You don’t always need a full creative brief, but going into a project without one is like flying blind. Many marketing teams are producing a high volume of collateral and need to be agile in their delivery. So, the process needs to be as efficient as possible to meet the needs of both the client and the creative team, starting with a good brief.

What is a Creative Brief?

A creative brief is a vital document that outlines the strategy for an innovative project and includes key elements necessary for the project. It’s a roadmap for the creative team to follow and provides all the project details that will guide the process. A good creative brief will have the following:

Project Purpose: A simple statement of why we’re doing the project and what we want to achieve.

Objectives: Specific things we want to accomplish.

Requirements: We need any resources, tools, or materials to complete the project.

Messaging: Key messages or themes to be communicated throughout the project.

Demographics: Target audience details, such as age, gender, interests, etc.

Deadlines: Key dates and timelines for project milestones and final deliverables.

Developed during the project initiation phase, a brief gives the creative team a complete understanding of the project from the start. It may also be shared with key stakeholders and clients for alignment and feedback.

Creative Brief Variations

Not all creative briefs are the same, but they generally follow a similar structure. However, some projects require more planning than others, and using a one-size-fits-all, detailed design brief template can be a waste of time and effort.

This is where electronic creative briefs in marketing work management tools come in. A good tool will allow you to customize briefs so you can include only the information needed for that type of project.

The Questions Matter

Effective creative briefs ask the right questions. By asking who, what, where, when, and how of the deliverable, you can simplify the project process and improve communication between team members. Below, we show you how to ask those questions to make your brief effective and efficient, ensuring it aligns with the client’s expectations.

Why Do You Need a Creative Brief?

You Need a Plan

A creative brief is needed because you can’t design something you don’t fully understand. Every project needs a clear reason for being, which includes a project overview:

A Purpose: Why is the project happening?

Objectives: What do we want to achieve?

Expectations: What does success look like?

In a creative brief, you articulate your vision, justify the benefits, and how you’ll target the audience. From the start, a brief ensures everyone is on the same page before we start the project.

A Good Creative Brief Will Save You Time

A creative brief isn’t just a document; it’s a tool for clear and thorough communication from the start of the design process. A well-defined brief will help you avoid last-minute changes and clarify project deliverables.

Last minute changes: Reducing the chance of changes that can derail the project.

Misunderstandings: Clarifying expectations so team members don’t get confused.

Conflicting objectives: Ensuring all stakeholders are aligned on goals so that there are no disputes.

By addressing these early on, you’ll save your team time and resources.

You’ll be Accountable and Communicate

Agreeing on scope, deliverables, objectives, target personas, and execution strategy will ground both your design team and stakeholders. Defining clear parameters and, most importantly, building trust from the start will make the process smoother throughout the project lifecycle.

Requests and Approvals will be Faster

Ambiguity slows progress, but a project manager can help provide clarity. For example, vague requests like “I just want it to look really clean” can cause confusion and frustration. A brief provides clarity and minimizes difficult conversations during the review and approval cycle.

The briefing process is as much about anticipating obstacles as it is about understanding and aligning objectives. It’s better to clarify during the planning phase than to hit problems when you’re in the proofing phase.

The End Result will be Better

A better final product is a direct result of setting clear objectives, aligning with business goals, and clarifying expectations upfront. When everyone’s time is valued and expectations are clear, everyone can meet their targets, stay engaged and motivated, and take pride in their work.

Use the brief as your guide. Remember, the time spent on a well-designed brief is an investment that pays off in the end:

Better Processes: Smoother workflows and less friction.

Better Output: Final products that meet or exceed expectations.

A Better Relationship: More trust between your team and clients.

In short, a creative brief is not a document but an essential tool for a successful design project.

Brief Elements

Before you start writing your design briefs, ask yourself these eight questions. Some of these are often missing from briefs, but addressing them can make a big difference to your content project. Covering these bases can mean the difference between a struggling project and a great one.

