Chapter 6
Creative Briefs
Creative Briefs Are Strategic Tools
Computer scientists have a saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” It means that computers can process a lot of data output, but it will only be as good as the information that was put into the system. It’s pretty much the same in design. When creative is developed from great client input, the results can be great. If not, well, it’s a recipe for falling short of the mark. Without a well-identified and articulated set of objectives and goals that is rooted in thorough background and research information, a design can’t grow out of a solid foundation. There needs to be a summary of all the factors that can impact a design project. It is well worth the time it takes to develop it.
What’s in a Creative Brief?
In the best cases, a creative brief is created through meetings, interviews, readings, and discussions between a client and designer. It should contain background information, target audience details, information on competitors, short- and long-term goals, and specific project details. A creative brief will answer these questions:
• What is this project?
• Who is it for?
• Why are we doing it?
• What needs to be done? By whom? By when?
• Where and how will it be used?
Without making a framework for the project, the designer won’t be able to understand the parameters or context that needs to be worked within. The creative brief provides an objective strategic tool that can be agreed and acted upon. It can serve as a set of metrics by which to judge and evaluate the appropriateness of a design. At the very least, all the relevant project information is contained within a single document that can be shared as guidelines for the entire client and designer project team.
Negative Impact of No Creative Brief
Any designer who simply launches into a design assignment without a proper briefing doesn’t have all the relevant facts and opinions to do a well-informed job. They are also asking for trouble as work progresses. Approvals come with buy in; buy in is so often a result of feeling included and asked for input. Sure, the odds are that they can design something interesting and eye-appealing based on their gut instincts, but these solutions are not grounded in solid understanding, and they are more easily dismissed by both clients and target audiences.
Project Profile in Creative Briefs
Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas designed by Alexander Isley, Inc. / Redding, Connecticut
Match: Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas
Known as an idea-driven design consultancy with a reputation for innovative, influential and effective work, Alexander Isley, Inc., was asked by Elizabeth Arden Salons, Inc. to launch a new brand of hair care products aimed at women thirty to forty-five years old. The assignment included naming the product line, developing the distinct packaging, and designing the in-salon visual merchandising materials. A creative brief was supplied by the client, but was then expanded upon by the designers. Work on the assignment began with a research and positioning phase where positioning, strategy, and brand premise were defined. From this base, a naming commenced with the designers offering a list of brand names and tag lines that corresponded with the agreed upon positioning. The name Match was selected because it emphasized the fact that various products could be combined by customers to create the perfect match for their own hair type. Contained within the client’s original brief to the designers was vital information about Elizabeth Arden’s U.S. expansion of its upscale Red Door Spas. They had recently acquired the prestigious Mario Tricosi Salons and wished to rebrand these spas and products, including a progressive menu of skin and hair care products, as well a menu of personal care services in a state-of-the-art environment.
OPPOSITE LEFT
“Our kick-off questionnaire to the client was shorter than usual because they had prepared their own brief,” explains creative director Alexander Isley. “Our clients don’t usually do this. Nevertheless, we had additional questions and observations.” Through interviews with their client, the designers dug deep into the assignment, acquiring information that informed their work.
OPPOSITE RIGHT
The naming criteria developed by Alexander Isley, Inc., is a series of questions that allows the designers and clients to provide background information for exploring a number of potential brand names.
BELOW LEFT
It was in developing the positioning document that the designers decided the product line needed a better name than Portrait, which had been the client’s suggestion. “The name conjured up images for us of dusting off an old gilt frame,” says Aline Hilford, VP managing director at Alexander Isley, Inc. “We felt there was a better way to approach this audience, starting with a different name—something more modern, light, and engaging.”
BELOW RIGHT
Developmental sketches and prototypes that are the beginnings of design development for Match.
Match: Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas
The designers created a grid system to compare their client’s product with competing brands. Each of the four quadrants represents an attribute, in this case expensive ($$$$) versus cheap ($), and traditional versus trendy, with each brand mapped according to its ranking within these contexts. This kind of four-square grid can compare any two sets of qualifiers a designer wishes. It’s an instant way to visually express any client’s competitive landscape.
BELOW
The boards below were used in the strategic development of the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas brand. The board (upper left) charts the client’s goal in terms of brand positioning by asking the question, “Where do we want to be?” The brand is then plotted according to price point between high-end spas and mid-priced department store brands. The other three boards seen below are mood boards for the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas brand—all of which answer the question, “Where do we want to be?” by looking at other factors and influences beyond price. The board at the upper right placed the client’s brand in the context of travel, food, and beverage brands; the lower left board places it within consumer products and family brands, while the board at lower right contextualizes Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas brand with fashion, jewelry, and sports. All three boards identify at a glance the target audience for the new spa brand.
BELOW AND OPPOSITE
A series of design explorations for Elizabeth Arden’s Match. A variety of color palettes, patterns, packaging shapes, and shelving schematics are considered.
The process of creating the finished designs for Match included preparing a market gap analysis, competitive audit, and positioning plan. The designers compiled a strategic brief, brand personality document, and launch plan. They then named the line and individual products; designed all packaging; wrote the descriptive copy; and created promotional items, point-of-sale materials, posters, and support literature.
