Most design projects that go wrong don't go wrong because of the design.

They go wrong because nobody was clear about what they wanted before the work started. The client had a picture in their head. The designer had a different one. Nobody compared notes. Three rounds of feedback later, everyone's frustrated and the budget's gone.

The brief is the thing that stops that happening.

It sounds obvious. It rarely gets done properly. Most clients send us a paragraph in an email, a Word doc someone wrote in twenty minutes, or a forwarded message from a board member that says "make it look professional and modern." That's not a brief. That's a starting gun for a guessing game.

A good brief doesn't need to be long. It needs to be honest. It needs to tell us what the project is actually for, who it's actually for, and what success actually looks like. Half a page of that beats fifteen pages of waffle every time.

When you fill this in properly, two things happen. We do better work, faster, with fewer revisions. And you end up with something that does what it's supposed to do - not just something that looks nice.

That's the point of this document. Take twenty minutes with it. You'll save weeks.

What this is

This is a brief template. Its job is to make sure we both start the project with the same picture in our heads. The more honestly you fill it in, the less time we spend going round in circles later. That's good for you, good for us, and good for the budget.

How long will it take?

Part 1 takes about fifteen minutes if you know your project well. Part 2 (the brand section) takes longer - maybe an hour, maybe two. Don't rush it. Come back to it if you need to. There are no wrong answers, only vague ones.

Which parts do I fill in?

If you're briefing us on a specific project - a website, a report, a campaign, a set of materials - fill in Part 1 only. Eleven questions. That's all we need to get started.

If you're working with us on brand identity - a new brand, a rebrand, or a visual identity refresh - fill in both parts. Part 2 goes deeper into your business, your audience, and the look and feel you're after.

Not sure which applies? Drop us a line before you start. We'll point you in the right direction.

A few tips before you begin

Be specific. "We want something modern and professional" tells us almost nothing. "We want something that feels calm and considered, not shouty - think Muji rather than Mango" tells us a lot.

Be honest about the budget. We're not going to quote higher because you told us what you've got. We're going to tell you what's possible within it.

Don't write what you think we want to hear. If the last designer drove you mad, say so and tell us why. If there's a difficult stakeholder involved, mention it. The more we know up front, the fewer surprises later.

If you get stuck, skip it. Leave a box blank rather than fill it with waffle. You can always follow up with a call.

Who should fill it in?

Ideally the person who owns the project - the one who'll be approving the final work and knows what success looks like. Not the intern, not the PA, not whoever happens to be free on a Tuesday.

If it needs to go through a committee before it comes back to us, tell us that in question 9. We'll factor it into the timeline.

What happens next?

Save the file and email it back to us at elbowstudio.co. We'll read it before we speak, so our first conversation can go straight to the interesting stuff. No introductory small talk about what a brief is.

If something is unclear or we need to dig deeper, we'll let you know. The brief starts the conversation. It doesn't have to finish it.