1. Why Are We Doing This?

Before any design project starts, the team needs to understand the context of the brief. This foundation knowledge will guide the creative process and ensure the final output is aligned with the project objectives. Here’s what to consider:

The ‘Why’ of the Project

What’s the Need?: Clearly state the main reason for the project. The need helps the team to focus on solutions that address specific problems or requirements.

What’s the Pain? What problems or challenges does the project need to solve? Recognize the pain points so the team can create content that addresses those issues and resonates with the target audience.

What’s the Opportunity or Challenge? What are the opportunities, and what are the challenges? This will help inspire ideas and motivate the team to overcome them.

Context

While context is important, don’t burden your team with every detail of the project history. Instead, focus on sharing the most relevant information that will enable your team to do great work.

By breaking down the project into clear, simple points, everyone will understand the overall objectives and be motivated to contribute.

2. Who Is Our Target Audience?

Understanding your target audience is critical to delivering great results. It’s hard to tailor your message and approach without a clear picture of who will be engaging with your content. Understanding your audience in-depth is crucial for successful design projects. Here’s what to consider:

The ‘Who’ of the Project

Go beyond just “potential customers.” Get specific demographic information:

Age: What age range is your target audience? Different age groups respond to different messaging and channels.

Location: Where are they from? Location can influence cultural references, language, and preferences.

Income Level: What’s their average salary? Knowing their financial situation will help you position your product or service.

Psychographics: Get into the interests and motivations of your audience:

Self-Interests: What are their hobbies, passions, and values? Knowing what drives your audience will help you create content that resonates with them on a personal level.

Pain Points: What are the challenges or problems they face that your project can solve? Recognizing these pain points will help you position your deliverables as solutions.

Why Audience Insights Matter?

This information will make the difference between a successful campaign and a complete waste of time and resources. By understanding your audience in-depth, you can craft messages that speak directly to their needs and preferences and achieve higher engagement and conversion rates.

3. Who Are Our Competitors?

Once you have your target audience, you need to analyze your competitors. Including a list of your main business rivals in the project, brief provides useful context and insight. Here are the key points to consider:

Competitors

List of Main Rivals: A list of your main competitors in the market. This should include direct competitors (those that offer similar products or services) and indirect competitors (those that address the same customer needs in different ways).

Links to Competitor Offerings: Provide links to their websites or specific projects they have done. This will allow your team to access and review competitor offerings easily.

Competitor Analysis

How Did They Do?: Evaluate your competitors’ projects. Look for metrics such as engagement rates, customer feedback, and overall market impact. Knowing how they did will give you insight into what works and what doesn’t.

What Can You Learn from Them? What can you learn from their successes and failures? Consider their messaging, design, audience engagement strategies, and marketing tactics. Learn from their mistakes and adopt their accomplishments.

Did They Do a Good Job?: Evaluate the quality of their work. Did they achieve their objectives? Did the audience receive their campaign well? This will help you know what industry standards are and what to benchmark your project against.

How to Stand Out?

Finally, how can you differentiate your creative content from your competitors? Ask yourself:

What’s Your Unique Value? What are your product or service’s unique selling points (USPs)? These could be innovative features, better quality, better customer service, or a different brand voice.

How to Stand Out? Think about how your creative content can showcase these differentiators. Whether through unique messaging, engaging visuals, or innovative delivery methods, find ways to make your project stand out in the market.

4. What Do You Want Us to Do?

In this section of the creative brief, the client has the opportunity to tell us the “what” of the project—what they want us to deliver. This is a key moment for the client to share their overall vision for the project. However, it often requires some digging to get to the bottom of what they want, as clients often have a mental image that isn’t clearly articulated. A well-written design brief helps prevent miscommunication and ensures alignment among all team members, allowing us to focus on delivering high-quality results.

Client’s Vision

Get Detailed: Ask the client to describe their vision in detail. What specific outcomes are they looking for? What formats do they want (e.g., videos, graphics, written content)? The more detail they give, the better your team can align with their expectations.

