Your Designer is Not a Mind Reader
Great design communicates stories, represents values and showcases brands. Designers are experts in bringing your ideas to life, but don’t always make this magic on their own. Every aspect of our lives involves some sort of design.
From the toothpaste packaging you brush your teeth with in the morning, to the bag you carry your computer in and everything in between – that magazine at the hair salon, your business card design, the layout of the office you work in and your experience shopping online are all products of design.
We all love something that is intuitively designed – those beautifully made and created things that leave us feeling like we had a great experience. The device you are reading this on now and the chair you are sitting in are just two examples of this. Designers spend hours, months and years refining their crafts so they can take our ideas and turn them into the incredible things people use, love and remember.
The Design Brief (Your Secret Weapon)
Really what we want is for all designers to have a crystal ball, where they can see the future, read our minds and make things happen with a result that is even better than what we wanted. Even when we don’t know what we want. Luckily for us, in place of a mind reader, there is a design brief.
Here’s what we need to know:
1. What are you creating?
Be specific. Is it a logo, website, social media campaign, brochure, or something else? The clearer the scope, the better the outcome.
2. Your business
Explain who you are and what you do. Include:
- Website and social links
- Your audience
- Your brand values and goals
- Any existing brand guidelines (if you have them)
If you don’t have brand guidelines, consider asking your designer to help develop a simple brand style guide. It keeps everything consistent across print, digital, and marketing.
Tip: Make sure the main decision-maker is clearly identified from the start. Late-stage changes from new stakeholders can increase costs and timelines.
3. Goals
What does success look like? For example: more enquiries from a website, better engagement on a campaign, or a clear informational resource for stakeholders.
4. Inspiration
Instead of vague descriptions, show examples of what you like. This could be links, screenshots, mood boards, or saved collections from tools like Pinterest, Instagram, or mood boards.
The key is explaining what you like about them – layout, typography, tone, colour, or structure.
5. Budget
You don’t need exact figures upfront, but having a ballpark range helps your designer recommend the right approach and scope. It also avoids surprises later.
6. Timeline
Good design isn’t created on-demand and designers don’t offer instant design drive-through options like takeaway food – you are going to need to plan for the design time which could take a minimum of a few weeks.
Even simple projects need planning, feedback, and refinement.
If you need something urgently, expect higher costs due to prioritisation. Planning ahead always leads to better outcomes.
Happy Designer = Happy Life
Providing your designer with a clear design brief, clarity around budgets and timelines with some visual references makes your designers live that much easier. They won’t have to try and read your mind to figure out what you want or spend weeks trying to painfully extract the information they need.
Find out what the process should look like here.