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Proper planning is the foundation of every successful project. For graphic designers, that planning comes in the form of a creative brief. When done correctly, it’ll guide you and your team through the entire process and ensure that everything goes smoothly.
What Is the Creative Brief?
The creative brief, or project overview, is a document that, on one or two pages, outlines the strategy for a project. It tells the creative team all they need to know about the project details. Brief tells people who’ll work on a project who is the client, what are the objectives, and what are the means to achieve them. Even though it is usually made in close coordination with a client, a creative brief is there for internal use, and therefore can be changed along the way.
Why Is It Important?
The importance of a brief in the process can’t be overestimated. Unless you’re a graphic design freelancer who works alone, brief will ensure that everyone on the team knows the same things. It’ll also keep everyone in the loop with the progress and whether the project is keeping up the pace against deadlines or if it has maybe steered away from the budget.
In short, it is a strategy, and a well-laid approach will save you a lot of time and possibly money along the way. With a clear brief, both the client and your team have a scope of what is to be done and when towards the common goal of a successful project.
A Guide to Making a Good Brief
There are some details that every freelance designer should know about the brief. Such as what should always be part of it. We’ll present you with a short guide to the making of a professional creative brief.
#Who You’re Working For
The first thing should always be the information about the client. Knowing about the brand, what the company stands for, what values it promotes, what message it sends to its customers, can, in many ways, define the course of the project. Therefore, presenting that information in a brief will give some ideas to designers about the tone of the messages they’ll send. In the campaigns the companies launch, sometimes even the color of the ads can play a crucial role.
#Goals and Objectives
Among the essential parts of the brief is stating what your client wants to achieve with a project. Here should be noted to what end your team works. Defined objectives will keep you and your team on course, and protect you all from steering away.
From the objectives also depends on the tone. The key message will be different for different brands, even if the goal is the same.
Be mindful, though, that too many objectives can harm the project. Creating a brief is a perfect moment to iron those details out with your client. If the achievable results are set from the beginning, then the expectations can be accordingly managed.
#Who Are the Stakeholders
To keep everything flowing, communication has to go smoothly. So, in your overview, you should name all the people of interest in the company you’re working for. With such a list, if any problem arises, everybody in your team will know exactly who to call and resolve the issue.
#What’s the Competition Doing
Since every niche of the economy is a competitive arena, keeping tabs on the competition can only pay off. How do they do things? What sets them apart from the rest? Is that making them better, and in what ways? Answers to these questions will help your team deliver much better results and must have their place in the brief.
#Working for the Brand
When you get the gig, you begin to provide design service for a company that either already has, or is trying to build a brand. So in all of the project details that care for branding has to seep through. The brief has to detail how you’re going to promote the client’s brand.
#Who’s Your Target Audience
In brief, you also have to define who’s your target audience. Your message will have to be conveyed differently depending on who’s supposed to hear it. Be prepared for the need to change the audience from one project to the next.
#Deadlines
Finally, those dreadful days that always seem to rush towards you. Still, the deadlines have to be clearly set out if the project is to be finished on schedule.
Final Notes
There you have it. The basics of making a proper creative brief. Download a free template for creating a creative brief to make your life easier. Putting your efforts in the project planning and coordination with your associates and clients can only help you in delivering a sound and successful product.
