.
Follow Along with HubSpot's Free Creative Brief Templates

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Creative Brief Template
Having trouble with the flow and organization of your brief? Here’s a simple template that could
help. Copy and paste it into a document and fill in the blanks. You can also add to it or adjust it
as needed for your project.
 Download More Creative Brief Templates

[Inset company or client logo at the top along with the project name.]

COMPANY BACKGROUND:

For ___ years, ______ [Brand Name] has been serving customers in the ____________
[group/job field/geographical area] with ____________________ [product or service].

[Brand Name] has made achievements including __________,__________, and ___________.

We have also launched marketing campaigns that have touched on ____________,________,
and ____________. With the launch of _________ [project name] they hope to ___________.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

With this project, the company aims to solve problems related to ____________________, while
also expanding on ___________ and improving on _____________.
 TARGET AUDIENCE:

Our target audience is ____ [gender], in the age range of _ and _, and live areas like ____,
_____, and ______. They enjoy _____, dislike ______, and might work in fields like _____,
_____, and _____. They want more of ________ and their daily pain points include ________.

Their favorite products might include _______ and ______. They learn about these products
through channels including ________, _________, and _______.

COMPETITORS:

Our three biggest competitors [are/will be] ________, ________, and _______. These
competitors offer _____, ______, and ______. We are ahead of them in _____ and ______, but
we are behind when it comes to product offerings like __________ and _________.

KEY MESSAGE:

The target audience is experiencing __________ [pain point], but with our newest project
___________, they'll get to experience _________ [new experience without the pain point].
That's what makes ______ [solution] an unrivaled solution within the market.

KEY CONSUMER BENEFIT:

________ [feature] is the best way for our target audience to experience _____ [benefit].

ATTITUDE:

[Include three to five adjectives that describe the tone and voice of the project.]

CALL TO ACTION:

When the target audience sees our campaign, they will [feel/think/do] _________.

DISTRIBUTION:

We will promote the launch on platforms and channels that our demographic regularly engages
with. These will include ________, ________, and _______.

We will also release content including _______, _______, and ________ to gain attention from
our audience and inform them of the project.

Below are a few messages we will use:

 _________________________________________________.

 _________________________________________________.

 _________________________________________________.
Types of Creative Briefs
Creative briefs serve several purposes in the communications field. Marketers, designers, and
advertisers use them differently. Depending on your role, your team, and the project you're
working on, one might be more effective than the other. Below are some of the most common
types of creative briefs used across industries today plus examples of what they might look like.

1. Marketing Creative Briefs

A marketing creative brief is most commonly used to bring campaigns to market. This type of
creative brief can be used for both new and existing campaigns. Broad business goals and
strategies to accomplish them are usually included in this type of creative brief. It's also not
uncommon to see revenue goals and a budget included in a marketing creative brief.

Simple Marketing Creative Brief Example

2. Product Design Creative Briefs

Product design creative briefs outline the go-to-market strategy for a new product or feature
launch. Product marketers are responsible for developing this type of brief. Developed in
conjunction with the product manager, the product design creative brief will describe the features
and benefits of the product and how the audience will benefit from them. Unique features of this
type of creative brief include product documentation and product descriptions.

Product Design Creative Brief Example

3. Advertising Agency Creative Briefs

Advertising agencies develop creative briefs often for the various clients they serve. These briefs
are concise and include the client's brand guidelines as well as the specific project guidelines. A
budget may also be included in the brief so that all teams can make wise decisions about the
tactics they recommend for the client. An account manager or supervisor develops the creative
brief and shares it with client stakeholders before the agency begins working on the project.
Advertising Agency Creative Brief Example

Creative Brief Examples

1. Creative Request Template
For the day-to-day management of creative projects, using a creative request template in Asana
acts as a dynamic take on a traditionally static creative brief. With a few tweaks to suit your
business's needs, this template flows through each stage of the project while specifying tasks,
deliverables, and key points that need to be included in the project. Moreover, Asana provides
several types of views that make this template easy to look at from a calendar view, list view,
board view, and timeline view so you'll always know the progress of your project in relation to
the creative brief.

When to Use This Creative Brief:

This creative brief example is great for marketing, brand, creative, and design teams who handle
a large backlog of projects with stakeholders on many different teams. Use this brief for both ad-
hoc and regularly occurring projects.

2. Creative Brief Presentation Template

This creative brief example was designed by TemplateForest. It's a visual-forward example of a
brief that works well for long-term projects like building a business or refreshing a brand. This
longer brief includes a variety of information from internal brand insights to an external
competitive analysis.
 When to Use This Creative Brief:

Use this creative brief when you're partnering with a creative agency on bigger projects. They
can use this layout to inspire a creative brief that fits the needs of your business.

Streamline Projects with a Creative Brief

Scope creep happens to the best of us. Projects get bigger, stakeholders are added, and the
objective of the project seems to morph as time goes on. Streamline your next product launch or
marketing and advertising campaign with a creative brief. As a result, you'll find that your team
is more aligned with the project's goals. We've even provided free creative brief templates to get
you started — download them below

What is a Design Brief and How to

Write One
 by Simon Heaton

 Project Management

 Jul 13, 2020

 11 minute read

 Email
 

 Pinterest
 

 Facebook
 

 Twitter
 

 LinkedIn
A design brief is an important document that outlines your design project so
that you and your client understand exactly what to expect in terms of
deliverables and project workflow. It’s a key project management tool that also
helps you manage client expectations, so it’s important to learn how to write
one to keep your web design projects on track.

