Over the years of our professional activity, we have met various briefs. Some of them were just gorgeous and some were incredibly awful. But most of the tasks can still be classified as "none". These are tasks that do not contain any useful information for the designer. They are created only for designers to spend their time, and then once again spend time to ask the client clarifying questions. Below you will find some tips for developing a brief.

1. Be as specific as possible.

When setting a task for a designer, try not to use too general descriptions that can be interpreted differently. If you write to a designer that you want a fresh, trendy, modern design, the result may be unexpected for you. A professional designer always follows trends. The client of a professional designer sometimes does not even guess what is modern now. 

NOTE: Modern design trends may not be what you really wanted for your brand.

Besides, if you and your designer are territorially located in different parts of the world, the perception of “modern” will be distorted through the prism of the socio-cultural environment, which is exactly different for you and your designer.

When you ask a designer to do something modern, make sure that "modern " means the same thing to you and the designer. Better yet, send examples of what you like.

2. Omissions spoil everything.

If you have already imagined what you want to see in your logo, corporate identity, advertising, etc., tell your designer about it. Do not hide key information. If you haven't told the designer what colors, fonts, or shapes you like or dislike, the designer sees it as an opportunity to offer something based on his or her own experience and professionalism. And when after a presentation of a work clients suddenly say that it's not exactly what they imagined, only one question arises: if you imagined something, why didn't you say so before the designer started working on your project? 

NOTE: Contrary to many people's beliefs, designers don't really know how to read your mind.

Take some time and analyze what images arise in your head when you think about your future design and imagine the result. Write down everything that came to your mind. Share this information with the designer.

3. Provide adequate feedback.

Obviously, the communication between the designer and the client does not stop after setting the brief. In addition to clarifications, the designer will send you intermediate results for approval. Your involvement in this process is very important. The designer will be completely satisfied with such a short comment as "I like it", but he or she will not be satisfied with the short phrase "I do not like it". In case you don't like something, be sure to describe what you don't like so that the designer can fix it. Otherwise, he or she will just have to guess what you did not like. And believe us, in 90% of cases he or she will not guess. 

NOTE: It doesn't happen that you don't like something for no reason.

Analyze your feelings from the design you see and understand what does not suit you. Start analyzing the entire composition and find what is superfluous and what is missing in the design. Then take a good look at the colors. Maybe because of some color you don't like the whole design. Do the same with the fonts. Then move on to smaller details - individual lines, shapes, and design elements. And most importantly - remember the first rule and try to be as specific as possible.

4. Be consistent in your desires.

When describing your preferences for future design, try not to confuse the designer with examples that are completely different from each other. 

If you send a designer for example the logos of FedEx, Google, and Starbucks, then you should understand that this set will say to the designer that you like big and successful corporations. In terms of design, their logos are completely different and it is impossible to find a common color scheme, fonts, or style for your project.

Worse can only be a request to combine things that cannot be combined.

NOTE: You will confuse the designer if you ask to make a modern minimalist design using vintage monograms. 

If you are not sure what exactly you like, it is better to ask the designer to make several options in different styles, and then choose the one you like best.

5. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers.

When developing a brief for a designer, try to think like a typical representative of your target audience. Try to describe not your preferences, but the preferences of your customers. Of course, this requires a good study of them.

NOTE: If you don't like red, it doesn't mean your target audience doesn't like it.

A professional designer who constantly works with different brands already knows what is best for different audiences. Therefore, he or she can offer you options that can really suit your customers, based on information about their gender, age, education, lifestyle, and so on.

6. Entrust the work to professionals.

This is probably the most important piece of advice. If you hired experienced designers with a large portfolio and good reviews and gave them a task, trust their professionalism. Be sure that they know more about graphic design since they do it every day.

NOTE: If you have installed Photoshop, it does not mean that you became a designer.

All Quixerr specialists are constantly improving their skills, using the latest tools, following global design trends. The experience of the Quixerr team is the key to the success of your project.

Check out our portfolio and order the amazing design soon.