'What's the Brief?' Building a Discourse around the Graphic Design Brief

What is it about?

This article argues for academics, the design industry, and educationalists, to focus closer attention on the design brief. It engages with outcomes from a study and also explores existing literature and research. The article concludes by suggesting that experimental and collaborative design methods offer potential for future research into the design brief.

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Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Why is it important?

'What's the brief?' is an everyday question within the graphic design process. Nevertheless, even in wider design discourse, there appears to be little research on design briefs and the briefing process. While graphic design briefs are often mentioned within design literature, the format, function and use of briefs are largely assumed and rarely identified, with a tendency to default to 'the design brief' as an assumed shorthand. This is further problematised by insufficient attention cast on graphic design itself as a specific discipline.

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