Any project needs goals. Whether it’s a website, a brand refresh, new brochure or marketing piece, the project should be clearly defined. This seems obvious, but not taking this task to heart is the number one reason why a project fails to meet its goals. A Creative Brief is a document that outlines the project tasks, the project objectives, marketing and customer insights, and all of the nitty gritty details that lead to a well-polished final product. Yogi Berra said it best, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

Writing a good creative brief is about communication. Don’t expect a designer or project manager to immediately understand your business and what you want to accomplish to the degree that you understand. And while a detailed face-to-face meeting can go far, the actual act of writing down your objectives will organize your thoughts and make it easier to communicate the job to the design team.

So where to begin? Below is a sample questionnaire that will help organize information about your project. This information will be used to effectively design everything from a logo to a website and will guide the designer and client in creating a look, as well as messaging that will be carried out to the various brand components. Talk to your sales force, have brainstorming discussions, read between the lines when your clients and customers speak and honestly evaluate how the company views itself and then differentiate that with how the market views the company. Finally determine what direction the company needs to be moving and how a new identity and brand will support those goals.

Project Summary
To begin, state general project goals and relevant background information. Include project history if any and reasons for needing work. Define the company, what it does, how it makes a profit and its place within the industry. The idea here is to clarify what the company does, where it needs to go in the future and how this project will help achieve that end.

• What is the single purpose of the project?
• What are the secondary goals of the project?
• What are the long-term goals of the company and how will the project help support this goal?

Audience Profile
Profile the target audience. Provide enough detail to enhance everyone’s understanding of who the audience is. Include some user demographic information. Your goal with this section is to answer the following: Who is the target? What do they care about? And what they do on a daily basis? What other companies, competitors or industry-related, do they have contact with?

Choose a typical current customer profile in detail. Include occupation, age range, gender, online frequency, activities and any other relevant information. Profile more than one if applicable.

Choose a post-identity, future customer profile in detail. This person represents a new inclusion into your customer base; a customer that you want to capture as a result of company growth. Include occupation, age range, gender, online frequency, activities and any other relevant information. Profile more than one if applicable.

Perception/Tone/Guidelines

• How do you want your target audience to respond to the final product of this project?
• What does the target audience currently think and feel about the company?
• What do we want them to think and feel?
• How will this project help to achieve this goal?
• What adjectives can be used to describe the way the company should be perceived?
• What specifically do these adjectives mean to the customer’s daily life or business?
• What are some specific visual goals the project should convey? How will the visuals convey the message?
• What will be the tone of the messaging and copy? Is it verbose? Short and to-the-point? Industry jargon? B2B? Plain English?

Communication Strategy

• How will we convince your customer of your brand assertions?
• What is the overall message you are trying to convey to your target audience? For example: cost-effective, secure, reliable, efficient, etc. Why is this important to the customer?
• How will you convey the overall message?
• What touchpoints are most frequently seen or heard by your customer? Sales force? Company literature? Personal contact? Website?
• Identify stages of development (if appropriate) used to attract client sales.
• How will you ensure that the client experience is what your brand promises?
• How will you measure the success of the final project?

Competitive Positioning

• How are you different from your competition and the factors which will make you a success?
• Who are your competitors? Where do you fall amongst them in terms of industry perception?
• What specifically sets you apart from your competition?
• What do you offer that no other company in your industry offers?
• What do you offer that everyone else offers?
• What service is your company best?
• What services need work to grow?
• What areas of the current customer perception are successful and why?
• Does the company have any negative perceptions in the marketplace?

Targeted Message
State a single-minded phrase or sentence that will appropriately describe the project once it is launched.

Brand/Logo Specifics

• What is your vision of what the new logo and brand identity will look like? What message will it convey?
• Are there any related companies that would provide a model or inspiration for the look and feel of the new logo and brand identity?
• How many colors do you foresee the new logo will have? A typical logo would be two colors. Remember, the more colors, the more expensive it is to produce.
• Should the logo be recognizable from distances as on the sides of trucks, boxes, etc.?
• Are there any working mock-ups or layouts of the logo and accompanying collateral?
• What information will be contained on each printed piece? Will this content be supplied or will it need to be developed?
• What pieces need to be developed? For example, logo, tagline, letterhead, fax sheets, business cards, signage, envelopes, identity manual, brochures, etc.
• What are the timeframes for development of these pieces? Include a flow chart if necessary.
• What is the budget for printing of all materials?

Additional Information
Please provide any additional information or direction that will help to define the final work.