Almost every project that goes wrong goes wrong at the start. Not because the idea was bad, but because nobody wrote down what "good" looked like. A brief is that written-down agreement — with your client, your team or simply with yourself.
It should fit on one page. If it does not, you have not decided yet.
The six questions
- Who is it for? Name a real type of person, not "everyone".
- What problem does it solve for them? In their words, not yours.
- What should they think, feel or do afterwards?
- What are the constraints — budget, deadline, materials, brand rules, legal limits?
- What already exists? Competitors, previous attempts, things you must reuse.
- How will you know it worked? One or two measurable signs.
Write the problem, not the solution
"We need a new logo" is a solution. "Customers think we are a budget brand, and we are not" is a problem — and it might be solved by a logo, by better photography, or by changing the price list. Keep the brief open about the answer and strict about the question.
A definition of done
Finish the brief with a short checklist of what will be delivered: file types, sizes, the number of concepts, the rounds of changes. It stops "just one more tweak" from eating a month.
Try the brief builder on the home page — it turns your answers into a one-page brief you can copy.