How to brief a brand designer
Don’t stress! The onus is on the designer to take the brief, not for you to give the brief.
A graphic designer’s job is to get inside your head by asking a whole load of questions. You don’t have to be an expert in the questions you need to answer, you just need to understand your own business.
Here are the steps you can take for a stress free brand design brief:
Find out about the questions the designer will ask you before you meet, they may have a briefing document that they use.
Take your time and consider the questions – write things down if it helps you to work that way. Gather together images that inspire you – these could be other brands or graphics or photos, but they’ll all represent the style and personality you want your brand to exhibit. Your brand will be unique and a picture will help the designer understand your descriptions even better. After all, a picture paints a thousand words.
Ideally, you’ll meet your designer face to face and that will make the process easier, but a Skype or facetime meeting can work just as well. Expect the designer to delve deeper into the questions, but don’t worry, the answers should be easy for you because, especially for solo and small business owners, they’ll be inextricably linked to your own personality, your personal brand and that of your business.
Your designer will go away and start working on some concepts. This part of the process can take time as they’ll need to carry out their own research and make sure that all creative options have been explored.
Next, it’s the exciting part, when your designer presents back their ideas. You can expect to see two or more concepts returned to you and some of the ideas presented may deliberately ‘stretch’ and surprise you. You also may see suggested variations and mock ups to help you consider how the design might appear in different environments – eg print, online or on packaging or other product collateral.
After you’ve received and digested the concepts it’s time to talk to the designer again, perhaps face to face, or over the phone. Talk about your preferred concept and particular elements that resonate with you and discuss refinements and also point out if there are particular details you don’t like.
Once the brand design is finalised you should expect to receive all the files that you’ll need to use the brand in different formats and environments, print and online.
Ultimately it’s your designer’s job to create design a brand that truly reflects your business and speaks to your audience, but it’s just as important to make sure that it’s one that resonates with you and makes you even prouder of what you do.
Happy briefing!