It seems to me that, somewhere along the line, the importance of the creative brief has been lost. Within agencies, it’s often seen as a bit of a chore, a piece of admin, just a form to be filled out. In my view, there is a general lack of understanding as to its proper role and value.

Our latest ‘What Clients Think’ report reveals that 30% of clients wish their agency would ask more questions and dig deeper, so the first stage in the process is a thorough interrogation of the client’s brief. A typical client comment is, “They should be more challenging around my brief and push back” or “Is it the right thing to do?” and “Challenge what we give them rather than just heads down.” Another is, “I’m obviously not being clear and I accept some of the blame, but they’re the experts and they should be able to drag it out of me.” The last point is key.

Agencies can’t just blame the client for a poor brief. A major part of an agency’s skill set is the ability to ask the right questions and extract the right information before leaping to creative work. After all, an important distinction to remember is that the artist writes his own brief, the designer can’t start without one. Designers need parameters to work within, a problem to solve and an opportunity to seize.

The agency’s questions can usually be grouped into three broad areas. Firstly, there are questions about the problem – the strategic issues being addressed. Secondly, there are questions about the context – competitors and trends. Thirdly, there are questions about deliverables – what we want the target audience(s) to think, feel and do. At brief stage, never be afraid to ask the obvious questions. Now’s the time. As Peter Drucker, the father of modern management consultancy, said, “My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.”

Once the questions have been asked and the information gathered, the creative brief can be addressed. Typical creative brief sections include identification of the problem, offer, USP, the audience, application, success factors and practical considerations. Back to my earlier point, though, it shouldn’t just be viewed as a form to be filled in. Instead, the creative brief should be treated as the vital bridge between the client’s world and the agency’s creative team. It acknowledges that both client and agency are united in their objectives, but their skills and ways of looking at the problem are different. In this sense, it should never just be a shorter format regurgitation of the client’s brief. An effective creative brief reduces the client’s brief to its core and turns it into plain English. Remember, designers tend not to speak ‘marketing’ and customers certainly don’t.

That’s not to say that you should be limited by words. Some of the best creative briefs I’ve seen have included images. Images can be more stimulating and more precise than words and, after all, the designer’s currency is visual. Most importantly, though, the creative brief should excite designers. It should spark their enthusiasm and make them feel it’s the best project they’ve ever had.

For those agencies that don’t write creative briefs or have got out of the habit, let’s summarise why all this is important. A good creative brief saves time and money because it should result in fewer amends and revisions. It’s a more efficient way of working. It ensures better decision making because it helps to reduce subjectivity and allows better rationalisation of creative work. It helps the client to recognise great work when they see it. It inspires and motivates the creative team and is more likely to result in high quality, effective and measurable creative work.

Of course, if the creative brief gives an unclear problem, is overloaded with information, mistakes facts for insights, focuses on product/service features not user benefits, relays information but doesn’t translate that or contain a driving thought, then it simply becomes that form to be filled in.

So, how do you know when you’ve written a good creative brief? Well, the clue is in the name. Is it brief? It shouldn’t turn into an essay or a job justification exercise. The skill is in making it concise. Does it focus on one key message? Are you telling a simple, inspiring story? Does it lead the team from the key message, through the insight, to the reason to believe, with each building on the other? Is it clear on immovables and mandatories? Is it jargon free? Will everyone understand it?

Most importantly, does it have designers excitedly heading for the studio?

Here’s a short summary of what we covered, prepared under Chatham House Rule — we explored much more during the session.

• Creativity is becoming more important to businesses who have fewer levers to pull to create competitive advantage.
• With significant economic pressures – high inflation, low consumer confidence and buying power, volatility and uncertainty from political changes – growth and returning a profit, and crucially cash, is becoming harder for businesses to achieve.
• There are therefore significant pressures on organisations to control costs, which puts pressure on creative fees.
• And businesses have less ability to find the growth they need from simply doing what they have always done.
• However, this creates an opportunity for creativity and innovation, with many design leaders understanding that companies that pursue doing something different and pursue breakthrough innovation in difficult economic times do really well.
• Design leaders are also trying to find ways to work more efficiently as they develop creative ideas – less iterations, less visualisations, more reliance on an experienced eye and being a bit more scrappy and dirty in the journey to the finished creative outcome.
• AI is seen as best used at the start and end of the creative process – for initial research, and then for final implementation to help remove some of the grunt work – but the middle part, the creativity, is best kept with humans. Both so that IP ownership is clear, and because market research shows that the human consumer wants something that is created by a human.
• There is of course a tension between driving technical innovation whilst balancing social and environmental responsibility, which is incredibly important to consumers, particularly Gen Z.
• But, consumers are not willing to pay more for sustainable solutions. Consumers feel that business created the problem, profited from the problem, and therefore they won’t pay more for a company to fix the problem.
• Therefore business is after solutions that take costs down whilst being sustainable.
• So innovation becomes important here too. Particularly if that innovation can change the paradigm – for example by changing the face of luxury from heavyweight to light.
• Design leaders are looking for design agencies who can work with their inhouse teams to challenge what they are doing and bring in disruptive thinking.