Visual References: Ask clients to share any visual references, such as mood boards, similar projects, or sketches. These will provide valuable context and help bridge the gap between their vision and your team’s understanding.

Clarification is Key

Avoid Miscommunication: No matter how well you deliver the final work, if the client can’t articulate their vision clearly, you may not meet their expectations. This will lead to disappointment and frustration for both parties.

Ask: Use this opportunity to ask questions. For example:

What are the must haves?

What styles or tones to avoid?

What’s the main message or takeaway you want the audience to have?

Expectations

Communicate Boundaries: You must manage expectations by communicating what can and can’t be done within the project scope, timeline, and budget. Be transparent about any limitations that will affect the final deliverables.

Realistic Goals: Help the client understand the implications of their requests. If some of their vision can’t be achieved, provide alternatives that will still achieve their objectives but within the project parameters.

5. What’s the Big Idea?

This section of the creative brief is all about boiling the project or campaign down to its core. If the deliverable could be summed up in a few key messages, what would it be? This is often called the big idea.

Big Idea is Key

Principle: The big idea is the principle that guides the whole project. It ensures all creative decisions are aligned with the overall message and objectives. By keeping the big idea top of mind, your team can stay focused and on track throughout the creative process.

Creative Spark: A clear big idea can also be a creative spark for the team. It can generate innovative ideas and approaches that resonate with the target audience and lead to more compelling deliverables.

Questions to Ask

To help get to the big idea, ask:

What’s the one message we need to communicate?

How do we want the audience to feel after consuming our content?

What action do we want the audience to take as a result of this project?

6. How Do We Want It to Look?

In this section of the creative brief, it’s important to define the visuals and tone of the project. This is especially important for external agencies that will need to get to know a new brand for each project. Here, you clarify how by outlining the following:

Visuals to Consider

Tone: What’s the overall tone of the project? Formal, casual, playful, serious, inspirational? The tone sets the mood for the deliverable and how the audience perceives the message.

Color: What’s the color palette to be used? Include specific color codes (e.g., HEX, RGB) so they are consistent across all materials. Colors can evoke different emotions and associations, so choose the ones that align with the brand and project objectives.

Font: What typefaces will be used in the project? Include primary and secondary fonts and any specific styles (e.g., bold, italic) that should be applied. Consistent typography makes the text more readable and reinforces the brand.

Size: Provide guidelines on the size of headings, body text, and images so the layout looks good and is consistent throughout the project.

Logo Specs: Include specs for using the brand logo. This should cover size, placement, and any restrictions on how the logo can be changed or displayed. Consistent logo usage is key to brand recognition.

Additional Guidelines: Are there any other visual guidelines that apply to the project? This could be imagery styles (e.g., photography vs illustrations), iconography, or specific design elements that should be used or avoided.

Why Visual Guidelines?

Brand Consistency: Clear visual guidelines help maintain brand consistency across all projects. It’s key to building brand recognition and trust with the audience.

Easier Collaboration: Providing detailed visual specs allows the creative team to work more efficiently. It reduces the chance of miscommunication and ensures everyone is on the same page for the project.

7. Who’s Involved?

This section is the “who” from an operational perspective. Identifying stakeholders is critical for smooth collaboration and communication throughout the project. Here’s what to consider:

Project Participants

Creative Team: Who will be working on the project from the creative team? Designers, writers, project managers, anyone else? Clearly defining responsibilities helps with workflow and accountability.

Client Decision Makers: Who are the key decision-makers on the client side? Who has the authority to approve or reject ideas and drafts? Knowing this helps navigate the approval process.

Approval Process: What’s the order of approvals? Understanding the hierarchy of decision-making helps prevent bottlenecks and get feedback on time.

8. When’s the Deadline?

This section is the “when” of the project, which is crucial to time management. Confirming the key dates helps keep the project on track. Here are the dates to confirm:

Start Date: When does the project start? This sets the timeline for everything that follows.

Final Version Due: When is the project due? This is the ultimate deadline all team members should be working towards.