The 10 Most Important Things to Include in a Creative Brief
Project Profile in Creative Briefs
Logan Collection Vail designed by Aufuldish & Warinner, graphic designers / San Anselmo, California
Impulse: Logan Collection Vail Interview with Bob Aufuldish, creative director / partner
Q. Please describe the client, along with their product/service:
A. The project is for the Logan Collection Vail, collectors of contemporary art.
Q. What was your brief on this project? What were you asked to do?
A. Design a book of the Logans’ extensive collection of works on paper.
Q. Who is the audience for this project?
A. Broadly speaking, it’s the art world.
Q. What exactly is this piece? What is its purpose? How is it used by the client?
A. The Logans use the books to document their collection and to build awareness about it. They want to raise the profile of this aspect of their collection. As Kent Logan states in his opening essay, “Their importance to us is related to the fact that drawings often capture that first extemporaneous thought of the artist.”
Q Why does it look the way it does?
A. A number of reasons. I previously designed a book, Postmodern Portraiture, from their collection. One of the requests was that this new volume relate to the previous one.
OPPOSITE
The cover and a spread from Postmodern Portraiture.
The size is the same, and so are a few of the typefaces used, but the grid and the way the material is organized is different. Impulse is organized around thematic groupings, with each differentiated by a section opening spread. There are enough ribbons bound into the book so that each section and the opening essay can be individually bookmarked. In a book of this length [270 pages], I find that it’s especially important to pay attention to navigation issues. The design shows the works as large as possible, and the uneven edges of the paper are shown when appropriate. We took the extra effort to carefully silhouette the works where the irregular edges of the paper are an important part of the work.
BELOW
The cover and two spreads from Impulse.
What’s Included in a Design Criteria
Overview:
• Who they are [the client? the audience?]
• What the problem is (they say)
• What the problem is (really)
Research/Analysis Summary:
• What are they doing?
• What are others doing?
Approach:
• What we are recommending be done
• Design overview (brief statement about what needs to be done)
Client Sign Off:
• Approval to proceed with design. This is a critical step, if ever needed later as evidence of client approval in the case of things turning sour in a project.
Who Uses a Creative Brief?
Both the client and the design team use the creative brief. Creating it helps a client crystallize the salient information, gather their thoughts, and research and identify goals and objectives. It provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to give input and have their say. It aids in client buy in of the resulting designs mostly because the client team has all provided input.
For the designer, the brief provides relevant information to alleviate guesswork. Who knows the client’s business better than the client? By gathering this information concisely in one document, the creative brief is a criteria for evaluation, outlining metrics that indicate success, and ultimately holding the designer accountable—unless of course, the designer can convince their client that the creative brief is wrong.
Going without a Creative Brief
There are times when a formal creative briefing session, followed by a typewritten and comprehensive creative brief may not be necessary. The two main reasons are
• The assignment is a continuation of a larger program that the designer has already been working on. It may have had a formal creative brief at the start of the working relationship and now, with a wealth of experience having worked on a previous design, a new creative brief may not be needed. In essence, it is a project that falls within a larger, earlier creative brief.
• The client trusts the designer implicitly. They have worked together over the course of many years or many projects and, thus, have developed a kind of telepathy from such a close working relationship. The designer intuitively understands the client, their product or service, their competition, and their customer extremely well. This allows the client to state their problem or goal and then give the designer carte blanche to design as they see fit.
Both of these conditions involve trust and an extensive working relationship. Beginning design without being properly briefed under other circumstances is usually a recipe for disaster. The designer has no objective criteria on which to have their work evaluated. Mostly, they have not received adequate information as preparation for their work in the first place.
Project Profile in Creative Briefs
SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza designed
by Willoughby Design / Kansas City, Missouri
SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza
Willoughby Design is a brand design and innovation firm made up of strategists, designers, and writers. They work in flexible teams, assigning the appropriate mix of talent to each project. All of their team members believe that every unique brand experience starts with a story. The firm specializes in bringing companies and products to consumers through emotionally centered visual storytelling that leaves lasting impressions and creates brand believers. This philosophy and approach is evident in their work for Spin! Pizza.
Willoughby loves designing retail experiences that bring every element together to create a memorable encounter for customers. Gail Lozoff, owner of Einstein Bros. Bagels, as well as Bagel and Bagel, has been a partner with Willoughby for over fifteen years, in leading fast-casual restaurant innovations. Lozoff’s newest concept, Spin!—inspired by Neapolitan-style pizza and her love for Italian cycling—is a favoloso fast-casual restaurant experience that is poised for national expansion. Because of the longstanding working relationship between designer and client, no formal creative brief was prepared.
The work on Spin! included a vision workshop, positioning, brand identity and standards, collateral, environmental graphics, signage, and interactive components. After a successful two-year engagement designing the identity and store concept for the first location, Willoughby is working with Spin! to open five new stores in the Kansas City area with plans for a national launch close behind.
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Willoughby Design worked in collaboration with client Gail Lozoff, Hammerpress letterpress studio, and 360° Architects to craft the first favoloso pizza concept restaurant of its kind.
Spin! Neapolitan Pizza
Rich tapestries of letterpress graphics, authentic Italian pizza, and bicycling converge for this new fast-casual restaurant concept. This dadaist coupling of bicycles and pizza play out in the name and is a marriage of the owner’s two loves. Bicycle-inspired details include using gears on light fixtures and a bike rail for the outdoor patio railing.
A letterpress artist created the artwork that was composed into two murals that bookend the space. Three posts rise from the center to hold the menu boards. Each graphic item from the identity to the signage imparts hand-done, rich layering, just like the pizza.