Whether you’ve used design briefs in the past or not, you should consider
adding them to every project workflow. Here’s everything you need to know
about how to write a design brief to keep your web design projects on track,
feel more organized, and delight your clients. 

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and access revenue share opportunities, tools to grow your business, and a
passionate commerce community.

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What is a design brief?

A design brief, also known as a creative brief, is a project management
document that allows you to identify the scope, scale, and core details of your
upcoming design project. It is similar to a proposal or statement of work with
the key difference being that in a design brief, your client has already decided
that they want to work with you—you’ve already closed the deal, now it’s time
to lay out the details.

When you include the right information, the design brief has the potential to be
one of your most powerful project management tools. It can be used to inform
design decisions and guide the overall workflow of your project; from
conception to completion. A well-written creative brief helps you to identify and
avoid roadblocks early on, and it can even streamline and accelerate
your prototyping, design, and development process.

"The design brief has the potential to be one of

your most powerful project management tools."
While every designer and agency tackles creative briefs in their own way,
you’ll get the most out of it by collaborating with your client at the onset of a
project. This way, your design brief allows you to clarify goals and objectives,
get input from important stakeholders, and, ultimately, hold both parties
accountable for the final product.

If you and your clients both understand each other’s responsibilities and have
a clear vision for what the final deliverables will be before any work begins,
you’ll likely avoid many unnecessary revisions or, “We didn’t ask for that”
moments during and after the project.

Kicking off a new project with a design brief provides so many other benefits
for your project workflow. Here are just a few more benefits that it will give you
—and your client. A design brief:
 Provides designers with the necessary insight, background, and foundation to
create the visual design
 Offers your team a more detailed vision of the client’s expectations, giving you
everything you need to delight them
 Helps keep individual contributors aligned and on track, while keeping the
project on time and on budget
 Gives the client a sense of involvement in the process, and comfort that their
goals and vision are understood
 Provides you with all design specs upfront
 Helps you understand your client’s taste and identify their “must-not-haves” 
Your design brief is valuable even after you’ve completed and submitted your
project. If you’ve taken the time to draft a comprehensive design brief, you’ll
be able to use it as the basis for a case study to use in future pitches. If you’re
unfamiliar with how to do this, check out our detailed walkthrough on how to
write a web design case study that lands new clients. If your client projects are
similar, with repeatable elements, there’s also no need to write your creative
brief from scratch every time you start a new project. Using a creative brief
template can save you time and energy.

Free Design Brief Template: Check out the design brief template to get
started.

The anatomy of a design brief

Design briefs can come in a variety of formats, and can include different
information depending on the type of project you’re working on and the client
you’re working with. To give you a sense of what to include and how to
structure the document itself, here is a breakdown of the core sections of an
effective design brief.

1. Company profile
Your design brief should include an overview of your client’s business so that
all members of your team are familiar with your client, their brand, and any
internal factors that can influence the direction or success of the project. 

Here are the key elements to include in this section:

 Company details, including client name, industry, product lines, etc.
 Brand differentiator and/or unique selling proposition
 Brand mission, vision, values, and messaging
 Key stakeholders, contributors, and points of contact within the business
 List of direct and indirect competitors
Including these important details about your client’s brand, decision makers,
and the context for why they want and need the project can help you get to
know your client as they see themselves from a brand perspective. It helps to
know exactly which stakeholders are responsible for certain deliverables, and
who you should be contacting if an issue arises. 

"It helps to know exactly which stakeholders are

responsible for certain deliverables, and who you
should be contacting if an issue arises."
You may have already researched your client and pitched them your services,
leading to them working with you. If that’s the case, feel free to use the
information collected during your research. Just be sure that your client
reviews the information to confirm its accuracy and to add any relevant
information you might have missed.

If your client proactively reached out to you to work on a certain project, they
should be responsible for sharing this information with you, upfront. However,
they may not know that it’s their responsibility to share this information. 

It can help to create or use a design brief template, form or questionnaire for
your client to fill out with all the details you need to know before you start the
project. If you want to be strategic about the types of clients you work with,
consider posting the form on your “Contact Us” page on your website, to
effectively screen clients. Those who put in the work upfront are more likely to
be organized, responsible, and clear about their objectives.
When working with larger clients—especially when projects involve multiple
stakeholders—you should also formally acknowledge who within their
organization has the final approval for the project. This transparency not only
helps keep everyone accountable, it also strengthens client relationships.
 Take the time to get to know your client and/or their team in a kickoff call, and
be sure to ask any clarifying questions. This is a good time to clearly state if
you foresee any potential challenges or misunderstandings. Add any relevant
details to your creative brief as needed.

You might also like: 4 Crucial Steps to Building Strong Client Relationships.

2. Project overview
Provide a detailed description of the project, including as much context and
background as possible in the project overview section of your design brief.
You can get the answers you need for this section in the design brief by
asking your client in your kickoff meeting or when they fill out your
questionnaire. 

Your overview should define the scope and scale of the project and its
deliverables. Here are some example questions you can include in your
design brief template to ensure that you’re consistently asking the right
questions:

 Are you building something new?

 Are you redesigning something that exists?
 What other assets do you expect at the completion of the project?
 How much involvement do client stakeholders want (or need) to have?
 What are some potential challenges or obstacles you foresee?
 What is not included in the scope of the project?
Now that you have a clear idea of what they want, it’s time to
investigate why your client wants to work on this project. You should try to
answer this question by identifying the web design problems your client faces
that compelled them to hire you for this project.

Sometimes, by digging a little deeper into the why, you can discover
alternative solutions that strategically meet the needs of your clients.
You might also like: Get to the Heart of Your Clients' Ecommerce Dilemmas
With the 5 Whys.

