The brief says "fun and bold," the designer sends back something fun and bold, and it's completely wrong.
Three rounds later everyone's annoyed and the launch date moved. We see some version of this every few months, from both sides of the table.
When it happens we look at the brief first, because that's usually where it went wrong. There's data on this too. The BetterBriefs project surveyed more than 1,700 marketers and agency people across 70 countries in 2021. 80% of marketers said they write good briefs and only 10% of agencies agreed. The gap on clear direction was worse: 78% of marketers against 5% of agencies (mi-3). Respondents estimated about a third of their budgets get wasted on bad briefs and the rework that follows, and a UK follow-up survey put it at 26% (Marketing Week).
In that UK survey, 72% of the marketers who answered had more than 10 years of experience. Brief writing mostly gets learned on the job, usually by writing a few bad ones first. We brief designers every week (our own team and freelancers) and clients brief us, so we've been on both ends of this.
Lead with the problem
The most common brief we see is a list of deliverables. "Six Instagram templates, a story highlight set, a one-sheet." A designer can make all of that and still have no idea what it's supposed to fix.
Start with one or two sentences on the problem instead. "Our feed looks like every other clean beauty brand and our best customers are 35 to 50, not 22." That one line changes the whole job, and it's the part most briefs leave out. In the BetterBriefs research, 61% of marketers and 71% of agencies ranked objectives as the most important part of a brief (mi-3), and The Brandgym says 55% of briefs don't have clear objectives (The Brandgym).
Show the feeling
"Fun," "elevated," "bold" and "clean" mean something different to every person who reads them. So show them. Pull five to ten images. Your own past work you liked, a competitor you can't stand, a hotel lobby, a cereal box from 1974, whatever's in your head. Under each one, write one line about what you like in it, like "that exact pink" or "nope, not this." Our designers get more out of the ones you hate than the ones you love, so put a couple in.
Who signs off
Half the marketers in the BetterBriefs research said the wrong people were signing off their briefs (mi-3). It shows up later as a surprise round of feedback from someone who wasn't in the kickoff.
Name the one person who approves the work. If the founder has a veto, say so up front, and get the founder to react to the references before the designer starts, even if it's a quick thumbs up in Slack.
The boring stuff
Sizes, file formats, deadline, where it's going to live, brand guidelines, logo files, fonts and the copy if it exists. Put it at the bottom of the brief in a list so nobody has to chase it.
Hold back your own idea
If you write "a pink background with the product in the middle and a big headline," you've basically designed it and hired someone to trace it. Sometimes that's what you want. Just know you're skipping whatever they'd have pitched. The Brandgym makes the same point about briefing sessions: keep your execution ideas to yourself and let the creative team bring theirs. If you can't help it, drop your idea in with the references and label it as one option.
Talk it through
90% of marketers in the BetterBriefs survey said their brief changed after the agency had been briefed (mi-3). A 20-minute call where the designer asks questions and you answer them catches most of that before anyone opens Figma.
The template
This is the one we use. It fits on a page.
The problem. One or two sentences on what's wrong or missing.
Who it's for. The customer, as specifically as you can.
What it needs to do. How you'll know it worked.
References. Five to ten images with a line each, including what you don't want.
What we're making. Deliverables, sizes and formats.
Must include. Logo, copy, legal, product shots.
Who approves it. One name.
When. First look date and final date.
Briefing more than one person
If you're briefing a designer, a photographer, a copywriter and someone for paid ads, every one of them needs their own version of this, and someone has to keep all four working from the same idea. That's most of what an agency strategist does all day. At Beyond Bright the brief comes first, before anyone touches a design file.
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Written by
Hana Brenner-Katz is the founder and creative director of Beyond Bright Creative. She started her own design studio in 2018 and turned it into a full-service agency in 2023.
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