The Internet offers many topics and resources for creative professions. One can become an essay writing, find various projects, or new clients.
Brief Tips of a Design
But being a designer in the digital world, you will need some advice to get your business going. One such piece – design brief.
That represents a form of written document that serves as a means to communicate your project to those who might be interested in it.
This will allow you to compile a single document for the design process, rather than needing to scroll through various emails, text messages, and notes.
Design Brief?
This, put simply, is a document that states the vital details and aspects about your next project, including the strategy of achieving it, what its scope is, what are your goals. This also takes into account what should be done.
When putting together a design brief it’s important that you ensure that all the relevant parties agree on the details, such as deliverables, schedule, and budget.
Why Is That Needed?
When you send out emails to agencies, in the best case they will already be knowledgeable of the industry, perhaps of your company, and probably your project. But not necessarily.
They may not know any of those things. This is why having a design brief becomes important. It will allow you to excite agencies to learn for your project.
After all, during day-to-day work, agencies cannot be familiar with any industry there is. They simply can’t know any company.
Also, if you aren’t some CEO in a super famous company, chances are, they will not have heard about you. An easy solution comes to play – design brief.
Design Brief or RFP
What is RFP? Well, that stands for Request for Proposal. This is another name used when people talk about design briefs in North America.
Or it can be also called Request for Quotation (RFQ).
What you put in them, though, is similar and serves the same purpose – to summarize what are the requirements of your project for the designer.
Short Description of What to Include in Your Design Brief
Here we will quickly summarize the details for those of you who wish to see only the general notion. Below we will expand on those details to give you a better overview.
To begin, you have to write a short overview of the job you’re doing, of your business, if we are to be more precise. Why is that done?
Well, a software company will have certain needs while catering one will have another. So, the designers need to be aware of your area of work in order to be helpful with fulfilling your goals.
Then you will also have to state what problems you are facing – such as, not having enough visitors, needing another website, etc.
Other important aspects are objectives. Design briefs must show the goals and objectives with the latter being the characteristics that will show you have fulfilled the goals.
Put in your target market, plus what audience you are targeting. Those are required, once again, so that the designers can get to understand how to complete the project.
Afterward, you should include a bit more detailed data about the project. Put not only specifications you desire but also what are the timeframe and the budget.
You can also include details about the competitors.
Then, give some more data about your business – such as, what makes you unique, what do you have to offer to the customers, etc.
Contact information is a MUST!
Include details that are relevant for the acceptance of the particular project, for its approval, and for the payment.
Business Overview
Here you should put the business that your business does. The most relevant detail here is… what is the way you make money out of what you do.
Then, include how customers purchase products and services from you. Don’t forget to point out the unique sides of your business that makes it stand out.
The designer you’ll work with needs to have a clear view of who you are, so you should also put into writing what it is that you are doing, why should the customers pick your product or service.
Should they not know that it will be hard for them to master a proper design that suits your aims.
Project Overview
Quite an important aspect that requires thorough attention. It’s a description of the project, made clear and concise so that it can be easily understood.
Here enter is the reason behind doing the given project. Include what exactly do you envision for it. Here you should answer some questions such as what are you building, what are the design problems you will have to solve, as well as what assets will arise from the completion.
Goals And Objectives
Hey, you didn’t just wake up with the notion of needing to change something, anything. No, you had a reason to get this idea. So, what is the driving factor in deciding?
Plus, what is the direction in which your business makes its steps? Put in methods of directing it that way?
A vital part – put onto paper your plans. Clearly differentiate between objectives and goals. By saying goals, we mean the overall purpose of something.
On the other hand, objectives are the things that need to be completed and measured to see whether we’ve reached the goal. On the other hand, your objectives should be specific.
Leave no room for ambiguity. Hence, you shall have a clear view of your future goal.
You need to consider the ideal outcome you look forward to. This allows for defining clear goals and objectives.
Target Market
No single thing can be targeted at anyone. There will be people who are less inclined to use your product and such that are more inclined to do so.
Realize who they are for this is the population that makes up your target audience. If you wish to provide them with a product or service they will want, you need to understand quite well their needs. Then build on the project around that.
See what are the traits – both demographic and psychological – of the audience. See what is the solution you are offering them.
Consider the ideal customers for your business and the means by which they use your product. Even more importantly, what will they use the product (or service) for?
What Problems Do You Encounter?
Yes, yes, you may think that the objective is clear enough. But you should also put what the problem is for it focuses the goals on the most urgent and important matter at hand. It shows people where to start from and how to continue forward.
Budget and Schedule
The budget… the almighty budget. That is something you should definitely have agreed upon from the get-go.
This is a critical step in the process of making a design brief. Also, here you should include the schedule, aka. what needs to be finished when.
This will allow you to have a clear time frame, concise constraints, and expectations. They should be realistic. But you have to also allow for some flexibility for changes and obstacles that may arise.
Deliverables
A core purpose that should be clearly stated and unambiguous. If you allow for ambiguity or misunderstanding, big problems arise. Write down the expectations of the completion of the project. Put in writing the details of the setup of your project, of the format, size, etc.
Other Details
You may need to put into writing who are your main competitors and whether there are some things that should definitely be avoided.
Also, here you may need to say who has the final word about approving or rejecting the project.
What to Avoid?
Don’t skip the part with the budget. Make sure it is clear on what terms you are willing to work. No, not all details are required, but a rough estimate is important.
Don’t forget the timescale. If you don’t include that, you are directing the design brief towards a huge pile of ‘can we actually do that?’ Documents.
Don’t send the brief to all agencies. Pick some out, research them, only then make that email.
Conclusion
A design brief is an important document for one’s project for it gives a clear frame around which the design agency or freelancer can build the project.
They will need to be aware of the limitations, the expectations, the objectives, and the relevant info such as budget and timeframe.
Doing your best on the designer brief means you will have a plan that is clear to anyone involved and there will be no misunderstanding.
This will make the workflow smooth and in the direction that is needed. Understanding among all the participating parties is crucial for all creative projects.
Create a good brief and keep in mind to follow the tips we gave you.
By ensuring a proper design brief, you are making the process of finding designers and working with them much easier.
So, why don’t you take advantage of the information and go ahead with your next big project?