Milestones: What are the key milestones in the project? These big points show progress and can help keep the team motivated.

Subtask Deadlines: When are the subtasks due? Breaking the project into smaller tasks with their own deadlines can help manage the workload and get everything done on time.

Iterations: How many iterations and by when? Knowing the number of revisions and the timeline for each can help manage client expectations and the review process.

Client Responsibilities

When gathering this information, it’s important to define what actions and dates the client requires to keep the project on track. For example, if the client has only 2 days to provide feedback without pushing back the overall deadline, this must be defined from the start. Make sure the client understands part of the timeline so you can avoid delays and get the project moving.

When to Use a Creative Brief?

Creative briefs are flexible and can be applied to projects of all shapes, sizes, and styles. A tiering system is used to determine how much detail is required for a creative brief. Below, we explain the three tiers of creative briefs:

Tier 1: Non-Standard, Non-Iterative, Highly Conceptual Work

This tier is for projects that are the most ambiguous and uncertain. Because this work is conceptual, a detailed creative brief is required.

Tier 2: Execution of Previous Work Across Deliverables

This tier is for projects that build on previously defined and completed work. While not as detailed as Tier 1 briefs, a creative brief is still useful.

Tier 3: Edits, Revisions, Templated Work

This tier requires the briefest of creative briefs. Even small projects can get complicated if details are communicated through sticky notes or hallway conversations. By requiring some form of creative brief, you can avoid misunderstandings and make sure everyone is on the same page, even for simple edits or revisions.

Who Fills Out the Creative Brief?

The question of who fills out the creative brief comes up in project management discussions. The answer depends on the project and the team structure. Here are the key considerations:

Who Can Contribute?

Client: While the client provides the key insights and requirements, they shouldn’t fill out the brief independently.

Creative Director: The creative director can provide valuable input on the project vision and creative direction, so their involvement is worth it.

Account Manager: The account manager or client services representative is usually best placed to facilitate the brief, as they deal with the client and understand the project context.

Designer or Writer: While designers or writers can contribute to the brief, they shouldn’t fill it out entirely. Their role is to execute the brief.

Agency and In-House Team Best Practices

Agency: In an agency environment, the best practice is for the account manager or client services representative to meet with the client to fill out the creative brief together. Including the creative director in this meeting ensures everyone is clear on the project requirements and expectations.

In-House Creative Services: For in-house teams, you need to determine what works best for your workflow. It may be best for the creative director to meet with the internal client to fill out the brief. If you have traffic managers or production managers, they may be better positioned to facilitate this process.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t send a document to the client to fill out on their own. This can lead to:

Slow Responses: The client takes too long to fill out the brief, and the project gets delayed.

No Submission: The client doesn’t fill out the brief at all, and everyone is frustrated.

Partial Information: The client only provides some information, leaving your team with gaps.

Collaborative Way

To save time and frustration, whether you’re an agency or an in-house team, meet with your client to fill out the creative brief together. This way, you can clarify points in real time, and everyone is aligned before production starts.

Marketing Work Management Software

Another option is to use marketing work management software like Workfront, which has built-in creative briefs. In this case, the client is asked for certain information upfront. But even with this tool, it’s still recommended to meet with the client to make sure everyone is aligned before moving forward with production.

Creative Brief Template

Having a design brief template in your workflow is key to good project management. If your briefs follow these principles, you’re on the right track. However, the perfect creative brief template doesn’t happen overnight; it takes continuous feedback and refinement to fit your organization’s needs.

Creative Brief Principles

Clarity: The brief should clearly state the project objectives, target audience, and key messages. Ambiguity leads to misunderstandings and misaligned expectations.

Brevity: Keep the brief short and sweet. Only include information your team absolutely needs to know. A short brief is easier to consume and more likely to be referred to throughout the project.

Flexibility: Be prepared to adapt your brief to the project’s tier. Different projects require different levels of detail, so tailor the brief accordingly.

Refine: As you complete more briefs, note the common fields and questions that should be included. Based on your feedback and learnings, update your template.