A good Brief : an Exercise for creative people

Just got back from Mas Ferry Dad’s funeral in Bogor at 15:37, I rushed to my “tempat kost” (that’s what the guys called my working space) to check some emails and skype messages. My last conversation with Cynthia this morning was about the SLA stuffs, I thought this is a big effort from PG of how to make things better with FP. Anyway, I need to digest some important points on the SLA, and see if I could contribute more on these. And suddendly the day was even more painful, when Cynthia was asking me to submit anything for our Blog ☺. Whew this could be hard, yay! Lemme think about it.

Got up at midnight (00:10), and I was dreaming about SLA thingy, ouch!, hmmm, there will be some consequences if we want to deliver a better service for both internal and external clients. One thing that I could think about is how to prepare my team with a better way to dig a brief from our clients. Yes should be a good one, but how could we have it though?

A good brief is half success with an identity project. If you have all the information and an in depth understanding of your client’s brand you will have the basis for a great logo and striking identity. Without it you’re just shooting in the dark and can only rely on your luck to find the right solution. A good brief also simplifies your work by giving numerous seeds of ideas to work with.

Sometimes clients are not very talkative and without a clear structure the briefing session will take less than five minutes and all you get from client is that you have to be ready with at least 10 different options for the new logo by next Tuesday and that he wants something “WOW”! Obviously this is not much useful information and will be virtually impossible to do any good work.

I try summarise one of a good example how to have a good brief from one of the articles I found a year ago on www.commarts.com. Of course, not all questions will be relevant for every project. Also this questionnaire doesn’t include any practical questions regarding the working relationship with the client. It’s all about the brand and what it should stand for.

The Questions will include:
1. General questions
2. In depth interview
3. The Market
4. The Target
5. Current Identity

General questions

1. What is your business?

Example: We make shoes
Why ask: Understand what a company does officially, later on in the questionnaire it will be interesting to see what the real product/service is.

2. How old is your company?

Example: More than 10 years old
Why ask: It’s for general orientation. The answer may also give you an idea.

3. Size of your company?

Example: 150 employees in 3 countries
Why ask: The answer may give you an idea and gives a general understanding for the weight of the brand.

4. Your business in one sentence?

Example: We make great hiking shoes for families and professional hikers
Why ask: We are getting closer to the nature of the business, but we’re not done.

5. Your business in two words?

Example: Hiking shoes
Why ask: That’s more like it.

6. Your business in one word?

Example: Hiking
Why ask: See how different the real nature of the business from the official one in question 1.

7. Your business in one letter?

(joke)

In depth interview

8. How did you start the company?

Example: My granddad was a scout in WW2 in the Austrian alps and he had to go up hill 5 kilometers every day. He perfected the army shoes for 3 years and after the war he founded our company.
Why ask: Such stories will give you amazing insight to the company and may give you an idea.

9. Is there a story that is unique to your company?

Example: Actually Edmund Hillary wore a shoe my granddad made in 1953 when conquering the Mount Everest
Why ask: It tells you what the company is proud of, therefore you can build on this in your logo.

10. If you company/brand was a person who would it be?

Example: Columbus, because he was an adventurer always looking for new ways of doing the same thing.
Why ask: A brand is perceived by consumers like a person. You trust them, you communicate with them through advertising and purchase, you get disappointed by them, etc. The identity you’re designing is the face of that person.

11. If your company/brand was an object what would it be?

Example: I don’t know, maybe a compass
Why ask: Ideas, ideas, ideas, you can’t have enough of them. You can get it from the client directly or his answer may trigger one in your head.

12. If your company/brand was an animal which one would it be?

Example: Camel
Why ask: This is a conversation starter. If he says elephant, you may ask why to find out more that might give you an idea. You get the idea.

13. Is there an important object, building or person for your business?

Example: Our original factory in Zurich is painted bright pink and people always joke about it
Why ask: You are looking for existing imagery that the brand is already known for, you may just need to make an icon out of it.

14. What do your wear to work?

Example: Jeans and t-shirt
Why ask: The answer sets the style for the identity.

15. Do you have plans for tonight?

(joke)

The Market

16. How does the market see your company today?

Example: They think we’re a well established company with good products
Why ask: Must know what the current perception is to make sure the new identity doesn’t depart too much from it, so that the brands keeps the trust of existing customers.

17. What aspect of your image needs improvement?

Example: People think we are old school
Why ask: This is the bad perception, that keeps the business from growing. This is what you have to fight with the new identity.

18. How do you want your image to be seen in 2 years?

Example: We want to be seen as a company with traditional values but using the latest technology and materials
Why ask: This is what you have to portray in your new identity to serve your client.

19. Who are your competitors?

Example: CAT, Timberland and other smaller companies
Why ask: The identity has to be easily identifiable and it has to be unique. It’s essential to research the competition.

20. How are they better/worse than your product/service?

Example: CAT and Timberland has strong brands. We are less well known. CAT is masculine, we are not, but want to be. Timberland has a very natural feel to it. We want to have that too. We have a bigger history and we are more serious about our product than these two brands
Why ask: You have to identify your clients brand’s strength and weaknesses and build on them.

The Target

21. Who is your customer?

Example: Mainly hobby hikers and a few professionals as well
Why ask: You need to know who are you talking to. If you’re talking to kids you need to speak a different visual language than if you’re talking to bankers.

22. If your customer was a cartoon character who would it be?

Example: Ha ha, I would say Nemo
Why ask: Cartoon characters have exaggerated characteristics. Identifying the stereotype of your consumer is easier through this exercise.

Current Identity

23. Do you have an identity?

Example: Yes
Why ask: You have to create a visual continuity, unless a sudden change is required because of a strong negative association with the old identity.

25. What do you like about it and what do you not like about it?

Example: I like the colors, but the boy scout around the fire is not serious or trendy
Why ask: Obviously you may consider to keep what client likes and stay away from what he doesn’t like, unless you have strong reasoning for doing otherwise.

End…
I hope by reading this good example, we must have a very clear understanding of what the company/brand is all about. The Creative team must have several ideas already for different directions. But before you would even open a new document in Illustrator, we may want to consider going through this exercise again and again.

That is all for now, need to prepare “makan sahur” shortly (2:45), be back again sometime next week or when I got a different dreams, hope is about “why we need the workflow or marketing communication”, I am not sure. Good bye for now

Bajoy