3. Goals and objectives

Designing websites may be a core offering that is central to your business, but
to a client (especially those in ecommerce), a website is their business. Using
numbers or plain language, share measurable results for what this project is
trying to achieve.

Goals reflect the main purpose of your project, while objectives represent the
smaller, measurable milestones that, together, add up to achieve the goal.
Some sample examples of goals and their corresponding objectives for a
website build or redesign could be:
 Goal: The client wants more traffic to their website
Objectives:

 Increase the amount of weekly sessions by 20 percent by X date

 Grow proportion of new monthly traffic to 40 percent of total by X date
 Set the year-over-year traffic goal to be 20 percent higher than the last year
Goal: The client is looking to drive more revenue from their website
Objectives:

 Increase daily revenue by 50 percent by X date

 Grow the total average order amount by 25 percent by X date
 Reduce cart abandonment by 15 percent by X date
Goal: The client wants to increase engagement with their online content
Objectives:

 Reduce average bounce rates by 10 percent by X date

 Increase the average number of pages viewed per session by 25 percent by X
date
 Increase average time on page per user by 15 percent by X date
Once you’ve established the goals and objectives and have recorded them in
your design brief, you can “work backwards” and identify the technical steps
you need to take to achieve them.

By establishing goals and objectives upfront, you’re not only suited to make
more informed decisions around your design, you’ll also be able to prove your
business value to the client beyond their website aesthetics. This sets you up
to become a trusted partner, leading to a better quality relationship with your
client over the long term.

You might also like: Leading Successful Discovery Sessions: Set the Stage
for Client Projects.
4. Target audience
Make sure to develop a solid understanding of the users who will be
interacting with your client’s website. Understanding your client’s target
audience will inform your design decisions.

If you’re lucky, your client will already be equipped with relevant research
about their target audience and be willing to share it with you. However, not all
business owners will have this information. If you find yourself in this situation,
you have two options. You can try to use this opportunity to offer user
research services as a value-add to the project. If your client isn’t interested,
try asking them who their ideal customer is, and work together to build an
audience persona through discussion.

Your audience persona should include demographics such as age, gender,

and location, as well as psychographics like media consumption habits,
values, and related interests. This information can reveal important details
about what resonates most with your client’s customers online. 

For example, are your client’s customers more likely to use mobile more than
desktop? Do certain colors resonate more with their lifestyle? What UX or UI
considerations are missing? What additional universal design principles can
you apply to improve site accessibility?

If your client already has an active website, advanced segments in Google

Analytics reports can provide both demographics and psychographics
insights. It’s a great starting point if your client is unsure about who they’re
attracting to their online store and why. Your client may find that their target
audience isn’t the type of user visiting their website.

By defining the target audience in your design brief, you’ll be prepared to

make informed decisions during the design process.

You might also like: 5 Questions You Should Ask Your Clients Before Every
Web Design Project.
 5. Design requirements
When it comes to the design requirements section in your design brief, be
sure to include the relevant details so that you’re not making several rounds of
revisions or chasing your client for files that are the correct size. 

By including specific design requirements in your design brief, you can ensure
that you and your team have everything needed to work efficiently and meet
client expectations. Including these details upfront also reduces the risk of
revisions or complete redesigns.

While requirements may vary for each project, you can include any of the
following details about your deliverables:

 Asset dimensions/resolutions
 File formats
 Required color palette
 Image assets to be included
 Associated copy documents
It is also worthwhile to include any reference materials in this section. These
could include brand guidelines, mockups, mood boards (check out these
intuitive mood board apps), and anything else you feel could assist with the
completion of the project. 

You may be collaborating more closely with your client on this aspect of the
project, especially if they—or other members of your team—will be working on
creating certain assets or design elements (such as logos, graphics, videos,
photos, etc.) while you’re designing and building the website. Communication
here is key. Get as much information recorded in your design brief as you
can. 

The more thorough your supporting documentation, the less chance you’ll
experience challenges or delays while working through the design itself.

6. Budget and schedule

If you work in an agency, budgets and schedules can be seen as an
afterthought and left for the client services team to deal with. However, these
project components are just as vital for creatives as they are for your account
services counterparts, and are imperative for the freelancers to address early
on in the design process.

The budget

Getting a clear understanding of your client’s project budget allows you to

effectively manage their expectations about project deliverables, while also
managing how your team uses their time. 

When initially meeting with your client to scope out their project, make sure
you allocate budget across all disciplines: research, design, copywriting,
development, coordination, testing, and review. That way, you’re much more
likely to avoid scope creep or feature creep.

Without a clear budget, it can be easy for you or your team to dive deep into a
job and lose track of how many billable hours you’ve logged. To help manage
time spent on billable tasks, use one of the best time tracking apps to stay on
track and within the budgetary limits of the project.
The schedule

Projects need to stay on track and be delivered to your client on time to stay
profitable—that’s why you need to include some form of a schedule in your
design brief. Your schedule should be realistic and account for potential
changes or unexpected challenges.

It can be tempting to commit to completing a project on a compressed

timeline, but that often does more harm than good. Give yourself some
breathing room in your workback plan so that if you do need more time, or if
your client takes longer than expected to provide feedback before your next
project milestone, it doesn’t mean you and your team will be working 12-hour
days just to get back on track. 

An effective schedule should not only highlight the final deadline, but also
identify any milestones between the beginning and end of the project. It is
crucial that your team can mutually anticipate completion dates for concepts,
final designs, development work, and review periods.

