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 team 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/developers will not copy the ideas you send them… but will use them at the start of the process.

• What does your organisation do?
• What your niche market is?
• How do you fit into 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.

• Do you want to: Generate sales?
• Do you want to: Encourage enquiries?
• Do you want to: Gain newsletter subscribers?
• Do you want to: Encourage them to tell a friend?
• Do you want to: Obtain information from your audience?

• While meeting the design studio, detail your primary, secondary and tertiary audiences.
• Explain if you are looking to consolidate your existing client base or appeal to new markets.
• Detail any demographic figures about your audience that may be useful to the design. These may include Age, Sex, Income, Occupation, etc.

• Even if you can only provide a ballpark figure, a budget expectation will give the designer a good idea of the type of solution they will realistically be able to provide.
• The time scale is also an important consideration – so let your designer know if there is a specific deadline that has to be met.

• Consult with as many people within your organisation as possible before sending the brief to the website design consultant or design agency.
• Showing the design brief to different people may reveal remarkable differences in the way people see your organisation’s aims and objectives.
• Resolving any differences in opinion will save considerable time and expense further down the line.

• Providing examples of what you consider to be effective or relevant design can be a great help in writing a brief.
• Make sure to include samples of your company’s current marketing materials.
• If you’re not entirely sure why you like a certain design style, then good starting points include Colour, Imagery, Typography, etc.
• If there is a design style that you particularly like or dislike – then explain why in the brief.

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