Tell your designer:
• What your organization does
• How long you have been established and how many staff you employ
• What your niche market is
• How you fit in to your industry sector
Good design can have a huge influence on the success of a company's
marketing strategy - but in order for success to be ensured, clear goals
must be set.
For example:
Which medium are you looking to promote the organization/Service/product,
if its Online then which exact route do you want to adopt -Websites,
Micro sites, Banner Ads etc etc(It's a different matter that we will at the
end of the day suggest the most suitable & effective medium, but its always
good to do your homework before meeting the design agency or studio).
Do you want to:
• Generate sales?
• Encourage enquiries?
• Gain newsletter subscribers?
• Obtain information from your audience?
• Encourage them to tell a friend?
If your aims and objectives are not this clear, then your design brief has already lost its purpose.
One of most rewarding parts of actually sitting down and writing a design brief is that it helps to clarify your thoughts and can indirectly help to find flaws in what you initially thought was a solid idea.
Detail any demographic figures about your audience that may be useful to the designer. These may include:
• Age
• Sex
• Income
• Occupation
• Location
Time scale is also an important consideration - so let your designer know if there is a specific deadline that has to be met.
Resolving any differences in opinion will save considerable time and expense further down the line.
Make sure to include samples of your company's current marketing materials – even if their only purpose is to explain what you don't want from your new marketing material!
If there is a design style that you particularly like or dislike - then explain why in the brief. If you're not entirely sure why you like a certain design style, then good starting points include:
• Colour
• Imagery
• Quantity and quality of text
• Typography
• The atmosphere that particular designs create
Don't feel that you have to stick to the medium that you are designing for when giving a list of inspiration and influences. If a television advert or music video creates the atmosphere that you want your flyer or website to create, then that is a perfectly reasonable statement to make in a design brief.
The more clues you give about your design tastes, the more likely the designer will be able to produce something close to your aims. Expecting your designer to second-guess what you require rarely produces the best results.
Remember that professional designers will not copy the ideas you send them... but will use them as the start of the design process