While schedules are vital for keeping your team on track, they can also give
your client some insight into the design process. Some clients simply won’t
know how long it takes to research, design, and build a website. It’s important
to set the expectation of what’s realistic when creating your design brief. This,
just like the entire design brief, ensures your team and client are on the same
page from the beginning.

You might also like: A Web Designer’s Guide to Project Schedules.

Start using the design brief in your project

workflow
Done well, your design brief has the potential to be one of your most valuable
project management tools. It’s worth the time to learn how to write a design
brief to keep your web design projects on track. Try to incorporate these tips
into your design or development workflow so your projects begin with a
strategic start.

We’ve put together a sample design brief template that you can use as your
starting point for each project you work on. Feel free to make changes and
update it as you see fit. Download your design brief template below and let us
know what you think!

What Is a Website Design Brief?

A website design brief serves as a comprehensive document that defines the steps, prerequisites,
and schedules involved at each stage of the web design process.

Its aim is to ensure that everyone involved shares a mutual understanding of the project’s
workflow and objectives to ensure the desired outcome is achieved.

A well written web design brief also enables clients to gain a more precise estimation of costs
and timeframes which is important when making decisions. There’s no point deciding that you
want a 50 page, fully designed website if you haven’t got the budget to cover it.

This is achieved by identifying all essential requirements and deliverables at an early stage of the
process.

What Is a Web Design Brief Used For?

A web design brief is a vital tool for communicating your ideas to your chosen web design
agency.

Finding an agency who offers web design services is easy if you know what you’re looking for.

Even if you choose to work with a great web design company, you should still have a well
structured web design brief to help them understand your exact requirements.

Whether you’ve identified the need to have a website designed or redesigned, you can use your
web design brief to get into the specifics of the project at hand.

In contrast to writing a design brief which explores brand oriented questions and things to
include, a web design brief focuses more on functionality and website problems.

There will be some areas that cross over with the other briefs in this series (links of which can be
found at the bottom of this blog) but lots of the considerations are website-specific.

We’re going to walk you through how to write a great web design brief in detail so that no points
are left behind.
Why Write a Web Design Brief?
There are two main reasons why you’d want to write a web design brief:

 You’re a new business and you need a website

 You’re an existing business whose website is no longer fit for purpose

Just like with any other brief, the idea behind a written web design brief is to bring clarity to your
situation.

The primary goal of this document is to ensure clear and effective communication between you
and your chosen web design agency. By documenting the project’s goals, requirements, and
expectations, this brief acts as a reference point for both parties throughout the design process.

It also provides a roadmap for the project by outlining the steps involved, timelines, and
milestones to keep the project on track.

By specifying the project’s deliverables and requirements, your web design brief ensures that the
project is executed efficiently and within the agreed-upon constraints.

Ultimately every business, regardless of what type of project you’re starting, should write a
comprehensive web design brief.

Benefits of a Well-Written Web Design Brief

As discussed above, the main benefit of a web design brief is to bring clarity to the project.
Aside from this obvious benefit, creating this document can also:

 Enable efficient workflow – By outlining the project’s scope, deliverables, and timelines, a web
design brief facilitates a smooth and efficient workflow.
 Lead to enhanced collaboration – The web design brief acts as a foundation for collaboration
between the client and the web design team. It provides a common reference point that ensures
everyone is on the same page throughout the project.
 Streamline revisions – By having a clear web design brief in place, any necessary revisions can
be discussed and implemented more efficiently, ensuring that the final product aligns with the
evolving needs and objectives.

Who Should Write a Web Design Brief?

A website design brief is usually created by a business owner or a member of the
marketing team after before reaching out to web design agencies.

It’s important to identify key pieces of information that can help your project stay
on track and within budget instead of just diving in.

In essence, all the relevant stakeholders in a website project can participate in

creating the brief. However, most of the work should lie with the client.

Your web design brief can also serve as a project management tool for keeping
the work on track and managing expectations.

As we mentioned already, it can also help prevent scope creep – by this we mean
the unintentional expansion of a project’s scope and goals beyond what was
originally agreed.
Now that you know who should write a web design brief, it’s time to outline what
should go into it.

Let’s quickly go over some web design FAQs first though to make sure we’re
answering your most burning questions!

Web Design Brief FAQs

When it comes to web design briefs, these are the questions people tend to ask:


What is a Web Design Brief?


Who Should Write a Web Design Brief?


What Should Be Included in a Web Design Brief?


People Also Ask: How Long Does a Website Take to Design?

What Should Be Included in Your Web Design

Brief?
Your web design brief is still going to include some of the sections from The
Design Brief and Branding Brief.

But this time, there’s also going to be a lot of focus on your online presence, what
exists, where it’s hosted, and what your future plans look like.

You should include:

 An Overview of Your Business and Current Website Situation

 The Objectives of Your Web Design Project
 Your Target Audience and Market
 The Problem You’re Facing
 Project Specific Information
 Competitor Information
 Project Timescales
 Project Budget
 Contact Information
 How the Project will Be Awarded
 Required Response

On top of that, we’re going to look at specific website information, including:

 Website Features and Functionality

 Key Pages or Sitemap
 Content Requirements
 Calls to Action
 Website Likes and Dislikes
 Traffic Generation
 Domain Name and Hosting
 Ongoing Maintenance
 Analytics and Management
 SEO and Digital Marketing Requirements

Before we dive into the specifics, let’s cover off the basics one more time.

If you’ve read either of our previous two posts on writing design briefs, you might
want to skip ahead!

