Briefs

How a designer responds to a brief is the most important factor in determining the outcome of a project. Briefing documents need to be studied closely, yet following them slavishly is not always advisable. We should challenge bad briefs and dig deeper into good ones.

Although designers like to kick out at the restrictions in design briefs, the simple truth is that they need briefs like cars need fuel. yet a frequent complaint among clients is that designers ignore briefs. There are two reasons why clients say this. The first is that some designers do indeed ignore briefs and do what they want to do. The other - probably the more common - the reason is that most designers give clients better work than they want, and clients mistakenly see this as a failure to follow the brief.

Although a brief normally arrives as a document, its more important aspect is the person, or persons, who issued it. In other words, a brief isn't just a brief, its a piece of communication from a human being with thought, prejudices, fears and concerns, and its only by dealing with the human being 0 the brief's creator - that we can squeeze out its real essence. A good written brief is a prompt for a discussion more than a set of definitive instructions.

The AIGA defines a design brief as follows:

'A written explanation given by the client to the designer at the outset of a project. As the client, you are spelling out your objectives and expectations and defining a scope of work when you issue one. You're also committing to a concrete expression that can be revisited as a project moves forward. Its an honest way to keep everyone honest. If the brief raises questions, all the better. Questions early are better than questions late.'

Graphic Design: A User's Manual by Adrian Shaughnessy