Design briefs are an essential part of the design process. In fact, they mark the beginning of the design process, helping designers understand the business problem they are required to solve and businesses clarify what they need from a design project. Altogether they are vital to achieving an effective design solution says Peter L Phillips who's spent 30 years as a corporate design director, learning the business benefits of writing a design brief.
‘A lot of clients say to me, "We don’t have time to do a brief. How long does the brief take?" And my answer is simply, it saves double the time that you spend on doing it’, says Phillips.
In this guide to design briefs he shares what he's learnt about:
- What a design brief actually is
- What should be in a design brief
- Who should be involved in writing it
- Making design briefs effective, business focused, problem solving tools
- How businesses or design teams use briefs to understand and overcome challenges
- The lingo used indesign briefs
Video content
Peter Phillips has made three short films in which he answers some
frequently asked questions about design briefs, talks about a
small company that made the design briefing process make business sense and then
analyses a brief written by school students for the architects who’d be building their new school
Are you an SME who wants to know why you should think about writing a design brief?
Watch a video of Peter Phillips talking about a small company that benefitted from writing a design brief
Do you want to know what you should include in a design brief?
Read ten tips from Peter Phillips on what should be in a design brief and how to get the most out of time you spend
Are you a designer? Do you want to convince new clients of the value of collaborating on a design brief?
Watch this video of Peter Phillips answering frequently asked questions. One’s about why collaboration works