An Overview of Your Business and Current Website Situation

The first thing you should explain in your web design brief, is about your
business, the sector you work in, and the website you’re looking to build.

If you’re looking to create a new website, try answering the following:

 What does your business do, and what sort of website do you need?
 How will customers find your website?
 What will keep customers coming to you rather than your competitors?
And if you’re an existing business redesigning your website, answer the above,
and:

 What’s wrong with our current website?

 Have we got enough feedback to make real improvements?
 Will our existing website provider put up any resistance?

Website design projects rely on everyone having a thorough understanding of the

situation and the challenges they’re likely to face.

The more information you can share in the first instance, the better your web
project is likely to turn out.

The objectives of your web design project

There’s always a reason for embarking on a web design project.

If you’re a new business, then you’ve probably just realised that you need help
with your website.

If you’re ready to rip up an existing site though, what’s driven you to take that
sort of action?

Maybe you’re adding an ecommerce offering, or you’ve pivoted and things are
moving in a new direction.

Once you’ve taken the decision to start a new website project, you have to let
your agency know why.
From there, you can start getting clear on your website goals.

The goals of your project might be pretty straightforward, for example:

“We need a new website that helps showcase our business. We operate in a
crowded marketplace, but the quality of service we offer puts us head and
shoulders above our competition. To show this, we want to use case studies and
testimonials that speak to the quality of our service.”

The goal here is differentiation through quality of service. Simple.

Having a solid “goal statement” like this keeps everyone on the same page with
your project. It also gives your chosen web design agency something to measure
against.

Knowing how you will measure the success of your web design project is also
key.

If you’re going to judge the success or failure of a project, it’s only fair to let the
agency you work with know what the criteria are.

For example, if you’re going to base it on whether you’ve multiplied your online
sales by 10, then you need to include this in your web design brief.

This is because it’ll change how your agency approaches your project from the
start.

Rather than spending time on creating pixel perfect website designs, they’ll be
running tests with customers, and designing around the results.

Having a set of “success factors” can really help all parties as it ensures everyone
knows what their responsibilities are.
Your target audience and market

Web design is used to solve problems for your customers, as well as your
business.

The job of a web design agency isn’t just to make things look pretty as web
design is a problem solving tool.

Think about this:

Your website is making no sales. Sure, that’s a problem for you but, but
realistically, it’s because your website design isn’t hitting home for your
customers.

When it comes to website design and development, a design agency is responsible

for designing for your customers. Not for you.

Therefore, it’s important that they know what your target audience looks like.

We’ve got a great post here about creating customer personas to help you outline
their demographic traits and psychographic characteristics.

You can do this by asking insightful questions about your existing customers.

Take your ideal customer, and build your persona around them.

On top of thinking about demographics and psychographics, I love asking the

following questions:
  What does their family structure look like?
 What type of car they drive?
 Are they a pet owner?
 What newspaper/magazines do they read?
 Which websites do they visit? And for what purpose?

I often find simple questions like this help a lot more when creating a website,
rather than the demographic information and psychographic traits.

Knowing what websites customers visit and brands they buy into, can help inform
you about the design styles that appeal to them, what type of content they like.

The problem you’re facing

The objectives of your web design project are one thing, but the actual problems
you’re facing with your website is something else entirely.

Goals and objectives focus on where you want to be.

As a new business the problem is:

“We don’t have a website, and we need one.”

You’d imagine, that’s an easy fix, let’s create one – end of web design brief.

Not so fast! You’re still going to want to include all of the information we’re
outlining here.

It’s usually easier to outline the problem with a website redesign project:

“Our website is old and dated. We don’t make any sales or generate leads. It’s not
mobile friendly.”

These are problems that need unpicked, but they’re usually easier to outline at the
offset.

Although it can seem a little self-deprecating, deep diving into the real world
problems you face as a business is the only way to solve them.

You’ve done the hard part, which is realising the problem you’re facing.

Now, steer into it, and with a professional web design agency by your side, you
can overcome it!
Project specific information

Website specific project information can be tricky to outline in a web design brief.

This happens because more often than not, it’s beneficial to have your web design
agency make recommendations, rather than adding restrictions from the outset.

However, there are always some things to consider.

Let’s take a look at creating a new website as an example:

 What is it you want to show on your website?

 Do you have experience with a particular website platform? (Like WordPress)
 Is the content all written out and ready to go?

Your project specification doesn’t need to be super technical.

But if you have specific requirements, it’s best to get them listed out now.

Other things to consider alongside your web design project are:

 What does your marketing strategy look like?

 Have you developed a brand strategy?
 Is your branding and brand identity in place?
 Do you have a digital marketing strategy in place?

Remember:
You’re going to your web design agency for their talent and recommendations. So
don’t be completely closed off to changing things!

The more information you can share about your project here, the better.

Competitor information

You need to decide if you’re trying to stand out or fit in.

If you’re working on a web design project, knowing about your competitors can
help your chosen agency get an understanding of what they’re all about and what
they’re doing online.

It also allows them to take a look at their website, and discuss with you how you
want your website to function and look when compared to them.

Helping your web design agency get to know your competitors not only eases
their workload, but allows discussions about them to take place at an earlier stage
in the web design process.

It also means they don’t stray too close to what your competitors are doing when
creating your new website.

To find out more about separating your offering from others brands, check out our
post about differentiating your company from the competition.

Project timescales
This question often helps agencies decide whether they can be involved with your
project or not.

If you’re looking for a rapid turnaround time, and the agencies you reach out to
have a lot of work on, they might decline the offer to work together.

