Business 101 for Designers: Creative Briefs

Terry Lee Stone terry@terryleestone.com

Start Up & Working Creative consulting firm structure

and work process.

Creative Work Flow• Listen to a problem (interview them)

• Think about it (concept/strategy)

• Come up with ideas (design, illustrate)

• Create a diagram (sketch, animatic)

• Sell it (presentation)

• Make it (or hand-off to others)

• Deliver it (on time)

• Bill it

Project Work Flow

• Projects tend to follow this pattern: STEP 1: Get a call from a client STEP 2: Get a project STEP 3: Create a proposal/contract STEP 4: Get a signed contract STEP 5: Do a full Creative Brief STEP 6: Begin creative work in phases (as outlined in the contract) STEP 7: Deliver and Invoice

Once you’ve discussed how you will work with a client, you need to understand

what you’ll be working on. Briefings come before and after contract development.

Your need to be fully prepared to design. That means getting

a proper Creative Brief.

What is a Creative Brief?• A document that is foundation or framework for

your creative approach

• A summary of key factors impacting a project

• Gives you and the client a common language

• Provides a metric for design/creative approvals: helps you build and defend the work

• Is a great management tool

A Creative Brief will answer these questions:

• What is this project? Why are we doing it?

• What is the problem or opportunity here?

• Who is the target audience? Why do they care?

• Where and how will it be used?

• How will it be remembered and retold?

• What needs to be done? By whom? and, when?

Creative Briefing• Overview: Who are they? What is their product or service?

Strengths & Weaknesses? Price point? Competitors?

• Strategy: What are we doing? What are the goals and objectives? What is the delivery media? Any research? Opportunities? Propagation Plan (building buzz into product DNA)

• The Audience: Who is the customer? Demographics? Psychographics? Changes in customers? Customer FAQs?

• Specific Project Info: What are the specs? Who is working with us? Technical parameters? Life Span? Restrictions?

• Schedule: When is this due? Meetings or Benchmarks?

• Summary: Client contact info?

Briefing Exercise

Value of Creative Briefs• Links creative to the client’s goals

• Summarizes client expectations

• Indicates how success will be defined, measured, and evaluated

• Guides the decision making process

• Makes approvals clearer and easier for clients

Keys to Successful Collaborations

• Do what you say you are going to do

• Stay in constant communication

• Treat clients as important contributors

• Create work that meet their goals

• Deliver on time and on budget

Writing tips for Creative Briefs

• Keep it short: focus, focus, focus

• Assume no prior knowledge

• Use simple sentence structure

• Don’t solve the problem, frame it

• Add visuals to the content

• Use the right format and tone for your team

• Provide clear deliverables and benchmarks

Clients expect us to be creative. However, they also expect us to

manage our projects well. Creative Briefs assist us

in that goal.

Homework View: Running a Design Business: Creative

Briefs lynda.com Video Develop 5 multiple choice Q’s

Write: Creative Brief on the Shoe exercise

Thank You