Discovery brief template
A discovery brief people actually read
Background, numbered goals, audience and constraints. Short enough to be read before the work starts, which is the only time it helps.
- Free to use
- Your colors and fonts
- One page, usually
BRIEF
Packaging refresh
Rookery Coffee Roasters
Background
Current bags were designed for a single roast and no longer scale to the range. Shelf presence is weak next to the two nearest competitors.
Goals
- 1.Read the roast level from two metres away
- 2.Fit a range that will grow to eight SKUs
- 3.Hold unit cost under 40p
Constraints
Existing bag former. Two spot colours, no varnish.
An example, with your branding applied
A brief agrees what is being made before anyone starts making it. Its value is entirely in being written down and read, which is why length is the enemy.
What should a project brief contain?
Five things, and the discipline is stopping there.
- Background, why this is happening now, in a paragraph.
- Goals, what success looks like, numbered, ideally measurable.
- Audience, who this is for, specifically.
- Constraints, budget, deadline, technical limits, things that cannot change.
- Success criteria, how everyone will know afterwards whether it worked.
The section most often missing is **constraints**, and it is the one that prevents the most rework. A brief that does not mention the existing bag former, the two-color print limit, or the fact that the deadline is a trade show, produces beautiful work that cannot be made.
How specific should the goals be?
Specific enough to be judged against afterwards.
"Increase brand awareness" cannot be evaluated, so it will not be. "Read the roast level from two metres away" and "hold unit cost under 40p" can both be checked by looking, which means the work has a target rather than a mood.
Numbering matters more than it looks. Numbered goals get referred to by number in every review that follows, "this doesn’t really do goal two" is a sentence that only exists if the goals are numbered, and it is a far more useful piece of feedback than "I’m not sure about it".
Three to five goals. More than that and none of them are priorities, which is the actual problem the brief was meant to solve.
Who should write the brief?
Whoever is doing the work, from what the client said. Then the client signs it off.
Briefs written entirely by the client tend to describe a solution rather than a problem, "we need a new logo" when the actual issue is that the packaging does not scale. Briefs written entirely by the agency tend to describe what the agency wanted to make anyway.
Writing it up and sending it back for approval catches misunderstandings while they are still cheap. It is also the moment where "and obviously it needs to work on the website too" surfaces, which is much better than discovering it at presentation.
What happens when the brief changes mid-project?
Update it, get it re-approved, and note what changed. The version nobody updated is worse than no brief, because people argue from different copies.
Briefs change for legitimate reasons: the client learns something, the market moves, a constraint turns out to be softer than assumed. That is fine. What causes damage is the change being agreed verbally and never written down, so that six weeks later two people remember different versions of what was decided and both are sincere.
A changed brief is also the moment to check whether the scope of work still matches. A new goal usually means new deliverables, and that is a conversation about money that is far easier to have now than at invoicing.
How long should a brief be?
One page. Two if the project is genuinely complex.
A brief nobody reads has failed regardless of how thorough it is, and length is the main reason briefs go unread. Everything essential fits on a page; everything else is reference material that belongs somewhere else.
If it will not fit, the usual cause is background that has become a history of the company rather than a reason for the project. Cut that first. The second most common cause is goals that are really tasks, those belong in the scope of work, not the brief.
What you fill in
- Client and title
- Who it is for and what the project is called.
- Background
- Why now. One paragraph.
- Goals
- Numbered. Three to five, measurable where possible.
- Audience
- Who this is actually for.
- Constraints
- Budget, deadline, technical limits, anything fixed.
- Success criteria
- How you will both know whether it worked.
What happens after you fill it in
Your branding, applied
Set colors and fonts once. Every document you generate uses them, including ones you made months ago.
Sent for signature
Request a signature from the same place. The signed copy comes back with a record of who signed and when.
Every version kept
Each save keeps the one before it. Restoring an earlier version does not lose the newer ones.
Questions
- Is a brief the same as a scope of work?
- No. A brief says what you are trying to achieve; a scope of work says what will be produced and when. The brief comes first.
- Should the client sign the brief?
- Signing is not necessary, but explicit written approval is. It is the reference point when opinions change later.
- Can I use this for a design brief?
- Yes. The structure is the same, and constraints do more work on a design project than anywhere else.
- What if the client will not give me constraints?
- Write what you assume and send it for confirmation. Assumptions in writing get corrected; assumptions in your head do not.
Use this template
Free to start. One project, no card needed.