“ASAP” is not an acceptable answer when talking about timescales either. There
needs to be a reasonable level of understanding here, things don’t just happen
overnight.

As a rough guide, here’s what we tell people at Canny about our website
timescales:

Web design project timescales

Web design projects can take anywhere between 6 and 12 weeks. It really
depends on their complexity.

If you’re looking for a brochure web design that simply showcases your business,
you’ll be down nearer the 6 week mark.

However, if you’re looking for a new ecommerce website solution, you’ll need to
carve out a good quarter of a year (if not more) to get things in place.

Timescales should really be put in place by you design agency when you decide
to move forward.

One thing I always ask our new clients is:

“Is there an event/product launch/something else we can work towards with the
project?”

And that always immediately helps get some initial website launch plans in place.

We have a blog post to help you get your new website launch right.

Try to avoid reaching out to web design agencies at the last minute. The earlier
you can bring them in on your plans the better!
Project budget

Project budget is the area that throws most people into a confused spin when
talking about their web design brief.

Think about this:

Web design agencies get approached for work on a regular basis.

Amongst their enquiries, is a whole load of rubbish, some half-decent leads, and
sometimes, some real hints of gold (which you want to be).

By sharing your web design budget early, you can build trust and transparency
with your chosen agency.

Nobody wants their time wasted.

Picture this:

You have a 30 minute to 1 hour call with a web design agency, and then you send
over your web design brief with no budget information.

Your web design service agency reads through it, and comes back with a full
website design proposal.

It’s 5 times over what you thought you’d be paying. You’ve lost an hour of your
time, the agency has also lost a significant chunk of time by writing out the
proposal.
And the project is going nowhere.

By being clear with your budget early on, you can make sure everyone is on the
same page right from the start.

If you’re really unsure on how much certain things cost, we have some great posts
about pricing of design and branding services that are listed out below:

 How Much Does Logo Design Cost?

 How Much Does Branding Cost?
 How Much Does a Website Cost?

Hopefully this gives you an insight to how much web design projects cost, and
why sharing your budget is an important step to take early in your relationship.

Contact information

There’s nothing more frustrating than “design by committee.” However, it does

happen, and it can be managed.

But there always needs to be a lead point of contact in any web design project that
can go between both the agency and the company.

Clearly listing out the contact details of the project contact, as well as the best
time and way to get hold of them, will make things run a lot smoother.
Your design agency should also do their part here and once the project kicks off,
they’ll assign a member of staff (usually an Account Manager) to handle their
side of the communication.

How the project will be awarded

If you’re considering scoping out the field, and firing out your website brief to a
range of agencies, then you need to make sure they know how the project will be
awarded.

For the record, we don’t believe in distributing your web design brief to a huge
number of agencies; It’s not respectful of their time.

That said, we appreciate you’ll want to collect several proposals and opinions. 3
to 5 agencies is a fair number to approach.

So how will your project be awarded?

Typically, there are several elements at play:

 Cost/Value for Money

 Quality of Work
 Previous Experience
 Alignment to the Design Brief
 Suitability of the Agency

There are any number of factors that you could use to judge the responses.
It’s normal to write into your web design brief, the percentage and weighting of
each of the awarding criteria.

This helps to show your design agency what’s most important in your decision
making process.

If they’re particularly keen to partner together, then they might consider reducing
their price if it’s the heaviest weighting factor.

Likewise, if they’re really busy, they might inflate their price to make it “worth
their time” if they have to draft in extra staff.

Required response

The required response section of your web design brief is usually straightforward.

You need to let your agency know what you’re expecting back, by when, and how
to submit it.

It’s simply a case of listing out what you expect to receive back.

This could be:

 A written response to the brief

 Examples of relevant work
 Testimonials from happy clients

Tell them how to submit their proposal, what to include, by when, and you’re off
to the races.

What about those additional sections that should be included in your web design
brief?

Let’s take a look at those now:

Website features and functionality

Websites have a special set of skills that they need to perform.

To make your web design brief the best it can be you need to list out any special
features and requirements.

These might include:

 Integrations with a CRM system or mailing list provider

 Trackable contact forms
  Ecommerce functionality
 Member zone or portal
 Subscription model

If you’re thinking of building a website that’s any more than a business showcase,
you need to have that written into your brief.

When writing about features and functionality, people tend to dive into the
aesthetics and visuals of the website.

We don’t need to know in the brief if you want a website with a blue background
and Comic Sans as the font. You can save that for later discussions!

We need to get really clear on the scope, to help give the most accurate proposal
possible.

Key pages or sitemap

You need to know what pages you want on your website.

Most websites consist of at least:

 Home
 About
 Services/Offering
 Blog
 Contact

Then it’s a case of building it up for your own unique case from there.
Sell sports socks? You probably want a page about how great your socks are.

In the restaurant business? Make sure you include your menu on there.

Some form of loose sitemap or list of key pages will help solidify your brief.

If you have an existing website, try and list out the key pages and how they’re
performing. This way your agency will be able to make sure they’re not
overlooked.

Content requirements

Different people have different content requirements.

There are several buckets you might fall into here:

 You don’t want to write the content, and want to hire a copywriter
 You don’t have any content ready, and want your agency to help
 You have a whole bunch of copy ready, and just need it looked over
 Your existing website contains some content you want to refresh

It’s a good idea to include your content requirements in your web design brief and
this extends to imagery and video as well as written text.

Some sites rely quite heavily on images, so do you have a library ready to go? Or
are you looking to use stock photography?

Your content requirements can impact the price of your website, so get clear on
them as early as possible.

Call to actions

A call to action is the “primary action you want your visitors to take” on your
website.

