What is a Design Brief Anyway?
If it was not for this course, I do not think that I would have come across this book: ‘Creating the Perfect Design Brief’ by Peter L. Phillips. I did not manage to read through all the content, however from what I have read, it is a very insightful book for designers starting out in the industry as well as season designers and Art Directors.
It is very true that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach towards design briefs. The creative world is very broad, so projects are varied, hence the project briefing is also very different from one project to the other. Even the term for ‘design brief’ or ‘project brief’ is not standardised. This is the point Phillips opens up with; the myriad of terms used to describe this document that outlines the project and deliverables to all the stakeholders involved. It is also common knowledge, that quite often, these documents are not well prepared by whoever is responsible for whatever reason, usually it is because due to time constraints, which results in the stakeholders not knowing what they are supposed to do. I have experienced this personally – in my current job we do not create formal design briefs, however we communicate a lot with whoever is involved in the project. However, the person who is responsible for the product we are working on (we call them product owners) very often tend to make changes to the project frequently, and this causes a delay in the project.
Another misconception that it is commonplace in the design industry is that, for some reason, design briefs are expected to the ‘as short as possible’. I understand that long and droning documents will often end up being shoved to the bottom of a drawer, however, chopping a project description to its bare necessities is not the way to go, for it will be to vague, leading for the information to be subject to interpretation. As Phillips aptly answers the question to how long a design brief should be, his answer is ‘as long as It is necessary’. Project briefs are indeed a critical part of a project – they are essentially the framework of the whole project in written format, and whoever reads it can have an accurate overview of the whole project from start to finish.
I also enjoyed reading the article by Kim Zarney, that is also quoted by the author. The article is an analogy – Zarney compares design briefs to stir-fry cooking. Stir-fry cooking is a fun way to cook food, provided that you are prepared and have the right ingredients to prepare the dish. Similarly, a design project can be a very enjoyable experience, provided that the initial groundwork is done and the brief is well prepared. Ina addition, although projects do need some flexibility in terms of deadlines and feasible outcomes, it is important to set out certain parameters and constraints that are solid. This could be a core concept or particular deliverable. One important parameter in any project is the budget for the project. It is very easy to go over it and the expenditure becomes too high and can result in the project to bomb.
Quite an interest read indeed, I would definitely come back to this book whether it is for this module or not. There is a lot of insightful content in it that will definitely help me learn more about this ‘managerial’ side of a design business, whether employed or working freelance. I do not consider myself as a novice designer, but as this course progresses, I can see more that I still have lots and lots to learn when it comes to the creative industry. One can never know everything about anything, but the more you learn, the better you can use your skills in your respective industry.
