Creating design briefs is an integral step when you adopt a strategic approach to software product development. When effectively written, a design brief will not only help you identify and avoid roadblocks early on, but also help smooth out and speed up your design and development process altogether.

1. Co-creating
An Effective
Design Brief

2. Design is for better
Better
Faster Cheaper
..because design is iterative involving careful strategic decisions

3. #1 - Do not write the brief all by yourselves
Great starting point
It may feel comprehensive
It is written only from one perspective
Scope and timelines are defined
without assessing the desirable output
and feasibility.
Words used to define tone/feeling can
be misinterpreted

4. #2 - Engage designers early in the process
Iterate your design brief.
Avoid time-consuming process explaining your thoughts - let
them think alongside.
Explain your business model and revenue model - if they don’t
have that information they might not be able to solve UX
problems.
Discuss the vocabulary used to describe the experiences that
the business intends to create for its users several times.
Involve technology stakeholders too.
Avoid redundant effort during the execution of the project.

5. #3 - Highlight your assumptions
Highlight all your assumptions and the list of validated
information.
Let the design team know how you arrived at these
assumptions.
Use their ability to understand users needs to build test
scenarios before setting out to build the product itself.
Reduce the number of assumptions as you iterate your
brief forward.

6. #4 - Cultural exchange
Ensure that the design team you engage
understands the cultural nuances of your users.
Engage the team in a good conversation about
who your users are.
Discuss their habits, beliefs and other relevant
behaviour that might impact they way they
interact with your business.
User research is highly recommended.
Conversations about local culture are educative
and increases the quality of the design.
Ask the design team ‘How would you re-define
the brief after this conversation?’.

7. #5 - Derive your goals/objectives
Revisit your goal /objective several times to check for any
possibilities for misinterpretation.
Be realistic about the objective.
Examples
We want to be able to change perception of the user from X to Y.
We want the user to be able to feel in control of their action
regarding decision making in factor X.
We want to attract a new target user and they are different from you
current users in X, Y and Z ways.
You don’t have to always be concise but it is important to be
unambiguous.
Avoid using only a metaphor.

8. #6 - Define experiential constraints
Make a list of what not to do.
As a medical company, we cannot use humour or goofiness in the
branding.
State what your users should not experience at any cost.
We don’t want our customers to feel they have limited choice.
Ask the design team to contribute to this list to help you perfect the
design brief.

9. Reflect & Connect
Pick a project that you last managed or wrote a
brief for, introspect what have you covered in
the brief and how would you do it differently.
If you are working on a design brief and looking
to refine your brief, schedule a meeting with us
on our website www.ionixxtech.com