Introduction

For this module we have been tasked with developing our own design brief, to help me with this process I wanted to look at other design briefs to see how they are put together and what information is required within a design brief.

How to Create a Design Brief

I started by reading this guide from Figma (https://www.figma.com/resource-library/how-to-create-a-design-brief/ Last Accessed 13/02/23) to get an idea of how to go about developing my design brief.

It’s clear that a design brief is a key component to put in place at the start of a project as it gives the project a clear direction and when working in a team makes sure each member understands the project and are pulling in the right direction.

This guide from Figma provided this list of essential elements that a design brief needs to cover.

• Project overview. Summarise the design you want to create or revise and provide the project scope.
• Goals and objectives. Spell out what you want to achieve, and list the steps to get there.
• Problem statement. Define the user challenge you want to solve with your final design.
• Brand competitors. Capture insights to help design teams understand the market—including hits and misses.
• Brand guidelines. Share brand identity guidance and specs for logos, colors, fonts, styles, and images. Include links to relevant design files, such as wireframes, mockups, and prototypes.
• Brand messaging and tone. Offer guidance to express your brand's verbal identity.
• Target audience. Share demographics, psychographics, and other key audience data to inform the user experience.
• Project budget. Project managers and designers need to know the guardrails they're expected to work within.
• Project timeline. Align key players on the project roadmap and milestones.
• Project deliverables. Clarify the final output down to the required file formats, copy documents, screen sizes, and resolutions.

*https://www.figma.com/resource-library/how-to-create-a-design-brief/ (Last Accessed 13/02/23)*

For my own project some of these points will not be covered within the design brief, for example I will need to develop my brand guidelines as I develop through my design there are no pre-existing guidelines in place and so these will be created throughout the design process. Brand messaging and tone is similar as they will be developed alongside my brand guidelines. Also as this is a student project there is no budget to work to my limitations are purely time based and I will cover this in my project timeline.

All of the other points will be covered within the brief I develop, although they may be covered under different headings for example my project deliverables and project timeline will be combined into a single section titled Key Milestones.

I find reading a guide like this is a very helpful step when I am looking at doing something for the first time, as it gives me a good overview of the task and it helps me to have a list of the points I need to cover to work from and refer back to.