The Art of Briefing: How to get what you actually want from creatives (without the overwhelm)
If you aren’t living and breathing marketing every day, the idea of writing a brief for a graphic designer, videographer, copywriter, or other creative can feel completely outside the scope of your normal routine.
Even for early-career marketers, this is often an on-the-job skill that isn't formally taught in university.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed when someone asks you for a brief…where do you start, what exactly do they need, and are you providing too much information, or not enough?
But here is my secret to removing that overwhelm:
“The more thought you put into the beginning of the process, the fewer rounds of changes, confusion, stress, and budget blowouts you will have later.”
You don't need a fancy, complicated form. You just need a solid framework. My first step is always to envision the outcome I need, and work backwards to create a comprehensive brief.
1. Start at the End (The Final Output)
Are you creating a printed brochure, a social media tile, a product display stand, or a video? By defining the exact physical or digital output first, you ground the rest of your instructions in reality. Document these details at the beginning of your brief.
For example:
Output: Brochure
Size: A4 folder to DL flyer
Dimensions (exact sizes): 210mm (wide) x 290mm (height), folded to 99mm (wide) x 210mm (height)
Bleed*: 5mm
Colour: full colour
Printed sides: all sides printed and in full colour
Deadline: 30 April 2026 (5pm)
2. Define your audience and purpose
Once you know what you are making, you need to tell your creative team why you are making it.
The audience: Who is going to be receiving or seeing this piece of collateral?**
The purpose: What is the overarching goal?
The call to action (CTA): What exactly do you want the audience to do after seeing this? Do you want them to buy a product, click a link, reach for something off a shelf and add it to their basket, or make a donation?
3. Establish the hierarchy of information
Don't just hand over a Word document full of text. Explain the hierarchy and importance of the information that needs to be included.
If you are working with a designer, let them know which part of the text is the main heading, along with the subheadings, and the body copy. You might want to create intrigue and excitement first before dropping the "Buy Now" CTA at the very end.
4. Provide the specifics (and the exclusions)
This is where the details matter. Be sure to include:
Mandatory elements: Do you need a specific logo, brand colours and fonts, or a QR code? If so, include a link to your brand guidelines and a folder containing all of these creative assets so your creative can easily access them and not waste time chasing these from you.
Format details: If it is a printed piece, what kind of material is it being printed on? An acrylic stand will require a different design approach to a highly porous paper stock. If it's a video, do you need a specific hook at the opening or close-up product shots?
Rules and regulations: If you work in a regulated industry (like engineering, skincare, or pharmaceuticals), are there specific legislative phrases you must use, or words you absolutely cannot use?
5. Share Visual Inspiration (that’s both The Do's and The Don'ts)
If you are starting from scratch without brand guidelines, share examples of things you love and why. It might be packaging styles or a video reel with great B-roll (e.g., “the quote inside the packaging feels special”, or “I loved the drone shots in this Reel”).
Just as importantly, share examples of what you don't like and give context as to why (e.g., "the script was boring", or "the product was out of focus").
6. Consider continuity and budget
If you have past marketing collateral or past videos, share links to them in your brief so the new creative person can maintain brand continuity (or tell them if you want to intentionally steer away from that old style).
Finally, always include your budget for both the creative work and the final printing/production.
Your Next Steps
To get started, simply open a blank Google Doc. Use the headings I’ve shared above to create your own master template. You can easily evolve and refine this template with every new project you work on.
Remember, investing just 30 minutes to pull these dot points together will save you hours of headaches down the line, along with saving your designer extra rounds of changes to update the design if it’s not what you envisioned…and rounds of changes cost money.
**Collateral is an industry term for the piece of marketing material you are making.
* Bleed is the space beyond the final printed area, which allows colours, or images to ‘bleed’ off the edge of a document. The professional printer trims a document along this ‘bleed line’ so you have a clean edge of the image or colour, instead of having a white border like you will have when you print at home.