In these economic times, a carefully crafted strategic design brief can save businesses a great deal of time and money while also guaranteeing highly effective design results in the marketplace.
Once considered a simple set of directions that were handed to the designer by a business owner/manager, the brief has evolved into a multilateral, strategic business tool. It serves as a frame of reference for a project, acting as a constant reminder to the involved parties of the parameters and objectives.
Many businesses still view graphic design as merely a decorative service function and overlook its vast potential as a core, strategic, business resource. The strategic design brief is a critical tool, which will help designers, and managers change that perception by making each stakeholder part of the development process. Thus avoiding unnecessary time and money being spent on inappropriate concepts for the project.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
Think about the message. Offer guidance to help the designer marry the “look” of the item with the “voice” of the copy.
Don’t prescribe solutions. Designers have access to a large pool of resources, training and experience. You are paying for creativity so avoid the temptation to tell the creative team what to do. Instead, be clear about what the item needs to achieve, so we can explore ideas and come back to you with concepts.
Do your scheduling. Make sure you schedule the whole project before you brief a designer, incorporating appropriate feedback and incubation stages. Ask POMO in advance to inform you if deadlines are unrealistic. Remember that a rushed project is already compromised. Quality takes time.
Allow enough time. To maximise your design investment, we suggest you allow substantial time for the creative and the production process. The focus should be on ensuring the text, design and artwork collaborate as a team. If you face strict time constraints, please discuss appropriate solutions.
Forget what you like. It is hard, but try not to let personal taste influence your opinion of a creative concept. Think in terms of the target market at all times. Remember that your project will only be successful if it appeals to THEM not necessarily to you.
Be Constructive. Criticisms or suggestions should be specified as clearly as possible and should be constructive rather than destructive. Everybody is working towards the same goal of producing a successful project
THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Providing as much information as possible prior to the commencement of a project enables the designer to develop a more effective outcome. Include in your brief the following:
The need - What bought about the decision to engage a graphic designer? Is the company launching a new website, new product, or attending an exhibition for example?
PART A - BACKGROUND
Company Profile/values and market standing - An outline of what your company does – one or two short paragraphs should suffice, including a history of your company’s growth. Create an honest appraisal of your company, it’s products or services, compared to the most prominent competition. This should be brutally honest – what you say here stays between us! Also what are the core values of your organisation?
Target market Describe your general target audience i.e. occupation, income, gender ratio, average age, location, psychological demographic, lifestyle preferences. The targeted demographic of the project – age, gender, lifestyle/social class, income, geography. Anything you can tell us about the people you want to reach is valuable.
Previous communications - Can you provide examples of present and previous advertising and marketing materials, including any press releases, PR or other instances where your company has interacted with the big wide world.
PART B - PRO JECT SPECIFICS
Contacts - Please provide the contact details of the project co-ordinator including telephone, mobile, fax, email, web/street/postal and delivery addresses. Please list any other relevant project stakeholders.
The message - What are the key messages of the project? What is the context of specific message in relation to your business’ overall plans? What is the objective of the message? i.e. desired response from audience. What are we trying to say through this project, and how does it relate to your business plan? Provide notes on essential phrases or straplines, and include any images/photos and logos that would need to form part of the project.
Project Aims and objectives - Please list the aims and objectives of the project. What do you expect to achieve – do you want people to take an interest in your company in general, or do you want to focus on a particular product or service?
Timetable - Provide time frames for the following:
• Consultation (research, strategy, brief
development)
• Creative (concept and design development)
• Production (approvals, artwork, printing and other production)
• Final supply or delivery/distribution dates.
Be realistic about the amount of time you can allow for the project. For example, a 12 page brochure might take a few days to produce. In this perfect world, the client has all of the text, photographs, and other assets ready, and can meet at a moments notice to answer any questions – oh, and the client will NEVER change his/her mind!
Meanwhile, back on planet earth, we have to go through a number of steps, including consultation, creative conceptualisation, development and repetitive incorporation of amendments, approval, signing off and production, shipping and delivery – and this, coupled with key contacts not being available from time to time, and having to wait on third parties for other artwork or assets can make that same job stretch to a month or more. So please allow enough time for your project.
I hope this gives you some food for thought – if you take anything away from this, then consider that if you cannot readily answer any of the above, then you probably aren’t ready to engage a designer in the most economical manner.
Media Supply - In order to design an effective communication piece POMO will require information regarding the supply of media by your organization plus details as to how these graphic elements are to be utilised
These are the graphic elements to consider:-
• logos, symbols, trademarks
• copy - hierarchy of copy messages, treatment of headlines, body copy, visuals, product samples and calls-to-action.
• photographs and captions
• graphs, diagrams, maps
• illustrations
Other - What else do you want the creative team to know?
Discuss!
Of course, if you want advice – then drop us a line! Advice is free
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