This exercise provided three hypothetical briefs and asked me to read and analyse them. I had to identify how the client will judge a successful outcome, the keywords of the brief, and any questions I would want to ask the client. I was then asked to consider which I would want to tackle, and why.
Prior to the exercise, the unit guide presented me with the concept of ‘The Design Process’. This is the process you undertake every time you approach a new project, from receiving (or creating) the brief, to finalising your work. Whilst working through Key Steps in Illustration, I developed my own design process, based on trial and error, figuring out what does and doesn’t work for me, and learning how my brain functions when approaching briefs. I’m thankfully very familiar with tackling brief-based projects now, and very comfortable with the steps involved.
The unit guide also explained how briefs should tell you ‘who, what, where, when, how, and why’. This is the first time I have seen direct advice to write out these questions and answer them when reading through the brief – but it’s something I’ve been doing for most of my life, especially when researching. I learned this when essay writing for my GCSEs, and it’s a great way to make sure you have all of the information summarised. Now, I mostly use this method when approaching big research tasks, and less so when approaching briefs, but I wanted to give it a go in this exercise to see how it changed my process.
I began by reading each of the briefs just to get a sense of the exercise and what it was I was being asked to do. Then, I wrote out each of the questions the exercise set out to answer, and began analysing.
Brief 1
Create packaging for Quaker’s new ‘Chilled Creamy Oats’ product for young women
looking for a truly delicious healthy snack. The target audience is young women juggling
many jobs and priorities everyday. They like to eat well but also love treats and hate
feeling hungry. They like the idea of oats for their natural goodness but find the idea of
eating them bland and unappealing.
What are you being asked to do?
Create packaging for a new product made by Quaker – ‘chilled creamy oats’.
How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?
The package will be successful if it attracts the target market for the product – busy young women who might not find oats appealing. The packaging must showcase the product as both a tasty treat, and something that is filling. It should also highlight the natural health benefits of oats.
What are the keywords?
‘truly delicious healthy snack’, ‘young women juggling many jobs and priorities’, ‘love treats and hate feeling hungry’, ‘natural goodness’.
Any questions for the client?
What is the product? It sounds like a drink, but I’m not sure, I’d want to know what it actually is. More info is also needed on the content of the product – ingredients, calories, nutritional value etc. Where is the product going to be sold – supermarkets/drugstores/corner shops? Where in the supermarket – grab and go or main aisle? What is the budget and when does the client want visuals/final images etc? What size will the images be, what will they be printed on, are there colour limitations, etc etc. – this could be answered somewhat by knowing exactly what the product is. It’s a really limited brief – so much info is needed still.
Brief 2
Most of us have experienced a long rail journey – we witness the dramatic contrasts of
the changing landscape, the inter-connections at various points along the way; various
people embark and disembark; the dynamic is ever- changing… finally we reach our
destination.
This brief challenges you to take a metaphorical journey on the theme of connections.
Explore the theme as broadly as possible and take us on a journey that might link,
amongst other things – people, events, philosophies, theories, objects, movements,
inventions, history, literature, etc. Your journey is only limited by your own imagination
and the quality of your research – surprise us with the juxtaposition of your selected
themes but be sure to communicate to the viewer the ‘connectedness’ of the thinking
within your design. Define your market, and how you will target it.
What are you being asked to do?
Design something that broadly explores the theme of ‘journeys’ in abstract and creative ways, whilst still showing ‘connectedness’ within the design.
How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?
The outcome will be successful if the brief shows connectedness, surprises the client in how the themes interact and how the conclusions are reached, and if a self-defined market has been succesffully targeted. It feels like the more abstract and creative the better.
What are the keywords?
‘dramatic contrasts’, ‘inter-connections’, ’embark and disembark’, ‘dynamic is ever-changing’, ‘metaphorical journey’, ‘as broadly as possible’, ‘limited by your own imagination and research’, ‘suprise us’, ‘connectedness’.
Any questions for the client?
