How to Write a Design Brief

A design brief explains everything your designer will need to know about you, your background, your market position, and objectives. Writing a brief will ensure that you know what you want, and so will your designer.

A detailed brief brings focus to a project and provides better value. It gives your designer an important starting point, knowing what’s important and what you’re trying to accomplish. This means less redesigns, less time, and ultimately less money will be spent on the project.

Things to include:

Corporate profile. Nobody knows your company as well as you do. Provide a summary of your business, as well as a brief history.

Market position. A realistic evaluation of your company, service, or brand relative to your what the competition is doing.

Current situation. Explain what’s happening to bring about the need for this project. For instance, a new product launch that needs advertising.

Communication background. This includes both previous and present communication activity, such as research, advertising, direct mail, graphic design, public relations etc.

Marketing Message. What’s the context of the specific message in relation to your business plans? Include pieces of information to be shown in the designed item e.g. text, logos, images etc.

Target market. Demographics – the age, gender, income, employment, geography, lifestyle of those you want to reach.

Objectives. What do you want to achieve? Make your objectives specific and the results measurable.

Available budget. Providing your budget tells the designer if it’s worth his / her time initiating the design process. Offering an unrealistic budget will turn away good designers and simply asks for poor results. Explain the range of your budget and the designer may suggest different options – better quality paper or special finishes, for example.

Schedule and deadline. You’ll get the best results if you provide a detailed and realistic schedule of how you would like the project to advance. Take the following into consideration:

• Consultation (research, strategy, brief development)
• Creative (concept and design development)
• Production (artwork, printing and other production)
• Delivery

Finding New Design Clients

New Business Development

Developing your marketing message will make new client development simpler. Targeting the right client will also minimize rejection. When deciding what clients to go after, don’t ask, “what do I do?” but ask “what do I want to do more of?” The answer is your marketing message.

Resources for Targeting New Clients

Trade Directories list the name and contact info of many firms. Contact library reference departments for referrals to the publishers. You can ask “Where can I find the names of health care companies in the Chicago area?” and they will refer you to the correct directory. Many such directories are available on CD or DVDs, or may exist online, so you don’t have to key them.

Industry Trade Shows and Conventions are great places to gather leads and view a firm’s existing collateral. This has a major advantage: you can see who needs your design work.

Trade Associations are found in The Encyclopedia of Associations which lists thousands of industry groups. Companies that join Trade Associations are aggressively pursuing new business, so you can safely assume they need design services. They are solid leads.

Other Places to Look for Leads

The daily newspaper business section reports new business developments, products, and expansions, which may require design services. More importantly, these news reports give you a “foot in the door” – a relevant topic by which you may approach the firm.

Office or industrial park directories where your studio is located. Present yourself as their “local” design firm. Approach them as neighbors and they may be more receptive.

Old awards annuals usually showcase clients who were open to creativity, and willing to take a risk. They would probably do it again.

What Kind of Client Do You Really Want To Talk To?

Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma, in their book The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market, teach that successful businesses often target their efforts into a narrow philosophy based on how their customers demand value.

When your client’s customers make a decision to buy something, their decision is driven by their demand for value. The authors found that the lowest possible cost was not always the best way to compete for consumers’ money. People were willing to pay for: something that lasts longer, something unique, something that represented a long-term solution by way of a continued relationship with the seller. If you determine in which of these factors your client’s market is most interested (price, uniqueness, relationship, quality), you can determine how to approach and sell to them. When you know who you are talking to, you can make yourself irresistible.

Client Analysis

One case study business found a lack of new business and performed an analysis of clients they had, using an eight-point list:

• The firm’s design strengths
• Its weaknesses
• Existing client types
• Their locations and billings
• Different types of projects these clients had
• Average profitability
• Percentage of new clients from referrals and ads
• Direction to establish for new client developments

Using this information, the business identified its target market, wrote a positioning statement, started a massive research effort to identify potential clients, and launched a marketing campaign. The result? Twelve new clients and a new marketing assistant to handle calls and mailings.

– Summary of The Graphic Designer’s and Illustrator’s Guide to Marketing and Promotion, Chapter Two.