“Make it fresh” is a reaction, not yet a brief. A designer needs to know what the work should help someone understand or do. Without that, every review becomes a discussion about individual taste.
A one-page brief can be enough for a small project if it makes the important choices visible. Its job is to establish a shared starting point. It is not a compressed contract, a list of every possible idea or an instruction to skip discovery.
Name one reader and one useful action
Describe the situation in which someone will encounter the work. “Customers” is broad; “someone comparing two workshop dates on a phone during a commute” offers a clearer design problem. Identify the action you want to make easier, such as checking availability or understanding what a session includes.
In this fictional workshop example, the action might be choosing a suitable session. That gives the date, duration, location and booking route a reason to be prominent. It does not automatically mean the page needs a new animation, a bigger logo or three additional slogans.
Distinguish evidence from an internal preference
Put observed problems in one section and assumptions in another. A support message saying the start time was hard to find is evidence of one person’s difficulty. “Everyone hates our colours” needs investigation before it becomes the project rationale.
The Design Council’s Double Diamond describes a process of exploring a problem, defining it, developing possibilities and testing solutions. For a brief, the useful lesson is to understand the problem before treating a preferred solution as settled.
Make constraints specific enough to act on
List the output, where it will appear, mandatory information, available assets and any technical or accessibility requirements. Distinguish a real constraint from something that can change. “Must use this approved product photograph” is different from “we usually put the photograph on the right.”
Include a named decision owner and a review date. When several people contribute, explain who consolidates comments. A designer should not have to infer which of three contradictory messages represents the final direction.
Use a small structure you can actually complete
- Situation: where and why the audience encounters the work.
- Task: what should become easier to understand or do.
- Evidence: what you know, with unresolved assumptions labelled.
- Requirements: outputs, information, assets and constraints.
- Review: who decides and how the draft will be assessed.
Read the brief aloud before sending it. If it takes several sentences to explain a vague adjective, replace the adjective with the explanation. “Confident” might mean plain headings, a clear recommendation and evidence near the claim; those choices are easier to discuss.
At the first review, return to the task and evidence. Note what the draft helps a reader do, what remains unclear and what needs a test. The brief has done its work when feedback becomes more precise than “I like the other version.”
Once the brief is clear, use examples to make the brand voice usable for the people writing it.