I have so many questions for this brief! It is so vague. What is this design for? Who is the brand? What is the purpose? What is actually wanted – yes, a design, but for what? Where will it be put in the world? Is it advertisement, decorative, packaging, branding, what? Who is the client? I assume it’s a rail network and this is an advertisement telling stories of how trains can connect more than just literal locations, but that’s a lot of guesswork. I also need to know what size the images will be/what the work will be printed on etc, the budget and deadline…I feel like none of the ‘who/what/where/when/why/how’ questions have actually been answered. It’s an interesting brief and I’m intrguied, but its way, way too vague.
Brief 3
To raise awareness of the risks of underage drinking and contribute towards a cultural change in society’s attitude towards alcohol. The purpose of the Department for Children, Schools and Families is to make this the best place in the world for children and young
people to grow up… to make children and young people happy and healthy and help
them stay on track.
With a core proposition of ‘Alcohol leaves you (or your children) vulnerable’, the
campaign will urge parents to talk to their children before they consider drinking, to help
avoid vulnerable situations. The messages to young people will get them to think about
the effects of drinking.
Creative ideas should use the campaign identity ‘Why let drink decide?’ to extend the
campaign’s reach and specifically target young people aged between 13 and 16. We are
open to ideas about the media or format you think is most appropriate to reach the
target audience
What are you being asked to do?
Create imagery for a campaign encouraging young people aged 13-16 to think about alcohol. The campaign should also encourage parents to have conversations with their children about the risks of alcohol.
How will the client judge a successful outcome?
The campaign will be successful if the imagery helps reach their goal of ‘raising awareness of the risks of underage drinking and contributing towards a cultural change in societys attitude towards alcohol.’ as well as expanding their campaign to younger people.
What are the keywords?
‘raise awareness’, ‘risks’, ‘cultural change’, ‘happy and healthy and stay on track’, ‘alcohol leaves you or your children vulnerable’, ‘urge parents’, ‘think about the effects’, ‘why let drink decide?’.
Any questions for the client?
This is a thorough brief. The only missing things are details such as cost, timeline, and where exactly campaign will be used – it specifies that the designer can pick the format, but client may have intentions for where the campaing is displayed. I would be interested in seeing any existing campaigns they have made for similar projects, and as it’s a large governmental organisation, I’d want to know if they have branding guidelines that should be adhered to.
After analysing all three briefs, it’s quite clear to me that the Quaker packaging design brief – brief 1 – is the most appealing to me. This is purely because it’s the market I’m interested in as a designer and would enjoy working within. I’m very intreguied by brief 2, but it feels like there’s not enough information for me to make a decision on whether I would take it as a brief. I would defintiely want to know more first. Brief 3 is someting I could do, but I don’t think I would enjoy it as much as brief 1. It isn’t particularly inspiring to me in the same way.
It’s interesting to me that as a designer you expect to be given well written briefs, but that actually the problem solving part of designing starts from the moment you first read it. There’s a lot you have to figure out for yourself, and a lot of communication with the client required to find more information. Some clients might have less experience with hiring designers, or they might just not be great at writing a brief, so it feels important to know what you as a designer need to know in order to undertake a project. Identifying the work you need to do includes identifying the communication required from the client.
The unit guide says ‘clients don’t always know best’, which is similar to something my tutor said in Key Steps. I spend a lot of time worrying that I’m going to have to design things I don’t personally like or enjoy, and that I know look bad – just because that’s what the client wants. I’d like to learn how to gently challenge a clients expectations or requirements, or how to strategically inform a client that the design will look bad if it’s done how they want it to look. The ‘customer is always right!’ culture of the USA is starting to bleed into the UK industry – largely because of the global access to designers – and it’s a tough thing to battle with.
Approaching these briefs with these questions was helpful, and identifying what information was missing was an extremely useful exercise. The briefs in the unit guide are hard to approach in this way – as typically all info is already there. It’s given me a lot to think about, especially for my future as a designer.
Learning Log 