How to write a brief for a graphic designer
Writing a brief for a graphic designer? You’ve come to the right place.
A Brisbane graphic designer’s guide to writing a brief (for your graphic designer).
Starting a project off strong is the key to a successful branding or graphic design job achieved quickly. Here are a few tips on how to write a brief for a graphic designer.
Supply an overview of what your graphic designer will be working on.
It might sound obvious but a clear overview of the design project will help inform your designer and ensure they deliver the best graphic design possible.
Specify the project details, such as a 16-page brochure design, to give your designer a precise understanding of the scope.
Provide them with printing specifications or a template at the beginning of the project. Many printers have their own setup preferences and this will prevent any out-of-scope adjustments later if the printer you select wants modifications made.
Here at Hype Creative we create a lot of complex printing and graphic design projects so we know print setup like the back of our hands.
2. Discuss your timeline and any hard deadlines.
Always communicate timelines upfront with your graphic designer to ensure milestones can be met on time.
Always allow time for revisions, no matter how final you think your content may be. This is particularly important on multipage or complex design projects, often you’ll catch things you may wish to adjust, or have new ideas to include. As graphic designers we’re always happy to implement these to get the job just right and allowing a few business days extra for this makes that possible.
Keep a clear line of feedback to your graphic designer and providing them with feedback as quickly as you can.
Communicate any print or production timelines clearly with your graphic designer.
3. Tell them about your brand and what your company does.
It’s important for your graphic designer to understand your business, what you stand for, and most importantly – what you’re selling. It’s our job to visualise to the world just what you look, feel and sound like, so the more we know about you – the better!
Give your designer a company history or capability statement.
Provide your brand guidelines or style guide if this exists, it will ensure graphic designers are using the correct colours, fonts and logo design.
Share your website and social media with your graphic designer so they can familiarise themselves with your company’s social presence, tone of voice and brand’s personality. We can convey this in the project we’re designing for you.
4. Clearly outline what you need from your graphic designer at handover.
Always be sure to outline what files you require at the beginning of the design process. This might involve speaking to your suppliers if your designer is working on a brochure design or a packaging design. This ensures your file is set up correctly from the get-go, as not all files can be converted to other formats which could save you a redesign later. Things to check for include:
Colour mode, is it to be provided in CMYK or spot colour / Pantone.
Does the job require bleed and trim, if so, ask your printer how much.
Do you require the design files at handover for use in future? If so, specify, it’s not uncommon for design studios and graphic designers to charge a fee for packaging of this.
At Hype Creative if we are designing a project we are happy to liaise with suppliers directly to save the technical talk to the professionals.
5. Provide visual references, these are key in guiding creative direction.
As a graphic designer in Brisbane, I get to work on a vast range of different projects from tourism marketing to Wagyu branding design, two days are rarely the same design projects. For this reason, graphic designers need to be flexible and skilled in a range of styles.
Be sure to arm your graphic designer with the right tools before they start and provide inspiration for your designer, this could be branding, brochure, photography or web design examples you like. This all helps us to determine the right direction for your brochure design or web design.
6. Confirm budgets and scope before starting.
Check if your project scope and quote includes revisions by your graphic designer, if so, how many.
Here at Hype Creative, we can work on an hourly basis, but most clients prefer to approach with a set fee for peace of mind. Within this, we allocate a set round of revisions to the graphic design or branding and cap it at a total amount of hours. This gives our client reassurance that there is available time to make refinements and final tweaks to get their graphic design perfect.
I hope these observations make your graphic design brief a breeze and you picked up a tip or two for how to write a brief for a graphic designer. Got questions or want to hash out some project ideas? Shoot us a message. We're all ears and excited about the possibility of working together.
Happy designing, my friends ✌️
Brent.
A Graphic Designer in Brisbane