How to Create a Graphic Design Brief That Leads to Great Outcomes

A solid graphic design brief sets the foundation for a well-executed design asset.

You might have a strong idea of how you want something to look, but without proper discussion and instruction, the designer you hire may not bring your vision to life in the way you want.

如果你所做的是发送一个快速短信with a vague description of your idea, you’re both at fault: you, for not clarifying further, and the designer for not asking more questions. In the end, you lose precious time and money that could have been spent elsewhere.

A graphic design brief helps you avoid these issues.

In this article, we’ll discuss what a design brief should include, give you tips to create a brief that hits the mark, and provide a free template to send to your designer.

What is a graphic design brief?

A graphic design brief is a one- to two-page document detailing everything involved in creating a design asset. It communicates the what, why, how, and when of the creative process, clarifying expectations for both the designer and client.

There are several reasons you might need a design brief, such as:

• You’re creating a brand design from scratch

• You’re launching a new marketing or advertising campaign

• Your company is undergoing a complete rebrand

• You’re launching new products and services and need design assets

• You need ongoing design assets for different channels

• You need design assets for internal communications like employee newsletters

Design is integral, whether you’re creating a marketing or advertising campaign, or employee communications. So you need to create a process that captures your vision in one place.

There are many benefits to creating a design brief:

• You set expectations and the designer knows the expected outcome.

• It saves you time and money, as endless revisions design increase labor costs over time.

• It helps you maintain brand consistency across all channels and assets.

• The design process becomes much more collaborative and straightforward.

• The final design is more likely to be aligned with your vision and goals.

When you invest in streamlining the process right from the beginning, you can make the most of your design investment and prevent unnecessary costs during the project.

What should you include in a design brief?

Your brief should be three things:

• Clearly detailed

• Limited to two pages

• Easy to fill out and read

Here’s a list of elements every design brief should include:

1. Project overview

This section provides a summary of the entire project. Here are a few questions it should answer:

• Why are you creating this asset, and why now?

• What resources do you need to get the job done?

• What are the intended outcomes of the project?

• How many milestones will it contain?

• What’s the estimated budget for the project?

The overview sets the context for the project and gives the designer an overview of what’s expected.

Keep your summary brief, while still including all the necessary information.

2. Brand overview

This section provides background information about what your business does and what products/services you sell. You can also include information like:

• Brand values

• Brand mission

• Brand’s personality

• Current market positioning

• Ideal client profile (ICP)

• Industry verticals

• Product and services

It helps the designer understand whom you cater to and what kind of design elements they resonate with. For instance, a brand for Gen Z might use more vibrant and pleasing colors—but one for technical executives might use more formal branding.

3. Design project scope

This section of the brief clearly outlines what you want from your designer. Too often, companies get stuck because they think they want a logo and creative design templates but they really need an overall brand identity. So work on this section with your designer.

The project scope section drills down into the specifics. Here are a few examples:

• For print assets, how many formats will the designer need to create?

• For logos, do you need image-based or type treatment?

• For social media assets, which platforms are you publishing on?

The more specific you get here, the easier it’ll be for you and the designer to agree upon specific timelines and budgets.

4. Goals and objectives

本节进入你commissio的原因ned this project and what the expected outcomes are. Understanding the goals and objectives helps the designer create assets that effectively support these objectives.

Here are a few examples of goals that companies typically use:

• Get 400 backlinks in the next three months by creating shareable infographics.

• Increase social media followers by 20% in the next quarter.

• Build an email list of 1,500 subscribers by Q4 2023.

For assets like logos, there might not be a way to measure results so that you can get feedback from your audience through social media or qualitative surveys.

5. Creative deliverables

These are the project’s tangible outcomes that are agreed upon once you’ve spoken to the designer.

Let’s say you’recreating a LinkedIn Ads campaign. You’ll require the following assets:

• LinkedIn banner for Company page (1128 pixels x 191 pixels)

• 3 ad designs for the campaign (1080 pixels x 1080 pixels for single images)

• 1 horizontal video ad for the campaign (1200 pixels x 675 pixels)

• 1垂直见o ad for the campaign (720 pixels x 1280 pixels)

Go beyond dimensions and finalize your desired formats, vectors, and file types.

6.项目业主和利益相关者

Identifying the project owners and stakeholders define the decision-making hierarchy and communication channels. This makes the entire feedback and approval process easier, as the designer knows who’s involved.

You can use theRACI matrixto do this, as it allows you to assign roles and responsibilities based on these responsibility types:

• Responsible:

  designers, project managers, and marketers/advertisers

• Accountable:

  business owners and project managers

• Consulted:

  design and branding consultants

• Informed:

  project managers and business owners

Identifying the project owners and stakeholders streamlines communication and avoids delays in decision-making.

7. Project timelines and budget

After you’ve finalized the deliverables, decide on the project milestones and budget for each milestone. It should also include a budget range too so that the designer has an idea of how much you can invest.

Here’s a list of things you can include in this section:

• Start and end date for the project

• Budget range for the entire project

• Budget breakdown for each milestone and line item

• Milestone breakdown (submission and feedback)

For example, the designer will submit the draft by X date, and the reviewer will provide feedback within three business days. If someone gets off schedule, the timelines will have to be adjusted.

8. Target audience

With information on who an asset is being created for, it’s easier for the designer to hit the mark.

Provide them with information on your target audience, being as specific as possible, as it will dictate the design elements and trends they’ll incorporate.

