A good brief is the single highest-leverage thing you can do on ManyPixels. Well-briefed requests come back close to final on the first pass. Vague briefs trigger clarifying questions and extra revision cycles.

Here's what a useful brief includes.

1. Context on your business

Two or three sentences is enough. Your designer needs to know:

• What your business does
• Who your customers are
• What makes you different from competitors

If you've already set up a brand profile, all of this is already in there and your designer will reference it. Skip to the project-specific stuff.

2. What you actually need

Be specific. For each request, spell out:

• The deliverable. "Instagram post" is vague. "1080x1080 Instagram carousel, 5 slides, promoting our Q3 webinar" is useful.
• The copy. Headlines, subheads, CTAs, any text that needs to appear. If copy is still in flux, say so.
• The dimensions and format. Print, digital, both. Exact pixel dimensions if you know them.
• Where it will live. Facebook ad, website hero, printed flyer, deck slide. Context changes design decisions.
• The feeling you want. "Premium and quiet" vs. "loud and playful" vs. "trustworthy and clinical."

3. Visual references

Share 3 to 5 examples of work you like, not 20. More references is worse, not better, because your designer has to guess which elements matter to you.

Good places to pull inspiration:

• Competitor websites or ad libraries
• Dribbble and Behance
• Pinterest boards
• Past work we've done that you liked

For each reference, include a one-line note: "love the color blocking," "hate the typography, love the layout." The why matters more than the what.

4. Timeline and scope

Say if you need it by a specific date or if it's flexible. Say if you want a polished single direction or a few quick exploratory options to pick from. Different inputs get different outputs.

Tactics that consistently work

Use Loom for anything complex

A 90-second screen recording explains more than 500 words of typed brief.

Batch similar requests

If you need five social posts in the same style, submit them together. Your designer sets up the template once and moves through the rest quickly.

Test the relationship early

In your first week, send a range of request types (ads, illustration, print) to see what your designer is strongest at. You can swap designers if the fit isn't right, just ask support.

Trust the first-draft process

It's called a first draft for a reason. Don't expect round one to be final. Plan for at least one revision cycle, especially on brand and identity work.

A minimum viable brief template

DELIVERABLE: [what]
DIMENSIONS: [size/format]
COPY: [exact text]
BRAND: [attach brand profile]
FEELING: [2 to 3 adjectives]
REFERENCES: [3 to 5 links with one-line notes]
DEADLINE: [date or "flexible"]
NOTES: [anything else]

Copy that, fill it in, submit. Five minutes upfront saves a revision round later.