Briefing tool

Use this practical tool for framing, articulating and fully exploring any potential communication project. Developed to avoid over-specification whilst exposing potentially unseen opportunities.

Downloadable templates:

MS Word (555kb) PDF (96kb)

What are you setting out to do?

• Note, not 'what do you want to tangibly produce' but what you are looking to achieve as a result of it.
• For example: "Provide an interactive resource to my customers that will help them to better understand 'x' so that they can 'y', thereby helping me to 'z'."

How do you think it should be done?

• The tangible or designed form of the vehicle that will drive towards the goal.
• For example: "A series of downloadable fact sheets (double-sided A4)."

Do you think there might be other ways to achieve the goal?

• How are/would your competitors go about it?
• Why do you think this way is the best for you?
• For example: "This is an accepted format for ease of distribution at my industry's
  trade shows and fits within my budget."

What are the challenges and constraints associated with this goal?

• For example: "Overcoming the associations the wider market can have with the size of our business compared to our competitors."

What's the story so far?

• Outline the history and any precedents involved in deciding to invest in graphic design to support this business goal.
• Consider also the nested or larger context this product or service may sit within if applicable (where does it fit in the scheme of the overall business or endeavour?).

Who are your competitors?

• Where does your organisation sit in this competitive landscape in the eyes, minds and wallets of the market?

Who is your a) primary, and b) secondary audience or target market?

• Your primary audience will include those who primarily impact on your bottom line, and are often the majority of repeat-business. This group is the most obvious or direct group you rely on, whereas your secondary audience can often be the most important aspect in your growth. The secondary group may be 'on the fence', future generation customers, or have an indirect impact on your bottom line due to the nature of their relationship with the primary group.
• For example: Where a primary group might include 'predominantly male recreational boaters in the Great Lakes region, locally residing in the area itself', an important secondary group would be visitors to the region, and possibly families or partners connected to the primary target who can impact on decision-making and ultimately money spent.

What do you want your audience to do as a result of this piece?

• On a scale between 'inspiration' (or 'be dazzled') to 'information' (or 'be informed'), think about what the single most important audience action you need to influence. Examples:

Precedents and benchmarks

• Are there existing precedents or examples of similar projects either within or outside your organisation that might provide a useful benchmark on either what not to do, or what might compete favourably in the market?

Stakeholders

• Are there other stakeholders that will impact on the way the end result will function?
• Who are they?

What is the primary message the design needs to say?

• For example: "Our salon helps you relax and makes you feel special."

What content does the design need to accommodate?

• If you have the content for the design drafted, or you have the images and other elements it needs to incorporate, you should include these here or attach them at the end.
• The more complete these are, the more accurate the corresponding budget and time estimate will be.
• At minimum, an indication of the type, quantity and format of planned content will be necessary (e.g. amount of words, amount and nature of photographs to be used, branding or logo-related mandatories, file formats used, resolution quality of available photographs etc).

What content needs to be arranged?

• For example: Professional photography, or supplementary stock library image resources.

What are the production specifications?

• For example: "Full colour, 8 page gate-folded A5 brochure, printed on 130gsm recycled paper."

Production constraints

• Are there production-dependent considerations the design proposal needs to accommodate?
• For example: "The product packaging must clearly and safely showcase our hand-crafted fishing lures for frequent in-store handling or browsing. The packaging must uphold an impression of value at the set price-point by retaining a high standard of presentation, yet remain in our budget."

Budget

• Do you have a budget for this design phase (excluding external professional printing or distribution costs)?
• If you do have a budget in mind for the project, Nous Communications will provide a market-rate estimate based on a total assessment of this brief. This estimate will make every effort to work within this budget, even if a re-specification of the scope of the project is necessary to keep it realistically within these bounds.

Time frame

• Do you have a deadline in mind or a firm date for launch of the final result?