Week 4: How do you write a design brief?

David’s Airey’s column on design briefs made me contemplate the ways in which I could acquire relevant information from my clients. This process is paramount before I even begin the creative design stage. I was surprised to acknowledge that even in the professional environment I may need to reinvent creative methods of obtaining a brief when none is given, or if given without substance. Airey for instance sends a new ‘briefless’ client a PDF questionnaire to abstract the background information and target objectives he requires. More generally, Airey reiterates for me the importance of the brief as both a list of objectives and a point of reference to save myself and my client time and money throughout the design process. As seems fitting in the information age, in the design process more information is better than a depletion of it.