How to write a design brief (with a ready template)

01Why a brief saves money and time

A brief is a short document that explains your business, your goal and your expectations to a designer or agency. It is not bureaucracy. It is the cheapest stage of the whole project: an hour of your time now replaces several rounds of “that’s not quite it” later.

Without a brief, a designer has to guess. Guesses lead to concepts that miss the audience, extra revision rounds and work that suddenly turns out to be “out of scope”. As Mind Tools notes in its guide, unclear objectives are the most common reason for off-target work and endless revision cycles — and assets added halfway through the project usually cost extra.

A brief also protects you. It fixes the agreed scope, deliverables and deadlines in writing, so both sides have something to come back to when opinions differ.

02What a good branding brief contains

Whether you order a single logo or a full identity, the logic is the same. The designer needs to understand the business, the people it serves, the market around it and the practical frame of the project: deliverables, media, budget, timeline and decision-making.

• Business and product — what you do, how you earn money, what makes you different.
• Target audience — a specific person, not “everyone”: age, situation, needs, where they find you.
• Competitors — 3–5 names or links, plus what you like or dislike about them.
• Positioning — how you want to be perceived, in 3–5 adjectives.
• References — visuals you like and dislike, with one sentence on why.
• Practical frame — deliverables, media, budget range, deadline, who approves.

03Brief template: 12 questions to copy

Copy these questions into a document and answer each in 2–5 sentences. Short and honest beats long and polished.

• What does your business do? Describe your product or service in two sentences, as you would to a friend. Add how long you have been operating and where.
• Why do you need a new brand now? Launch, rebrand, new market, new product line, a logo that no longer works? The reason shapes the whole project.
• Who is your client? Describe 1–2 typical customers: age, situation, what problem they solve with you, how they make the decision to buy.
• Who are your competitors? List 3–5 companies with links. What do they do well? Where do you want to look different?
• What makes you different? Price, quality, speed, expertise, service, origin? One clear advantage is worth more than five vague ones.
• How should the brand feel? Choose 3–5 adjectives, e.g. “calm, premium, precise” or “friendly, bold, local”. Also name 2–3 words the brand should never be.
• What do you like and dislike? Attach 3–5 references you like and 2–3 you don’t — not only from your industry — and explain why in one line each.
• What exactly do you need? Logo only, a full identity, a brand book, naming, packaging, a website? List every deliverable now, not halfway through.
• Where will the brand live? Website, Instagram, signage, packaging, vehicles, uniforms, small app icon? This affects shapes, colours and file formats.
• What already exists? Current logo, colours, photos, a domain, a registered name — and what you want to keep or drop.
• What is your budget and deadline? Give a range (e.g. 2 000–4 000 PLN net) and a real date tied to an event — launch, trade fair, opening.
• Who makes the final decision? Name one contact person for feedback and the person who gives final approval.

04What affects the quality of the result

Specific audience. “Women 25–45” is a demographic, not a client. “Mothers on maternity leave in Warsaw who order healthy snacks online at night” gives a designer something to work with.

References with reasons. A link alone is ambiguous: did you like the colour, the typeface or the mood? One sentence of explanation removes the guesswork.

Where the logo will be used. A logo for a mobile app icon and a logo embroidered on aprons need different levels of detail. As Mind Tools points out, future uses even decide whether the design must be vector-based.

An honest budget. Fabrik Brands lists withholding the budget among the most common briefing mistakes: without a range, the agency can’t propose the best approach for your money.

05Common mistakes in briefs

• “Make it modern and clean.” Everyone wants that. Show what “modern” means to you with references, or describe the feeling with adjectives.
• No budget. It doesn’t protect you from overpaying — it just makes proposals impossible to compare.
• Too many decision-makers. Five people giving feedback means five tastes and conflicting comments. Collect opinions internally and pass on one consolidated position.
• Designing for yourself, not for the client. “I don’t like green” is a valid feeling, but the question is whether green works for your audience.
• “Target audience: everyone.” A brand that tries to appeal to everyone ends up memorable to no one.
• Hidden deliverables. Remembering packaging or signage after the logo is approved often means redesign and extra cost.
• Deadline without a reason. “ASAP” helps no one; a real date (opening on 1 March) lets the studio plan stages backwards.

06How we use your brief at Glide Wings

Every branding project starts with a brief — it is literally the first stage of our process: brief and research, strategy, design, brand book and handover. You don’t have to write a perfect document: we send a short questionnaire based on the questions above and then go through the answers together on a call or at a workshop. From there we check competitors, refine positioning and only then start drawing.

Even the smallest branding package, Start (from 900 PLN net), includes a short brief and competitor review; in Optimal (2 200 PLN net) the brief grows into research and positioning. After the brief you get a confirmed scope, timeline and price — no surprises later. We work with clients in Poland and worldwide — remotely, in English, Polish and Russian.

07Questions & answers