Resources · Digital Foundations · 20 min
The brief template we actually use
You are about to hire anyone creative, including someone who is not us.
Why we give this away
A client who can write a brief is a cheaper client — for us and for whoever else they hire. The value in a studio is not the list of questions; it is what we do with the answers. Keeping the questions secret would only guarantee worse inputs.
1. What is the actual job
In one sentence, what should exist at the end that does not exist now. Not "a rebrand" — "a logo, a colour set and a one-page site so I can print a sign and answer emails from a real address."
2. What is the decision this unblocks
Almost every creative job is blocking something concrete: a sign, a launch, a pitch, a listing. Naming it tells us what is genuinely due first, which is usually not the thing that was asked for first.
3. Who is the audience, said specifically
"Everyone" is never true and is expensive. One real person you have already sold to is worth more than a demographic.
4. Three things you like, and why
Links are fine. The 'why' is the part that matters — "I like that it is calm" and "I like that it is loud" send opposite work back to you from the same three links.
5. Three things you hate
Faster and more reliable than the likes. People are much more precise about what is wrong.
6. What must not change
A name, a colour a customer recognises, a photo of the founder's father on the wall. Say it now. This is the single most common cause of a round of revisions that did not need to happen.
7. Who signs off, and when are they available
One name. If two people must agree, say so now and say who wins. A project with an unnamed approver is a project with an unbounded timeline.
8. The real deadline, and what is behind it
"End of the month" and "the trade show is on the 14th and the banner must ship on the 9th" are different briefs.
9. The budget, or the range
Not to spend all of it. To tell you honestly, on the first call, whether what you want is possible at that number — which is a kinder answer than a proposal that quietly drops half the scope.
Want someone to do this part?
The quiz tells you what to do first and roughly what it costs. Or talk to us for fifteen minutes — no deck, no pressure.
The founder brief
One practical email for people building something — a clear idea you can use, no pitch. Free, unsubscribe anytime.