Exercise: Working to a brief

What is a brief?

A brief is all the information you will need to complete a project. When you don’t understand a brief simplify it. for example “innovative”, “fresh”, and “ground-breaking” all suggest that the client wants something new, while “functional”, “direct” and “simple” suggests your designs need to be practical.

What am I being asked to do?

The brief for this task is for me to design a packaging for Quakers new chilled creamy oats product. The target audience for this product is young women who have many priorities and a very busy schedule who want to eat something healthy which also tastes good. The problem I face with this task is that oats are known to be very boring and bland in taste. However I can make this product more appealing by designing the packaging.

How will the client judge a successful outcome?

First of all the design of the packaging has to be appealing. We also have to make sure all the criteria is met. The brief tells us that the target audience for the package is young women who have busy schedules, i’ll have to make sure that the package clearly indicates that. I’ll also have to make sure that the package conveys the message that the product is not just healthy but also delicious because this is one of the criteria’s of the brief.

What are the keywords of the brief?

“Young women”. The target audience is “young women” is repeated twice. “Young women juggling many jobs and priorities” suggests that their target audience is women with busy schedules. “They like the idea of eating oats” but dislike the idea of eating them because of the taste. The brief describes them as “bland and unappealing”.

Brief 2

What are you being asked to do?

The second brief is very vague. I feel like the client wants to understand more of our thought process and the “design process” we use t0 achieve our goal. The brief can be achieved in many ways as long as it relates with the idea of connectedness.

How will a client judge a successful outcome to the brief?

As long as the design relates to the idea of ‘connectedness’ the criteria will be met. There are many ways that the brief can be tackled. I think the client just wants to see something unique.

What are the keywords?

“Take a metaphorical journey on the theme of connections”. “Explore the theme as broadly as possible”. “Communicate to the viewer the ‘connectedness’ of your thinking”.

All of these quotes indicate that the client doesn’t want anything specific. As long as it relates to the idea of connectedness the criteria is met.

What questions would you ask the client?

One of the main questions I would ask my client is, if it is possible for them to show me a collection of designs that they like? This will give me an idea of what kind of designs they are expecting.

Brief 3

What are you being asked to do?

My brief for the third task is to create a campaign for teenagers aged between 13 and 16 about the dangers of under age drinking. The objective for the campaign is to also encourage parents to speak to their children about the consequences drinking can cause.

How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?

The brief has suggested two slogans to be used, one is ‘alcohol leaves you vulnerable’ and the second one is ‘why let drink decide?’ These quotes are both direct and straight to the point and as long as my poster has the same effect to the audience that I am targeting the criteria will be met.

What are the keywords?

“To raise awareness of under aged drinking”. “With a core propositions of ‘alcohol’ leaves you vulnerable”. “Use the campaign identity ‘why let drink decide?”. “Specifically target young people aged between 13 and 16”.

Which brief would you most likely tackle?

The first brief would be the last on my list because there is too many restrictions. The second brief was very vague and hard to grasp when I first read it. But as I looked into some examples of ‘connectedness’ I liked the idea and the theme of the project. The third brief is the one I would like to tackle. The reason for this is because I wont be too restricted like the first brief and I wont be left confused like the second one. The client is clear with what he wants but at the same time allows me my freedom of using my own ideas.