Some people do well closing leads on the phone, others would prefer an email to
drop into their inbox with the relevant information.

If you’re setting up an ecommerce website, then the likely action you want people
to take, is to buy your products.

When listing out your key pages, you could try and map the key call to action to
each page.

This will help your design agency out when they’re putting your wireframes and
page designs together.
Website likes and dislikes

In our Discovery Process at Canny, we go through a whole range of websites and

visual styles to get to the bottom of this question.

But in your brief, try and list out:

 3 websites you like

 What you like about each of them

And then do the reverse.

Likes and dislikes are important as it can guide the design style and choices made
throughout the project.

Design isn’t just about making things look pretty. Always look for functionality
first.
Traffic generation

This dips into digital marketing, but it’s a good idea to give your agency a heads
up about your digital marketing strategy.

Are you going to be running a whole load of pay per click ads?

Maybe you’re advertising using a huge city centre billboard.

If you’re not sure how to advertise your business, check out the best small
business advertising ideas to help you get started.

Again, your digital marketing plans feed your website design project.

Looking to set up loads of landing pages quickly, then some sort of landing page
builder is probably a must have feature.

Going to A/B test your way to success?

Then let’s get those versions setup as part of your project.

There are a whole range of digital marketing techniques you could use, so make
sure to talk things over with your web designers.

Domain name and hosting

Domain names and hosting are two separate things that are often lumped together.
Let’s explore:

Domain names

Your domain name is the address of your website. It’s what’s visible at the top of
your internet browser in the address bar.

For example:

 Canny-creative.com
 Ebay.co.uk
 Amazon.co.uk

There are a range of extensions you can use, from .com to .ninja to .online.

Either way, you’re going to need one to make your website work.

If you need help from your agency to secure a domain name, let them know.

It’s often a good idea to buy a suite of domain names. That way they can’t be
swept out from underneath you if you create the next Amazon or Google.

You then need to point your domain name to your website hosting.

Hosting

Your website is made up of code, images, files, folders, and all that sort of fun
stuff.

They need somewhere to live.

Your website hosting is that space.

You’ll want to pay for great hosting after reading about the drawbacks of cheap
web hosting.

Again, most agencies can either:

 Host your website for you

 Make a hosting recommendation
Just be sure to let them know if you need help!

Ongoing maintenance

If you’re working for a larger organisation, you might want to think about
working with your agency on a retainer to provide ongoing maintenance.

Typically, if you’re hosting with an agency, they’ll be performing security checks

and updates on a regular schedule.

If you want them to update content and post new blogs for you, then you need to
write that into your brief.

Analytics and other tools

Most people default to Google Analytics and have it installed.

But there are a range of other tools people like to have installed on their site.

Some people like using Hotjar, CrazyEgg, VWO, to track clicks and scrolls.

Then you have Live Chat options such as Drift and Intercom.

If you want these installed, again, list them out in your design brief.

Reach Out to Web Design Agencies

 By this point, your web design brief should be pretty comprehensive so it’s time
to start reaching out to web design agencies.

If you’re still not sure on how to find a web design agency, you could contact
us to discuss your project.

It’s time to get the process started!

How to Write a Web Design Brief (Template

Included!)
A web design brief is an essential tool for finding a suitable web design agency
for your project.

It’s important to note that the brief is not set in stone. It should be adaptable and
open to modifications as your chosen agency becomes more familiar with your
project.

Goals and objectives may change, particularly when external factors come into
play, causing unexpected challenges.

This is normal, and it’s important to be prepared for back-and-forth discussions to

fine-tune the details.

Similar to other briefs in the series, the web design brief is a way to engage with
agencies and serves as a reference throughout key milestones in the project.

However, it’s crucial to remember that the brief is not fixed. Instead, it should be
treated as a flexible document that evolves alongside your project.

If you need help on any part of your web design project then get in touch with our
team. We’ve created high-performing, optimised websites for a range of clients
and we can do the same for you.

The design brief is the foundation of any project. A good design brief
saves development time, mitigates risk, and reduces costs. It clarifies
the requirements, roadmap, and goals of your project and is beneficial
for communication between your design agency and
manufacturers/suppliers.
 The brief defines the starting point and expectations for all parties,
ensuring there is a full agreement on the deliverables for the project. A
good design brief can limit scope creep, safeguard your own
schedule, and protect you from unrealistic plans and expectations.

