How to Write a Brand Identity Design Brief
Prepare a useful brief for a brand identity project. Define the audience, applications, deliverables and approvals with a worked business example.
Quick Answer
A Brief Comes Before the Brand Guidelines
Describe the Business Problem Before the Style
Information That Helps a Designer Make Decisions
A Worked Brief Example
Explain Your Visual References
Read the Brief Before Sending It
Quick Answer
A brand identity brief should explain the business problem, audience, applications, elements to retain, deliverables, timing and approver. Add existing materials and annotated references. Record unknowns as open questions to resolve with the designer rather than prescribing the design in advance.
“We want a modern identity that feels trustworthy” gives a designer little to work with. A manufacturer, a café and a software company could all ask for the same thing. The useful information is who your customers are, where they encounter the brand and which existing materials cause problems.
A brand identity design brief describes the project before design begins. The business can prepare the first version, then resolve open questions with the designer. It should make the problem clear while leaving room to propose a solution.
A Brief Comes Before the Brand Guidelines
The brief sets out the need and the boundaries. Brand guidelines record how an approved identity should be used. You do not need to invent a finished colour palette before meeting a designer. Review the elements of corporate identity first, then decide which applications your project actually requires.
Describe the Business Problem Before the Style
Replace “look more professional” with an observable problem. Perhaps salespeople use unrelated presentation templates, a logo becomes unclear on a small label, or the old materials no longer describe a new service. Identify the part that design can address. A new logo cannot by itself fix late deliveries or unclear pricing.
Define success as a task people should be able to perform: “Our sales team can prepare proposals using the same template.” Avoid treating an unmeasured sales increase as an expected design result. Attach the current material and point to the area that causes difficulty.
Information That Helps a Designer Make Decisions
| Topic | Information to Provide | Ambiguity to Resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Business and audience | What you sell and who makes the purchase decision. | A priority customer and buying situation, rather than “everyone”. |
| Existing identity | Current logos, guidelines and applications. | What must remain, what may change and what is undecided. |
| Places of use | Proposals, labels, signage and website applications. | Dimensions, languages, content and production constraints. |
| Deliverables | The applications needed in the first phase. | A visual sample or an editable template your team can use? |
| Direction and limits | References with a reason for choosing each. | The useful characteristic, rather than a request to copy a competitor. |
| Time and budget | The intended date of use, priorities and available resources. | Design, production and later applications assessed separately. |
| Decisions and approval | The person gathering feedback and the final approver. | Who resolves conflicting requests and on what basis. |
Mark unknown technical details as open questions. “Dimensions awaiting confirmation from the printer” is more useful than a guessed measurement. Assign an owner and a date for each missing input. Separate what is needed for the first use from the longer wish list. Our guide to the factors behind logo design pricing explains why differences in scope affect a quote.
A Worked Brief Example
The following manufacturer is fictional. It is an illustration of the method, not a Piar Medya client case or a promise of results.
- Business: We supply food packaging to other businesses. Purchasing staff need product dimensions and minimum order information when requesting a quote.
- Problem: Our sales representatives use different proposal layouts. Product names and ordering details do not appear in a consistent place.
- Goal: Create a shared proposal template that the team can fill with real product information, supported by basic identity guidelines.
- What stays: The brand name remains. The existing symbol needs assessment at small sizes; replacing it completely has not been agreed.
- First deliverables: An identity direction, proposal presentation template and email signature. Packaging range design is a later phase and is outside the initial quote.
- Use test: Prepare a proposal using a long product name, two different product photographs and real contact details. Ask sales staff to edit the text in their own software.
- Timing and approval: Confirm the first date of use separately. The sales lead consolidates feedback, and the business manager makes the final decision.
The example names the person, content and setting involved in using the design. Descriptions such as “premium” or “striking” would not provide the same direction. The designer can propose an approach, and the business can assess it against an agreed task.
Explain Your Visual References
You might like the spacing in one example and the product image placement in another. Annotate those details. Explain what they help someone do instead of asking for an identical layout. Give reasons for unwanted elements too; avoid assuming that every company in a sector needs the same colours.
Keep the existing logo artwork, presentations, product copy and supplier specifications in a shared folder. Identify versions and dates so nobody mistakes an old design for the approved one. Open shared links before sending them to check access.
Read the Brief Before Sending It
Ask a colleague unfamiliar with the project to read it. Can they identify the work, the first application to be used and the person approving it? Bring conflicting interpretations to the initial discussion. If an application is added after approval, confirm how it changes the scope and schedule.
You can discuss a graphic design project before every field is complete. Start with the purpose, applications and materials you have; use the first meeting to identify the remaining decisions.
Adobe's explanation of creative briefs describes giving a project direction without prescribing the concept. The question table and manufacturer example here apply that distinction to a business commissioning identity work.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
The brief describes the problem, goals and limits before design starts. Guidelines explain how the approved identity should be used. If guidelines already exist, attach them to the brief and identify which parts must remain.
The business can gather the first inputs because it knows its customers and existing materials. The designer can clarify applications, constraints and missing decisions. Both parties should review the agreed document before design work starts.
Cover the business problem, priority audience, applications, elements to retain, first deliverables, timing and approver. Identify unknown information instead of guessing. Record who will supply each missing input and when it is needed.
Replace generic prompts with your actual requirements and remove fields that do not affect the project. Keep useful reference material in attachments. A completed form is only useful if the designer and business understand the decisions in the same way.
State whether it must remain, may be adjusted or is open to replacement. Describe the problem using actual applications, such as small labels or sales documents. Keeping the logo does not automatically define the scope of the wider identity work.
No fixed file format is required. A shared document can support discussion, with the approved version saved under a clear date and version name. Put large artwork in an accessible folder and test links before sending the brief.
