Working to a Brief

What is a brief?

A brief is essentially a document that outlines the project needs and wants of a client and is part of the pre-production process whether for television, multimedia or graphic design.

It can take many forms; a small company may offer a verbal request whereas a larger organisation may produce a thirty page report from an official brief writing process. Its purpose is to set boundaries and offer guidelines in order to achieve defined goals.

If you’re pitching to a client, the brief will be very much focused around a generic overview of what the client’s looking for, maybe from a positioning perspective. That brief could be significantly different to the actual brief that you receive if you’re successful in winning the pitch. If you’re successful then a brief may be put together that specifically looks at what the project is trying to achieve and that may well be a consultative process. Grant Campbell

Many clients know what they need for their business and are very focused on the target aims and objectives. Sometimes the client knows that they need an end product but is not sure exactly what this will be or how to achieve it. Therefore, the brief can fall between two extremes; very tight or completely open. Most producers and designers find an open brief most difficult to interpret because there is no given starting point and no limitations.

A lot of people will come to us and actually don’t know what they want so there’s never a brief to start off with. The first few days of work would involve working with them to create a brief. A lot of people just think they need a website because everyone else has got one. Dominique Lee

Forms of brief

There are a number of ways a brief can be communicated:

• It is presented at an initial meeting with a client or broadcaster
• It can be produced collaboratively by the client and producer discussing the aims and objectives face to face
• It can be communicated verbally by telephone
• It can be posted or delivered by email
• It can be communicated at a briefing day

Broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel4, Channel5, ITV and Sky sometimes hold briefing days where they give an open presentation about what they are looking for at any particular time. The briefing process depends very much on the relationship that a broadcaster has with a producer.

The needs of broadcasters often follow particular audience trends and it is the responsibility of the producers not only to be aware of what is currently popular, but also to predict how audience viewing trends will shift.

At the initial meeting it is important to ask questions and listen carefully to how the client answers in order to understand what successes and failures they are currently experiencing. Nobody knows a product or service better than the client and the designer needs to know what the client’s product or brand requires at a commercial level to produce an effective outcome.

Guidelines

• It is important to win the complete trust and confidence of the client early on and to develop an honest and open relationship so that there are no doubts or insecurities
• Good communication is essential and once very clear goals are established it is vital to not lose sight of them
• Carry out research into the client’s company, product or brand and find out how they operate in order to give an informed opinion and to identify a clear theme
• Once a theme has been established this will influence creative decisions and from this the style will begin to emerge
• Picture yourself in the place of the customer to help determine what is required

Once a brief has been defined, a project specification, detailed treatment or proposal will be drawn up in response. These take the project to the next stage and offer more detail on how it will be developed.

It is important at this stage for a team to be in place and for all parties to be clear on assigned roles. Continuity in the team is essential throughout the project, particularly at the briefing and pre-production phase.

The ideas formed in response to the brief should reflect user/audience needs as well as those of the client and should also take into consideration the most suitable formats.

It is useful to keep a record of all meetings from the outset as this helps to clarify findings, the agreed solution, development decisions and future actions.

Elements in a brief

There are many forms of brief and each may contain varying detail depending on the knowledge of the client about what they need, the size of the job, the proposed timescale and the available budget.

• Outline of the project
• Background on the client
• Evidence of research
• Aims and objectives
• Target audience
• Outline budget
• Proposed timescale
• Ensure that the requirements are realistic in terms of development time, client expectations and achievable targets