The next DBA Members’ Forum is on Monday 3 November, from 4-5pm GMT, when we’ll be joined by Esther Carder, Partner at Moore Kingston Smith. Following the launch of this year’s In Focus Report, Esther will provide expert commentary and analysis, breaking down the data and delving into the key trends.

The Design Business Association (DBA) is the design industry’s trade association. The Directors of the DBA are a mix of DBA members and other design industry experts with extensive experience of integrating design into business strategy at executive level. They collaborate closely with the DBA’s management team to elevate the role of design in business and government and build confidence in design investment. 

Says DBA CEO Deborah Dawton: “The DBA’s membership is ever growing in its diversity of design discipline expertise, and its reach into UK and global organisations helps them to capitalise on the value that design can add. Our members and our Board Directors sit at the vanguard of that movement, and I’m delighted to welcome our new Board Directors. They help us to see what lies ahead for the industry, which ensures that what the DBA delivers is relevant and appropriate to the needs of members.” 

John Gleason, Founder & CEO of A Better View Strategic Consulting and Jos Harrison, Global Head of Brand Experience and Design at Reckitt have stepped down from the Board at the end of their three-year terms, along with ELSE’s Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Warren Hutchinson who has served as Chair of the DBA Board since 2022 and will step down following the AGM. A new Chair will be elected by the Board from within the current Directors and announced in December following the next Board meeting. 

Says DBA CEO Deborah Dawton: “It’s been terrific to work alongside Warren Hutchinson, John Gleason and Jos Harrison on the Board. Their insight and perspectives on pivotal factors shaping design, from sustainability to AI to emerging global issues, have been invaluable in our work helping ready the sector for the future. My thanks to them all for the commitment and support they’ve given to the DBA.”  

Here’s a short summary of what we covered, prepared under Chatham House Rule — we explored much more during the session.

The Discover! Creative Careers programme is back, and this time for a whole month in 2025. This means more time to get involved, more creative career encounters for young people, and more impact. 

If you’re an employer in the design sector, please consider spending some time this November showing 11–18-year-olds what a career in design looks like through in-school, workplace or online activities. 

Head over to Discover’s website where you can explore their industry toolkit, getting started guide and encouraging case studies on what industry employers have done in previous years. Let’s inspire the future workforce for the sector – register your interest today. You can also attend an online information session on 3 September at 12.30-1.15pm. 

What is Discover! Creative Careers?

Wondering where to start?

Running throughout November, the initiative aims to provide opportunities for young people to gain insight into real job roles and pathways.

The DBA is encouraging as many members as possible – especially those in product and graphic design – to support Discover! this year. It’s easy to register your interest now to start getting prepared. There are many ways you and/or your business could help inspire young people, from giving a virtual talk to advising schools on how to engage with industry.

Last year, DBA member BAGGI hosted a fun and interactive brand workshop for A-level students at Strode’s College in Surrey. “We wanted to put something back locally and inspire young people to consider a career in design,” says the brand consultancy’s founder Mark Baxter.

Nurturing future talent and supporting the local community are two things BAGGI are particularly passionate about and Mark believes Discover! is an important initiative to elevate the role of design in society, “so young people can see a future that’s relevant and can make real change,” he says.

“We ran a half day workshop at Strode College,” explains Mark. The session was a mixture of practical, theoretical and team-based exercises, covering areas such as what makes an effective brand, how to approach and interrogate a brief, and the process and roles within a creative agency, as well as a fun quiz and Q&A session. There was great feedback from the students and a number have since been in contact with Mark for advice on CVs and portfolios, with BAGGI currently considering summer work experience.

The agency also works with Bucks New Uni and are extremely keen to support local talent. Of being involved in Discover! “we’re super proud” says Mark, who highlights how “hugely rewarding” it can be for a design team or business to support the initiative.

Mark encourages other agencies to be proactive – “if there’s a school or college you know, get on the front foot and reach out to them,” he says. “Make a difference in young people’s lives by getting them excited about design!” adding how participating in the Discover! programme is “also hugely energising for both sides, and the tutors too”.

“There are so many ways you can get involved, from opening-up your studio for a day, to a one-hour online or in-school talk,” says the DBA’s Chief Executive, Deborah Dawton.

“If you are passionate about design, the richness it brings to your life and the wider world, I’d really encourage you to support ‘Discover! Creative Careers Month’ this November. Simply share your enthusiasm for design – what it’s like to work in our fantastic sector – and you could inspire a young person on a path they’d never even considered before.

Help us make a difference attracting and diversifying the next generation of design talent.”

