How to write a design brief that gets you what you want

You do not need design vocabulary to write a good brief. You need to describe your business accurately and to be specific about constraints. Everything else is the designer's job.

What to include

• What the business actually does, in the words you would use to a stranger at a party.
• Who buys from you, and what they were doing five minutes before they needed you.
• Who your real competitors are — the ones you lose deals to, not the industry giants.
• Where the design will be used most. This is the single most useful piece of information and it is usually omitted.
• Anything that is fixed: existing colours, a name that cannot change, a regulatory requirement, a supplier's template.
• Things you actively dislike, with reasons. "Not blue, our two nearest competitors are both blue" is a genuinely useful constraint.
• The deadline, and what it is tied to.

What to leave out

• Solutions. "I want a circle with a mountain in it" replaces the designer's job with your first idea. Describe the problem instead.
• A long list of logos you like from other industries. Two or three with a note on what specifically appeals is more useful than twenty.
• Internal politics. Tell the designer who has final approval, not the history of the disagreement.
• Adjectives without anchors. "Modern but classic, bold but understated" describes nothing. Tie every adjective to something concrete.

Giving feedback that helps

The most useful feedback describes a reaction, not an instruction. "It feels too corporate for our customers, who are mostly families" tells a designer far more than "make it friendlier" and infinitely more than "make the logo bigger".

Be specific about what is not working, and let the designer solve it. If you prescribe the fix you get your solution executed by someone more skilled, which is rarely the better outcome.

Consolidate feedback before sending it

Contradictory feedback from five people is the fastest way to a mediocre result, because the design ends up satisfying everyone slightly. Collect internal opinions, resolve the conflicts yourselves, and send one coherent response. Name one person with final approval before the work starts.

A brief that works, in six lines

1. 1We are a [what you do] serving [who].
2. 2People choose us over [competitors] because [reason].
3. 3This design will mostly be seen on [where].
4. 4It must work with [fixed constraints].
5. 5We want to avoid [specific things, with reasons].
6. 6We need it by [date], because [reason]. [Name] signs it off.