What should I include in my design brief?

This is one of the hardest questions to answer for anyone trying to break into the design industry.  Initially you'll go out and try to find work but when a potential customer comes along you have no clue how to go about beginning a design and the whole project becomes much more of a nightmare than it should be.

One of the keys to beginning a design in the right direction comes before the actual designing and is known in the industry as a design brief.  A design brief is simply a series of questions you ask your client to find out what their needs are.

I am going to share with you what kinds of things you should ask potential clients and include an example design brief as a pdf at the end of this article.  Most of what I say will be assuming your design objective is to create a website for a potential customer.

The answer is, a lot.  The more thorough you are in asking your client what they want then the more specific they will be when they respond.  This is good news because it prevents you from creating unnecessary mockups and design concepts since you already have a better idea what they like and dislike.

There are, of course, the basic things to ask about like color scheme, and for print media what size, quantity, finish, etcetera your client desires.  You will also need to know what kind of content will be on display such as text, photos, video, or a combination of everything.  On top of that it is a good idea to find out as much about the company or person as you can and what they want to represent.

Questions like the following will help you to better understand where the client is coming from:

• What does your organization do?
• How long have you been in business?
• How many employees do you have?
• What region do you cater to?
• How do you fit in your industry sector compared to other similar companies?

These kinds of questions can give you a lot of ideas for creating a design unique to that specific client.  For example, if the company caters only to a certain city or county, you can include something that is familiar to that area.  That way when a visitor sees the site they immediately have a sense of trust and familiarity.

Another thing to find out is what the client hopes to accomplish with the design you'll be providing.  Do they want to generate sales through the site?  How about encourage enquiries so they can explain what they do to potential buyers?  Other objectives include gaining newsletter subscribers, obtaining information from visitors, encouraging referrals, and more.

Obviously if the objective of a site is to sell things, you'll want to design a site that makes it easy for the end user to make a purchase.  If you want to gain newsletter subscribers you may want a sign up button strategically placed on the main page.

Knowing a clients target audience can also give you a sense of what style is suitable to your design.  Ask questions about target age, sex, income, occupation, location, etc.

If you know a client wants to target kids age 12-16 then you may want to use brighter colors and wilder shapes that would be unsuited for a site designed for the elderly.

There are other questions to ask that will reflect the personal tastes of a client.  Ask them to give you a list of websites they really like and dislike and why.  This will give you a very good idea of what the stay away from when you are creating your initial concepts.

The main purpose of a design brief is to gather as much information as possible.  The more information you retrieve from your client the easier your job becomes and the better the final outcome will be for both parties involved.

You should always encourage descriptive word use.  If a client tells you they want a site that looks "nice" that is of no help to you.  Shouldn't all sites look nice?  If they said they want a "modern, high-class, and masculine" website you will begin to picture the direction you want to go in before you even sit down to begin work.

One final thing to remember is to find out what your clients budget and timeline are.  There is nothing worse than getting excited over a big potential project only to find out they want somebody to do it for $100 because it is "a great portfolio piece for the future".  For this reason you may want to begin your design brief with the questions of money and deadlines.

You should never do work for less than you feel it's worth.  People that do design work for too little not only ruin the industry for other designers but for themselves as well.  It's people like this who will eventually drop out of design because they can't support themselves doing it.  Remember, what you do is not a hobby but a very finely honed gift and it's the way you pay your way through life.

As a side note, it's always good to collect some kind of deposit before you begin working.  I find something between 25-50% of the final cost is usually fair.  This will encourage you to finish your designs sooner and will keep your client from bailing on you.  You'd be amazed at how many people will work on a design for something like 10 hours or more only to have the client respond a week layer saying "nevermind".

I hope you found this information useful.  Please leave comments about anything you think is missing and also make sure to Digg, Stumble, and Float this article if you found it helpful.

You can also download my sample design brief here.