How to write a design brief that saves half the revisions
Most revisions don't come from poor execution — they come from what wasn't said at the start. A brief doesn't have to be long; it just has to answer a few questions.
Every extra round of revisions costs both sides time. And more often than not, it happens not because the designer got something wrong, but because something important stayed in the client's head. A good brief prevents that.
It doesn't have to be a long document. It's enough if it answers these questions:
- Objective. What does this piece need to achieve? Sell, inform, invite people to an event? One main goal is better than three.
- Audience. Who is it for? Existing customers or new ones? Which language do they read in? Young people or seniors?
- Formats and sizes. Where will it appear? An A4 flyer, a 6 × 3 m billboard, an Instagram story, a 30-second TV spot. If you need several adaptations, list them all up front — it affects the very first layout.
- Copy. Final copy, ideally already proofread. Changing the copy after the layout has been built is the most common reason for extra revision rounds.
- Assets. Your logo in vector format (AI, EPS, SVG or PDF), brand guidelines and photos at their original size — not copied from your website.
- Deadline. When do you need the first version, and when the final files? Which date can't move — the print deadline or the day the ad goes on air, for example?
- Who signs off. One person who makes the final decision.
- Examples. Two or three references you like — and a few you don't. That says more than "we want something modern".
If you don't know everything yet
That's normal. Put what you don't know in the brief as well — "sizes still to be confirmed" is better than silence. That way the questions get answered before work starts, not after the third version.
The shortest brief that works: what, for whom, where, when and who signs off. Everything else can be sorted out in one conversation.