As a design agency, SLIMDESIGN has supported many clients with

writing project briefs. We’ve created a free design brief template to
save time, speed-up your project and guide you through this
process. The main topics of the brief are: 
1. Company profile overview
2. Project overview and scope
3. The problem you’re facing
4. Goals and objectives
5. Target audience and market
6. Design requirements
7. Project budget and schedule
8. Deliverables
Almost always there are open/unknown items that need to be defined.
Choices have to be made between several options with different pros
and cons. These choices have an impact on project complexity. To
minimize the risks and surprises we often advise starting with a
feasibility study to kick-starts the project and to cover all the important
aspects (specification, cost-price, volume, development budget,
planning, etc.). 
A good design brief saves development
time, mitigates risk, and reduces costs.
Wouter Konings | Product Design Director
 What should be included in your design brief?
Writing an effective design brief is not an easy task, especially if you
are working in an unfamiliar market. In general, it should be detailed,
concise, and easy to understand. To give you a sense of what you
could include in your brief, we’ve made a list of essential topics.
Please copy and modify them to suit your project. 
Company profile overview
The company overview highlights key information about your company
such as its purpose, values, and structure. This allows you to
accurately create a project goal.  Here are some example questions
that you can ask yourself to get a clear overview of your company: 
1. What is the mission of your brand, what are your values, and what is
the message you want to deliver your target audience?
2. What are the keywords that describe your company?
3. What makes your company unique?
4. In which market are you active?
5. What is the size of your company?
6. What is the market you are focussing on and what are your growth
ambitions? (only if they are relevant to the project)
Project overview and scope
The project overview outlines what needs to be done and why. Not
only is this important for you to know but it also helps the design
agency develop a detailed understanding of your needs. It defines the
depth of your project and describes your expectations: ‘Is the intention
to make a project from start to finish, or do you only want tips and
adjustments for an existing design?’ A thorough project overview and
scope helps clarify what the design company’s deliverables will be,
 although this should be stated, in detail, in a separate paragraph later
in the brief.
The problem you’re facing
You can only create an effective solution if you have accurately
assessed the problem. Without clearly identifying your problem, the
design agency won’t know what to design for and their results may not
address everything you had in mind. If your problem is, for example:
‘Our current products are overtaken on our market with similar
products and we need to innovate to stay ahead of the market and
stay relevant,’ then you could ask yourself the following questions: 
1. What is the target audience we are focussing on?
2. What is the purpose of our product?
3. What are the specifications of the copycat products?
4. How can we improve on the existing products?
5. What would be the perfect product-market combination?
Regardless of the type of problem you’re facing, it is important to state
it clearly, so the designers can address it properly.
Goals and Objectives
What would success look like for your project? This section of the
design brief describes your desired outcome. Your goal defines the
overall purpose of the project and should be concrete and
measurable. For example, a measurable goal could be something like:
‘Launch the first generation of this product within a year’. By making
sure your goals and objectives are stated, you can easily monitor the
process of your project. It ensures the project stays on track but has
the freedom to pivot at the right moments.
Target audience and market
Understanding your audience: why should you do this? It is important
to get as much information about the target audience as possible to
help you make the right decisions when developing your design. ‘What
gender will use the product?’ and ‘What age group is the audience?’
are some example questions that this section could address. It’s
important to design for your target audience because they will be the
ones buying and using the product. The audience’s opinion is the key
to a successful product.
Design requirements
This paragraph of your article lists all the demands you have for the
project. By including specific design requirements in your brief, you
and the design agency can reflect on the progress and results. Setting
up a clear list of requirements gives your design agency boundaries
so that they can focus on the given goals and objectives. Design
requirements differ for each project but some examples include the
design aesthetic, mechanical requirements (the product should be
able to withstand a certain force/water/pressure), hardware (the
product needs to contain wifi) or software (make sure the product can
connect to your current software ecosystem). 
 Project budget and schedule
Planning your budget and schedule is often viewed as an afterthought
and sometimes disregarded until the end of the project. However, by
planning your project’s budget and the time you’re able to dedicate to
the project upfront, you can prevent running into difficult obstacles.
Managing budget and time is unavoidable so it should be considered
from the start.
1. Budget
Discussing the budget for a project can be awkward, but it is essential
to know, both for you and your design agency. Financial limitations
greatly affect design decisions and ensure designers focus their
efforts on the most important and relevant aspects of the project.
2. Schedule
It is useful to manage your time and ideally work according to a project
schedule. Writing out a rough timeline sets realistic expectations for
you and your design agency. You can also include milestones in your
schedule, enabling you to keep track of the big picture and pivot or
reschedule when needed. The schedule in your design brief helps you
determine a suitable roadmap for the project. This is especially
important for Kickstarter and small businesses just starting out or
working quickly. It allows them to communicate with all stakeholders,
including investors. 
You can use earlier projects you’ve done as an example for your
budget plan and schedule. If this is your first project and you have no
experience with setting up a budget or schedule, you could consult a
design agency for help. Our team from SLIMDESIGN would be glad to
help you get started!
Deliverables
Although all aspects of the project brief are important, including a list
of deliverables is absolutely essential. It ensures that you and your
agency have a shared understanding of what work is expected. In this
paragraph of your brief, you should ask yourself: ‘What deliverables
do I expect at the completion of the project or each milestone?’ Some
examples of deliverables are prototypes, technical designs, 3D
models, or even websites. It is essential to avoid misunderstandings
and to be on the same page as your agency from start to finish. This
will save you a lot of time.
Other points you could mention in your design
brief
We’ve listed all the topics we think are important to include in your
design brief, but if you want to take it a step further, here are some
other points you might want to note:
 The competition: Research your product’s primary competitors. This
will help you make better design decisions to stand out from the
crowd.
 Analytic insights: Was this project inspired by a newfound idea? If so,
what is it? You can analyse the pros and cons of the original project to
help you with your own design. 

Document Evolution
Always use your project brief as a living document with the ability to
change. And very importantly: A good design agency will help you
tweak your project brief, roadmap, and budget to get the best results
for your project.

If you need help after filling in the free design brief template, for
example with some of the aspects you’re less familiar with, or you
would like to have some insights on examples of the deliverables-
milestone combination: don’t hesitate to contact us! We would be glad
to help you with your project design brief and kickstarting your project.
And of course, we would be happy to create one for you. With our
feasibility study, we can work together to develop a project brief and
kickstart your project.
Conclusion
A design brief is one of the most valuable project management tools.
By incorporating all the tips we gave you, you will have an effective
strategy to guide your product development. You can minimize
miscommunications, mitigate risk, and effectively manage your
resources. A thorough design brief is the best way to ensure the final
design solution successfully and efficiently addresses the problems
you set out to solve.