Give them your ideal client profile documents or provide details like:

• Demographics

• Preferences

• Behaviors

• Preferences

• Psychographics

9. Competitor analysis

Give your designers everything they need to know about your competitors so they can see who they’re competing against. This will let them create assets that allow you to stand out from competitors using an industry-specific but distinct visual identity.

You can include these points in the brief:

• Top 5 competitors

• Branding styles that stand out

• Brand differentiators

• Well-performing design assets

10. Messaging and style guides

The messaging guide includes key messages like brand mission and vision, taglines, or otherstatements that convey an emotion. It allows the designer to understand the tone, voice, and messaging style that they can translate into the “visual feel” of the brand.

At the same time,the style guideincludes prescriptive elements like:

• Brand font

• Brand colors

• Imagery

• Logos

• Mascots

Here’s an example of a visual style guide fromJasperandZendesk:

11. Design benchmarks

Your designer will also need assets to benchmark the output against.

Share examples of design assets that worked well for your business or references that you find very visually appealing. This will give them a taste of your expectations.

Alternatively, it’s also best to attach examples of what you don’t like so the designer knows what not to do.

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4 tips for creating a winning design brief

Here are a few things to keep in mind before filling out your next brief:

1. Create SMART goals that communicate your vision

Make sure your goals are SMART:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

The idea is to keep the brief as tight as possible in terms of need-to-know information. Plus, when your goals are specific, managing the project and its success becomes much easier after it’s complete.

NOT: "The designer will deliver assets in another two weeks."

BUT: "Designer will deliver threebusiness cardtemplates by July 15, 2023."

On their podcastThe Angry Designers, designers Massimo Zefferino and Shawn Carlisle say there are three types of creative briefs that don’t convey what’s required:

• The “cement block” brief, which restricts creative freedom and is too prescriptive.

• The “round and round” brief, which has contradictory points with no connectors in terms of design or concept.

• The “kitchen sink” brief, which has too many data points but no explanation or story behind it.

Avoid falling under these categories by providing only the necessary details about your brand, project goals, and expectations.

Use the SMART framework to provide only relevant information that will move the project forward. For instance, don’t provide too many design concepts, but do provide examples of designs you like.

2. Give feedback that aligns with the creative brief

Every designer has heard the phrase, “Can you make it pop?”— so much so that it’s a common joke in design circles.

When providing feedback, you need to be specific and use the brief as a reference point to show them exactly what’s not working and why. Unhelpful feedback is vague, contradictory, and irrelevant. So make sure that the feedback is clear.

你可能认为一个元素的设计被埋,while the designer has a very good reason for its placement based on soliddesign principles. One modification could completely change the look and feel they’re going for—which might seem pleasing to you but not your target audience.

So be specific with your feedback.

NOT: "Thislogo for our ecommerce verticallooks dull."

BUT: "The logo’s color combination seems subdued and may not appeal to our target audience (Gen Z individuals). Could we try a different color combination?"

3. Balance the amount of detail with the brief’s length

The design brief needs to be short and focused.

“Writing a design brief is like a first date: Don’t talk too much about yourself. It’ll only complicate things,”says Nadzeya Sankovich, vice president of communications atHealth Reporter.“You will still have plenty of time to discuss the details, but later. Now is the time to be short and precise.”

Think about the number of campaigns you’ll need to create briefs for. Two briefs in, you’ll realize how much time it eats up. So provide enough detail, but also keep it under two pages.

And if you need help figuring out where to start, make a copy of our free graphic design template instead.

4. Ask the right questions during the design briefing

Keep the briefing process focused where you break up the brief while keeping the original project goal in mind.

Let’s say you’re commissioning a project for newsletter graphics. Don’t ask designers to do positioning exercises meant for branding purposes. Tell them what email marketing platforms you’re using and what graphics need to be created.

Download our free graphic design brief template

If you’re working with an in-house designer or outsourcing the design work to professional graphic designers agencies,use our brief template to communicate your vision.

“When working with freelancers, it’s incumbent on you to give proper direction, assets, and creative flexibility to your designer,”saysNeelam Tewar, founder ofMaven Magpie Consulting.“Coupled with this, working with someone who is communicative, experienced, and solutions-focused is key. Clarity by way of project briefs and kick-off calls have served me well.”

As Talwar has ample experience hiringfreelance graphic designerson Fiverr, we asked her about best practices for hiring them. These are some of the things she looks for while hiring freelancers:

• Quality of past work

• Level of involvement in past projects

• Ability to take feedback

• Ability to communicate in the initial stages

• Professional attitude

Look for designers with these attributes, as they’re the ones that won’t require too much hand-holding and walk in with solid experience to achieve your goals successfully.

Create better design outcomes with an elaborate creative brief

Using a graphic design brief is important, as it sets the foundation for collaborating with a graphic designer. The brief serves as a roadmap that communicates project requirements and expectations, allowing the designer to create designs that effectively meet your brand’s vision and goals.

Plus, it streamlines the design process, helping you launch campaigns faster, without the need for an endless loop of revisions. The best way to do this is to hire afreelance graphic designerwith the experience to bring your vision to life.

You can use our graphic design brief template to convey your needs to freelancers, ensuring a seamless and productive collaboration. This is particularly helpful when working with multiple designers with various levels of expertise and experience. It avoids too much upfront work on your part, and they handle the actual production—while you handle more pressing tasks in your business.

Ready to hire a graphic design partner to bring your creative vision to life?Sign up for Fiverrtoday.