• At a time when creativity is under threat and facing cutbacks, Rama calls for creative leaders to use their inherent skills of empathy, clarity and creativity to design new models of leadership.
• Driven by a desire to make business more inclusive and to provide leaders with the ability to apply their creativity to how they lead, Rama’s book is aimed at creatives and business leaders. It’s packed full of tools to make leadership more inclusive, impactful and human-centred. 
• It’s important to recognise your strengths but also pay attention to where you may favour one approach over another – great leadership requires balance. If you naturally lead with more empathy, where can you bring in more clarity or creativity? 
• Buy Rama’s book -> Creative Leadership: How to Design the 21st-century Organisation. 
• Clive was inspired by teaching non designers about service design which led him to translate how designers think and approach challenges for a wider audience. 
• His book reframes service design for everyone, showing how putting customers front and centre and prioritising desirability first helps businesses solve the right problems, not just one part of an experience.
• When all touchpoints align around the customer, you create the conditions for lasting, customer-led transformation.
• Buy Clive’s book Redesigning Thinking: How Service Design is Solving our 21st Century Challenges with the discount code DGBREDESIGNTHINK30.

And if AI is your thing, I’m reading How to think about AI (A guide for the Perplexed) – by Richard Susskind – thoroughly recommend it!

Coming up

Our next DBA Members’ Forum is on Tuesday 5 August (Monday is a Bank Holiday in Scotland) at 4pm BST. Further details available soon. 

• Universities in the UK are under financial strain. Tuition fees are frozen but costs are rising, and international student numbers are down due to visa restrictions. Many institutions are restructuring with some closing courses altogether.
• Research excellence helps attract global talent, but this has led to practitioner-led teaching and industry experience among teaching staff facing decline in some areas, weakening the bridge between education and professional practice.
• Success metrics for courses often hinge on short-term graduate earnings, which don’t reflect the longer time careers in the creative industry can take to become established. 
• A recent graduate discussed how six months of experience in industry brought more value and impact than years of study – and given the £100k debt some are leaving university with, there has to be a better way for those who can’t afford the fees.
• Alternatives like apprenticeships and internships are gaining momentum, but they need industry support. 
• Strong industry relationships with local higher education institutions are vital – especially where placements are part of the course. 
• Graduates still face a saturated job market with unrealistic demands for experience. Many bring broad, interdisciplinary thinking, but encounter employers seeking narrow specialism.
• Core design skills of empathy, vision, craft, intuition remain constant. Younger designers are highly adaptive and open to self-learning. They need space to explore, problem-solve and engage with real-world issues, not polish portfolios.
• Design leaders have a role to play – closer ties between industry and education benefit everyone. If we want a future talent pool ready to meet the demands of a changing world, we need to support more flexible, inclusive and practice-rich pathways into our industry.

Coming up

Our next DBA Members’ Forum is on Monday 7 July at 4pm BST. Further details available soon. 

I look at a lot of design agencies’ websites and see variations on the same positioning statements repeated business-after-business:

• We are an agency with creativity at our heart
• We work for purpose led brands
• We work for large multinationals and small starts-ups alike
• We work with brave clients
• Our culture sets us apart

Up to the Light’s latest ‘What Clients Think’ report, published in association with the DBA this Spring found that 61% of clients admit to finding it difficult to establish what an agency is best at when looking at their website. When tens of thousands of design businesses take a broad-stroke approach, the problem is that too many agencies look and sound alike.

While these statements might be attempts to keep the new business funnel as wide as possible, in essence what you are saying is that every company is a potential client – and the flip side is that homogeneity works the other way too, creating a sea of sameness in which you are just another design business. When all agencies look and sound alike it creates a problem for some clients: in their eyes there are then only two differentiating factors to choose on:

• price – who is the cheapest?
• and a response to a brief – which creative do we like the best?

Clients will often ask for a free pitch because they cannot tell agencies apart. So how can you avoid being asked in the first place, or effectively rebut the request if you are?

A good place to start with developing your positioning statement is to look at your parameters:

Who won’t you work with? Cut out all the sectors that are not relevant to you.

What size budgets will you /won’t you work for? Is the cut off £10,000 or £50,000? The structure of your business will dictate what your minimum engagement should be. Simply saying “we usually work on projects with design fees between x and y” will save you a lot of time and wasted effort with businesses who should be fishing in other pools.

Design agencies have a hard time tightening up their own positioning. “You can’t read the label from the inside of the jar,” as David C. Baker says, so having an external perspective is crucial, but essentially you need to do to your business what you do for your clients. Be creative and use your expertise to differentiate your business. Don’t become the cobbler with the barefoot children, as the saying goes. Visit the DBA Experts Register for support from experts who can help you “read the label.”

When clients find it difficult to differentiate agencies, this can be particularly frustrating when they look at a website and cannot easily understand what it is the agency does. 70% of clients prefer a statement on the home page that sums up what the agency is all about, while 56% of clients believe that agency websites lack clarity around the agency’s positioning and offer.