Creative Brief for Our Dream Website

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(* March 2017 note: this was written in 2013 for the first redesign of our site—version 2.0. Note that we've migrated to version 3.0 since then.)

Continuing on our streak of inspiration from Ted Hope and the SF Film Society’s Artist-to-Entrepreneur spirit, we’re sharing the creative brief we’ve written for the dream website we want.

EARLY DESIGN IDEAS

Here’s a glimpse of early design ideas we got from Tyler, for comparison and contrast.

NOTE: THIS IS STILL OUR “AFTER” SITE!

The website you’re looking at now is the “AFTER” site that the incredible and fantastic Tyler Young of Young Nomad Brand created for us.  Tyler is the Big Flip’s Art Director.  The creative brief below was written to inspire Tyler to help us re-imagine our website.

WHY DO YOU NEED A CREATIVE BRIEF? TO HELP OTHERS TO HELP YOU

As an indie artist or budding entrepreneur, when you get talented folks (like Tyler!) to help you, it’s probably because they share your passion or are simply doing you a personal favor—not because you’re paying them the big bucks.

That also means they’re probably super busy with work from proper paying clients.  Whatever precious time they can spare for your project, you want them focused on making sexy, brilliant work for you!  You don’t want them to waste the valuable time they’ve allotted for you trying to figure out the basics of what you need, or creating stuff that isn’t quite what you had in mind.

That’s why you should write a creative brief.  Sort out your thoughts, clarify your needs, and lay the basic groundwork before you bring in the talent.  That way they can be inspired and focused on working their magic on your project.

WHAT’S A CREATIVE BRIEF, AND HOW TO WRITE ONE

What’s a creative brief? It’s the thing that Peggy Olson and Don Draper sometimes refer to in Mad Men, that helps them do their magic!

I developed the content in this how-to guide when preparing for a guest lecture for up-and-coming planners at the Miami Ad School.  As a more fitting example for this indie community, I’ve included the creative brief I wrote for redesigning the Big Flip website towards the end.

By the way, besides your website, writing a brief will be helpful for many other creative needs—posters for your indie film, cover art for your music album, or a brand launch video for your startup’s big IPO.

WE SHARE OURS, YOU SHARE YOURS!

Now that we’ve opened our kimono (a 2nd time!), it’s time for you to open yours!  We’d love it if you would share your thoughts and comments, especially if you have experiences, ideas or expertise that could help us do better.