A brief is not a moodboard and it is not a list of adjectives. The best briefs we receive answer five plain questions, and none of them is about colour.

The five questions

Who is this for? What should they do differently afterwards? What has already been tried? What can’t change? And how will we know it worked?

Why constraints help

The fourth question — what can’t change — is the one clients skip most often, and the one that saves the most time. A fixed logo, a legacy colour or a store fit-out already in production is not a problem; it is information.

If you are preparing to hire a studio, answer these five questions in a single page. Any good designer will be grateful.