Brief a Designer Like a Strategist

Hire, brief, judge and give feedback to designers so you pay for strategy, not endless revisions.

Make it pop is not a brief. It is an invoice for round seven.

What this is

Most design projects fail before the designer starts: no strategy, no decision-maker, and taste standing in for criteria. This course shows you how to set the strategy, write a one-page brief, choose the right designer, judge the work on real tests and give feedback that ends revisions instead of multiplying them. You finish with the files, rights and guidelines a brand needs to stay consistent for years.

What you will be able to do

Modules

  1. The Project Fails Before the Designer Starts. Why most design projects go wrong upstream, and why taste is the worst judge of the work. 2 lessons.
  2. Strategy First, Pixels Later. Make the positioning, character and design-job decisions a designer cannot make for you. 3 lessons.
  3. Writing the Brief. Turn your decisions into a one-page brief, with references that carry reasons and constraints stated upfront. 3 lessons.
  4. Choosing the Right Designer. Read portfolios for thinking, ask the questions that expose weak process, and lock down scope and ownership in writing. 3 lessons.
  5. Judging the Work Without I Like Blue. Judge a logo and identity on criteria that have answers, then test it where customers will actually meet it. 2 lessons.
  6. Feedback That Moves the Work Forward. Give feedback that names problems instead of prescribing fixes, and run rounds with one voice instead of a committee. 2 lessons.
  7. The Guideline and the Handover. Get a brand guideline people will actually use, and walk away with every file and right you paid for. 2 lessons.
  8. Living With the Design. Roll the brand out without breaking it, keep it consistent across touchpoints, and resist the urge to redesign every year. 2 lessons.

Who it is for

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