Creative event design brief
There is a simple equation within the design industry which is often overlooked – If you want a great design – write a great design brief.
To structure a creative event, which serves its purpose, is financially beneficial, engaging and inspires some form of action the same formula applies. Design briefs can be seen as unnecessary red tape, as restrictive deliberation and often bypassed for simply ‘getting on with it’. Yet you only need to be part of a project that struggles to reach a satisfactory conclusion to realise that a more structured process is needed. Without a strong brief both client and events agency can reach deadline unsure, unprepared and disappointed.
A strong breif is even more important if there are numerous stakeholders, or decision makers who may have a final ruling. Everyone who is working on a project needs to be comfortable with the strategy and purpose before the creative process begins.
When creating events – timing, programme content, venue and budget are all at the forefront of both those commissioning and creating, and rightly so. Yet without consideration of the visual resonance and the emotive impact of design work the event may only serve to pass the time of day.
A great piece of design work impacts the whole event agenda, upholds an organisations defining vision, embeds the key messages in delegates minds and assists in linking follow up material and further initiatives.
Have you ever reached a point in a creative process, where you were unhappy with the progress, unsure about the direction of the design style or frustrated that endless revisions still do not match your initial hopes for the project? If so, then the quality of the design brief could quite possibly be to blame. If has often been said that a successful solution can be reached by spending ninety percent of the effort defining the problem and ten percent solving it, the creative brief is this definition. A brief can actually shorten the time it takes to execute the design process, and make the whole process far more satisfying for everyone involved.
From a clients point of view the most important points to remember is a good design brief can save both time and provide value for money. This does not however mean you need to dictate exactly what is to be done. Being clear about what the item needs to achieve, allows the creatives to explore diverse solutions. The most successful projects come from briefs that are open enough to inspire creativity, whilst remaining specific and purpose driven. More importantly with parameters the results will be measurable.
Design briefs should vary according to the discipline involved and events require even greater consideration of a desired outcome or inspired action. Without going into the full process of creating the brief here are a few directing questions we currently use. Who are you? (defining your activities, niches, purpose, practice, achievements, history), Why this project? (ultimate project aims, specific objectives, potential/desired achievements), Where is this happening? (initial specific target audience, wider demographic, potential scope), How will this happen? (delivery, budget, time scale), What else should we know? (specifics, emotive influence, house style, restrictions).
As mentioned above, all of these points are to be considered alongside the event planning and although the information serves to assist the design team in providing a stunning visual response, the more information provided can allow creativity in all areas of the process.
We are currently formalising these points into a creative event design brief framework, if you have any comments or think this would be useful to you or your team let us know and we will send you a copy.
There is a simple equation within the design industry which is often overlooked – If you want a great design – write a great design brief.
To structure a creative event, which serves its purpose, is financially beneficial, engaging and inspires some form of action, the same formula applies. Design briefs can be seen as unnecessary red tape, as restrictive deliberation and often bypassed for simply ‘getting on with it’. Yet you only need to be part of a project that struggles to reach a satisfactory conclusion to realise that a more structured process is needed. Without a strong brief both client and events agency can reach deadline unsure, unprepared and disappointed.
A strong brief is even more important if there are numerous stakeholders, or decision makers who may have a final ruling. Everyone who is working on a project needs to be comfortable with the strategy and purpose before the creative process begins.
When creating events – timing, programme content, venue and budget are all at the forefront of both those commissioning and creating, and rightly so. Yet without consideration of the visual resonance and the emotive impact of design work the event may only serve to pass the time of day.
A great piece of design work impacts the whole event agenda, upholds an organisations defining vision, embeds the key messages in delegates minds and assists in linking follow up material and further initiatives.
Have you ever reached a point in a creative process, where you were unhappy with the progress, unsure about the direction of the design style or frustrated that endless revisions still do not match your initial hopes for the project? If so, then the quality of the design brief could quite possibly be to blame. It has often been said that a successful solution can be reached by spending ninety percent of the effort defining the problem and ten percent solving it, the creative brief is this definition. A brief can actually shorten the time it takes to execute the design process, and make the whole process far more satisfying for everyone involved.
From a clients point of view the most important points to remember is that a good design brief can save both time and provide value for money. This does not however mean you need to dictate exactly what is to be done. Being clear about what the event needs to achieve, allows the creatives to explore diverse solutions. The most successful projects come from briefs that are open enough to inspire creativity, whilst remaining specific and purpose driven. More importantly with parameters the results will be measurable.
Design briefs should vary according to the discipline involved and events require even greater consideration of a desired outcome or inspired action. Without going into the full process of creating the brief here are a few directing questions we currently use. Who are you? (defining your activities, niches, purpose, practice, achievements, history), Why this project? (ultimate project aims, specific objectives, potential/desired achievements), Where is this happening? (initial specific target audience, wider demographic, potential scope), How will this happen? (delivery, budget, time scale), What else should we know? (specifics, emotive influence, house style, restrictions).
As mentioned above, all of these points are to be considered alongside the event planning and although the information serves to assist the design team in providing a stunning visual response, the more information provided can allow creativity in all areas of the process.
We are currently formalising these points into a creative event design brief to be completed during all initial meetings, if you have any comments or think this would be useful to you or your team let us know and we will send you a copy.
