How to Brief a Design Agency (With a Free Template)

A weak brief is the single biggest predictor of a disappointing project—not agency talent, not budget. Most briefs fail for the same reason: they describe execution ("make it modern, use blue") instead of outcome ("help enterprise buyers trust us within the first 10 seconds on the site").

Why Most Briefs Fail

A brief that specifies execution locks a creative team into your first idea, which is rarely your best one—that's what you're paying them to find. A brief that specifies the outcome, audience, and constraints gives a team room to solve the actual problem.

The Minimum Viable Brief: 7 Questions

1. What has to be true after this project that isn't true now? The actual goal, stated as an outcome.
2. Who is this for, specifically? Not "everyone"—the actual person making the decision.
3. What's non-negotiable? Brand guidelines, technical constraints, legal requirements—anything that isn't up for creative interpretation.
4. What do you like, and why? Reference examples with the reason they work for you, not just "something like this."
5. What have you tried that didn't work? Saves the team from re-discovering a dead end you already found.
6. What's the timeline, and what's driving it? A real deadline (a launch, a fundraising round) changes how a team prioritises versus an arbitrary one.
7. How will you know this worked? A specific metric or outcome to evaluate against, agreed before the work starts.

What NOT to Include

Resist the urge to specify exact colours, layouts, or copy in the brief itself unless they're genuinely non-negotiable. That's the part you're hiring a creative team to figure out—over-specifying it usually produces a worse outcome than trusting the process you're paying for.

A Copy-Paste Brief Template

Goal: [what has to be true after this project]
Audience: [who this is for, specifically]
Constraints: [non-negotiables]
References: [examples + why they work]
What hasn't worked: [prior attempts, if any]
Timeline: [deadline + what's driving it]
Success metric: [how you'll know it worked]

If you're about to brief a project and want a second pair of eyes on it before you send it out, send it our way—or book a free audit and we'll help you scope it properly.