Writing an Effective Design Brief
Upon confirmation of a design or development program with approved budgets and authorization to utilize an outside design or engineering resource, we recommend that a company produce a design brief before interviewing perspective design firms. A written brief offers two important advantages:
- It demands that in-house managers clarify the project's business objectives at the start, and
- It gives designers a summary of key points to which they can refer at any point in the design process to maintain perspective on the project. It is important to keep the design brief short, and recognize that its purpose is to provide enough information to clarify the proposed assignment realistically and without discouraging creative exploration.
10 Tips for Writing an Effective Design Brief
- Corporate Profile
Even if your corporate name is very well known, don't assume everyone knows what you do. People may only know your company by name, or have an more...outdated image of what you do. It is possible that some may think of you too narrowly in terms of one product or one market area. A designer's erroneous assumptions about your business can skew the entire opening discussion or worse, the project, so first provide a synopsis of your current line of business, market emphasis and reach, along with pertinent historical highlights. - Market Position
Provide a realistic evaluation of your organization, products, or brand relative to your competitors. How is your company and products unique or different? What is your position in the industry? What are the unique product features of your products or the market leader's products? - Current Situation
Explain the situation that instigated the need for this project.
Examples:
“Our products have fallen behind technologically.”
“Our competitors have instituted a new campaign of product development to gain market share.”
“We need to create a barrier to entry to protect our market share.” - Target Audience
Who are you trying to reach? Are you currently reaching them now? If not, what do you feel is missing? For multiple market segments, rank them in terms of importance. Provide demographic information, if relevant. Explain any unusual for unique attributes about your audience. Targeting the right audience is critical and it is crucial to focus your products to the end user or the one who puts the money into the value chain. All the others just water down the ultimate value proposition. - Business Objectives
What do you want to achieve? If it is a new product, what features and attributes are you trying to promote? What competitive advantage do you want to gain with this product? Are you trying to capture market share? Are you going to create a new market? Is there a particular competitor you are trying to unseat? What are the opportunities to capitalize on? - Schedules and Deadline
What absolute targets must be met: the product launch at a trade show, delivery of products to retail for a seasonal sales push, a board of directors presentation or new customer presentation? State any interim targets that must be met during the design process and when the project must be completed. Anticipate tooling lead times and the critical path to get the product to market on time. - Budget
It is actually more beneficial to give design firms a general ballpark budget for your project. Some companies do not like to give budget figures because they may not know the value of design. Some companies undertake design projects so infrequently they have no idea how much things cost. An idea of what you thought you wanted to spend will help the design firm advise you on the scale or scope of activities to be undertaken or eliminated. It will also help determine if the design firm is suited to the scope of the project. It is important to build flexibility into budgets so that you do not miss an opportunity to get the perfect solution, which may just happen to cost a little more. (Of course!) - Manufacturing Process
What manufacturing process do you have in mind for the design? What are the volumes of product to be produced? Are there any unique manufacturing criteria that make the design difficult or where unique expertise is needed or valuable? Are there piece-part, or product cost targets? What are tooling budgets? Is it mandatory to utilize current outside vendors? State any unique criteria related to manufacturing that will be constraining to the design. Are there any regulatory issues the designers must consider? Are there any merchandising or shipping constraints that will affect the design? If there are inflexible constraints, state in them up front. Don't base your parameters simply on the fact that “it's always been done that way,” because you may prevent the design firm from coming up with a solution that no one has ever considered before. - The Product
Describe the product and how it is or will be used. Describe what the normal and or unusual environments are in which the product is used. What problem does it solve? Why is it unique? Who will typically use the product? Who should not use the product? Describe how you think the product could be misused. Are there any adjunct products that the product should support or be used in conjunction? Is the product going to be extended or modified in any way for different market segments? Should the product be modular? What is the expected product life cycle? Will the product be part of a family of products?
Can you list the key features and attributes of the product and in order of the buyer or end user's priority? How will we measure the success of the product? What are the performance specifications of the product? How will we measure the products functionality? - Corporate and Brand Personality
What is your image in the marketplace? How do you want to be perceived: as cutting-edge, low price, high-volume producer, or the best service provider? What subliminal messages do you want to convey? Create a list of adjectives describing the image you want to project and another describing the image you want to avoid.
“You can hire one of the best designers in the country today for the price of a New York shrink. My advice: Get it while its cheap because it can pay a terrific payback.” — Bruce Nussbaum, Business Week
“In today's economy, you have to become a leader at selling and producing those intangible aspects of value, along with whatever your core offering is. If you don't, you'll end up commoditized, facing ever-lower gross margins. It translates to a very clear bottom line: Design.” — James Moore, CEO GeoPartners Research, Inc.