Writing a Project Brief
About design/idea briefs
The goal of the design brief is to make a pitch for an idea, but in written form. Writen briefs are used to make written pitches – so instead of going into someones office to pitch them, you write it down and send it (or email/fax it in).
Things to consider:
- What points are easier to make in a two page document, than a 30 or 120 second pitch? Why?
- What is easier to do in a written language compared to spoken? (One answer: You can revise a written document as many times as needed to make it great – unlike a spoken pitch, there’s no performance anxiety. There’s no excuse for a written brief not to be polished, typo free and sharp).
- How do you intend to keep people’s attention in the brief, so that they read the whole thing?
- What does it mean for a written document to “present well”? Style, structure and clarity are just as important in a written pitch, as in a spoken one.
- Diagrams, pictures or photos, if used sparingly, can be more potent than paragraphs of hard to follow explanation.
Questions a brief should answer
- What is the core idea (stated as simply, and compellingly, as possible)?
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- Who are you solving it for?
- How will you solve it / How will it work?
- Why should the reader care? Why are you pitching me? What do you want?
- How might this go wrong? And what will you do to prevent, respond if that happens?
Brief Structure
There are many ways to structure a design/idea brief. Here’s one recommended structure. You may use others, but I will evaluate them based on how well they answer the above questions.
- The goal. Identify the core nugget that explains what you’re pitch is trying to achieve. Should be one short descriptive sentence. It doesn’t need to sizzle, but it does need to be tight.
- The idea. This is a version of your 5 second pitch.
- The problem. This is a modified version of a pitch set-up: as it provides a framework for the idea. Perhaps you can have a tight bulleted list of data points that identify the problem or short, realistic scenarios that expresses why these problems are important.
- The audience. Who will this idea appeal to? What is the profile of the potential customer? What is the profile of the non-customer? (Who would never ever be interested in this idea?)
- The approach. How does the idea work? Explain, at a high level, the outline for how the idea will be implemented. This could be organizational, technical and procedural. There should be a logic and flow to the approach that makes the idea seem possible.
- Challenges & Unknowns. What are the big open issues that need to be resolved, or are questions a reasonable person would ask? If you were the pitchee what questions would you have? Identify them and demonstrate you’ve thought about those issues – ideally with a credible (if fuzzy) plan, or plan for a plan, for resolving.
Source – University of Washington, communications design
Case Studies / checklists
- Design breif for a site at a historic centre: Moretonhampstead
- Checklist for a design breif: 1, 2
Assignment
In groups of three, prepare a project brief for the development of Design of Project A (12 marks)
Make sure you have included some sketches to demonstrate your ideas, with fuzzy plans or sketches.
You will be judged for the following
- Completeness of Structure: Does it cover sufficient information (see brief structure above) – 60%
- Presentation: Approach and the ability to focus on the ideas – 20%
- Ideas presented and Clarity of thought. Does the pitch make clear solutions, and have compelling arguments argument for action desired. – 20%
