The best way to help your designer start a creative project is to give them a clear understanding of the purpose of the project, background, intended audience and deliverables needed. Having clearly-defined details all in one place makes the design process easier, less stressful and yes, even more fun. One of the most efficient ways to do this is with a creative brief.
So…What Is a Creative Brief?
The creative brief a concise description of all the elements needed for a designer to create a creative asset or campaign. Components of a creative brief include purpose, tone, target audience, background, media vehicles, specifications, roles, projects, and final deliverables for a creative team and those working with them. The guidelines in your brief set expectations and get everyone on the same page. It’s a huge mistake to assume your design team will implicitly understand the vision you have for a project.
While it’s important to put all aspects of a creative job in the brief, there is such a thing as too much information. If you overwhelm your designer with cumbersome details and multiple pages of research, you might be disappointed with the results.
The purpose of a creative brief is simple: provide only necessary and helpful information needed for a designer to create the asset on strategy and on brand.
Creative briefs come in many different formats - outlines, lists, headings with paragraphs, documents with links. The most important thing is to work with your designers to develop a creative brief that will work for everyone. This way, everyone involved can work more efficiently, having a better understanding of the project and creative assets needed. This is particularly helpful for bigger projects with multiple elements, like a magazine or book.
Keep in mind that your creative brief might change throughout the process. This is completely normal, so don’t stress over it! Work with your creative team to update the brief throughout the process and keep everyone on track.
How to Start Writing a Creative Brief
First, you can begin by putting yourself in the designers’ shoes. What will they need to begin creating and designing from that blank piece of paper? What questions will your brief need to answer to ensure they are creating the best piece of design while sticking to strategy and mandatories? Here are a list of questions to ask yourself in order to make an awesome creative brief:
- What are we trying to accomplish with this project?
- What deliverables are needed?
- Is there background on the client or issue that needs to be communicated to help give the designer context?
- Who are we trying to reach and how do they feel about the problem this piece is trying to solve?
- Who is the competition? How do we stand out?
- What is the SINGLE-MINDED message we need to communicate?
- What is the brand positioning (the unique niche the brand owns)?
- What is the brand’s tone or personality / feel?
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What Should Be In a Creative Brief?
Project Title
Name the project. Establish some consistency on how you refer to this project internally. Having multiple names for a project will get confusing fast, and it happens way too often. Make sure to avoid this issue from the beginning.
Points of Contact
Who approves the final product? Who else needs to be involved, and what is their role? Knowing this at the beginning will help to prevent confusion later on.
Project Goals
What is the purpose of this project? What are you hoping to accomplish? Big corporations often want to humanize themselves and deliver a message. A small business might want a design that helps them build credibility while being more budget conscious.
Intended Audience
Who is this project’s target audience? If you’re pinpointing other businesses at a trade show, you’ll have a very different message than if you’re targeting consumers glancing at products on a store shelf.
And more than that, what do you want your audience to do? Call your number? RSVP to an event? Visit your website? Be informed of important information? Are you directing them to a physical location? Decide what your design is asking for, and let your creative team know. Be as specific as possible: What do you need and why?
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Deliverables
List each specific final product you’ll need. Do you need an image as a .png and .jpeg? List both file types. Need a mailed invitation? Remember to say you need an envelope, too. The idea is to give your designers a complete checklist of all the items you need. Leaving something off the list only leads to frustration on both sides.
Related: Building Trust With Your Graphic Designer
Project Specifications
Give asset measurements and use cases that help the creative team figure out the final size for each piece. Essentially, how are you planning to use it, and how big should it be?
For example, if you’re asking for graphics to use in social media posts, let your designer know the dimensions for each platform you will post on, as they can vary significantly. Or if you’re planning to send a direct mail piece, but you’re undecided on the exact size, let your designer know. They’ll be able to recommend a size based on the use case you present.
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Background & Context
You know your business best. If you’re using an outsourced designer, tell them some information about your company, what you do, and how this project fits in with your other marketing goals. If you’re using an internal creative team, tell them about the reason behind the project, especially if it’s part of a new campaign or other initiative.
Related: What Your Graphic Designers Need to Hit the Mark
Content
Do you have exact wording in mind? Are you open to new ideas for headline text? What needs specific placement? What is most important to the design? Is there anything that needs to be avoided? If you absolutely need your logo and a large headline, but you would also like a minor element featuring your address, then be sure to make that clear.
Create specific lists of content that need to be included, and update the original list whenever things change. For example, a magazine needs an editorial lineup, including the articles, feature story and related artwork. You might also include some general direction or inspiration for the art style and visual messaging.
Related: Which Comes First: Design or Copy
Schedule
Don’t underestimate the importance of a schedule – even a tentative one. Remember that draft versions of the final assets may have blank spaces waiting for information to be filled in. You will also need time to review in-progress pieces, and the creative team will need time to make any revisions. Build this review and editing period into your schedule, as rush fees and change fees can cost you BIG (not to mention, the risk of errors increases when you have less time).
Your schedule should also be realistic. Setting smaller deadlines and check-in points will help to keep you on track. Many projects will get pushed off forever – with costs and stress involved – if you do not set a schedule and provide reasoning for your schedule. Get specific about when you have scheduling flexibility and when you have firm dates you need to stick with.
Oh, and schedules aren’t just for the creative team! Include deadlines for tasks you are responsible for, such as sending copy or giving final approval.
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Questions
A project never starts with perfect information. It’s a process. There will be more questions, so leave room on your brief for your designer or creative team to ask them. If there are questions at the beginning that need to be explored, let your design team know; they may be able to help provide guidance.
The important thing to remember is to decide who is responsible for finding the answers and incorporate a revision process as needed.
In Brief…
The creative brief is a vital tool to help align goals and expectations with your creative team. The idea is to set them up with all the information they need to be successful. If you think through the design direction early on and work with your designers through any problem points, you will be well on your way to getting high-quality creative assets.
Don’t have your own internal creative staff? Ours can help! Reach out to the creative experts at Ironmark to get started on your next design project.
