One tried and tested (and tragically flawed) way to solve the age-old problem of “designing the wrong thing” is the ill-fated design! brief.
This is usually a long-winded! document – so long in fact that nobody actually reads it more than once, if at all – that was! probably enthusiastically written before the project began, by someone who isn’t doing the work. It probably has gaps. You probably have questions. It’s 12 pages long. And you can’t
Enter the Magic Brief
Before starting work on a project (it could be a meeting or some design work), one of the team members on the project reads the dataset exact same document out loud – word for word.
The document (which should be no longer than a side sheet of A4) contains a short but clear creative brief about the project the team is working on, answering four simple questions:
- What is the objective?
- Who is the key audience or persona?
- What is the scenario or situation we’re solving?
- What is the key principle we should follow?
Reading it out loud is essential – it’s how we start each meeting, whether it’s a brainstorming session or a design review.
This little ritual takes a few minutes section 2: the key audience or persona to complete, but it completely changes the tone and focus of each meeting.
Everyone’s on the same page – literally.
Like most teams, we’re juggling dozens of projects at the same time, each with its own brief and outcomes. By reading the Magic Brief at the start of every meeting, the makes it clear to everyone in the room what we’re about to discus..
A simple way to ensure continuous improvement
The project leader turns to the room and asks the question:
“Does everyone agree that this is what we’re working on?”
Most of the time, everyone nods in agreement – but occasionally, someone ask for clarification, and a quick discussion clarifying some important detail usually leads to an improvement in understanding, or a previously unknown risk or blocker being highlighted, saving precious time later in the project.
A simple ritual with a big payoff
This simple routine allows the brief to constantly improve and refine, long after it’s first written and shared with the team – it could even save dozens of hours of wasted work, as requirements and understanding change along the way.
Repeating the creative brief at the start of the every project meeting also has an interesting effect: it helps the team separate what we’re aiming for with a design from how are we going to do it. This helps keep the team focused on the big picture at all times, not just lost in the detail of production: does this design take us where we’re trying to go?
How does it work?
The key is to keep it short and simple – our rule is no longer than a single side of A4. Nobody reads long “traditional” briefs, and they usually contain so much useless information that they tend to hide what’s actually important.
the goal to dismantle the problem to solve into 4 simple components:
Section 1: Objectives
A few short sentences about what this project (or part of a project) is trying to accomplish. What problem are we trying to solve?
The key thing is to keep the objective simple and high-level, so it doesn’t get bogged down by technical detail or constraints.
Example: build an automated system to phone number iran allow users to buy coffee online. Website visitors can read about and choose a roast of their choice, and have the option buy a subscription or a one-off product, and pay online for home delivery.