Creative agencies receive dozens of creative design requests daily. Each project has different goals, deliverables, specifications, and timelines, and much of this information may be scattered across various communication threads, emails, and documents. Project managers centralize this information using documents called design briefs.
The design brief outlines the goals and requirements of a design project. It helps everyone involved in the design process stay on the same page.
However, creating a design brief from scratch requires some effort. That’s why using design brief templates helps kickstart your design projects.
We have listed the 11 best design brief templates that you can use.
11 Best Design Brief Templates to Use in 2024
- What Are Design Brief Templates?
- What Makes a Good Design Brief Template?
- 11 Design Brief Templates to Use in 2024
- 1. ClickUp Design Brief Template
- 2. ClickUp Design Brief Whiteboard Template
- 3. ClickUp Creative Brief Whiteboard Template
- 4. ClickUp Creative and Design Template
- 5. ClickUp Creative Brief Document
- 6. ClickUp Graphic Design Template
- 7. ClickUp Web Design Template
- 8. ClickUp Design Ideation Template
- 9. ClickUp Design Board Template
- 10. ClickUp Design Review Template
- 11. ClickUp Graphic Design Advanced Template
- Choose the Right Template to Elevate Your Design Process
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Are Design Brief Templates?
Design brief templates are pre-defined frameworks for capturing all the essential elements and critical information related to a design project. They act as a starting point for creating an exhaustive design brief and ensure information is presented clearly and concisely.
A design brief template helps designers and other key stakeholders in a design project streamline their workflow and access necessary details whenever needed.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Makes a Good Design Brief Template?
A good design brief template makes setting a solid foundation for a design project easier. Here are some of the key attributes of a good design brief template:
- Comprehensive structure: A good design brief should cover all the design project elements in detail to avoid confusion or ambiguity. For instance, a well-structured web design brief template would have sections to capture information about the target audience, project scope, project duration, technical requirements, and design preferences
- Clarity: The design brief template should be simple and easy for stakeholders and other team members to understand
- Flexibility: A flexible design brief template allows you to tailor your brief according to various types of work, client requirements, and project scales. This allows you to adapt your design brief to impromptu changes without overwhelming your team. For instance, templates can have optional sections such as notes, competitive analysis, the scope of work
- Organized structure: Your design template should be easy to fill out and neatly structured using clean layouts, bullet points, sections, columns, and headings. A well-organized design brief template avoids uncertainties and facilitates smooth communication among stakeholders and designers
Summarize this article for me please11 Design Brief Templates to Use in 2024
The right design brief template makes navigating the complexities of a design challenge easy. However, templates vary based on project requirements, types, and specifications.
Look at these 11 design brief templates that will meet your varied requirements.
1. ClickUp Design Brief Template
If you need help effectively communicating the details of your design projects with your creative and marketing departments, the ClickUp Design Brief Template is just what you need. It offers a well-structured layout that allows you to clearly define details about your projects, such as goals, objectives, timelines, and direction.
The template can be shared with your creative team and other stakeholders to help them effectively execute a design project. It helps them stay focused and prioritize tasks for better and faster outputs.
Key features
- Record essential information such as goals, direction, scope, and timeline using a neatly structured framework
- Visualize the duration for each task with Timeline View
- Manage every detail of your project with the help of customizable sections that can be adapted to any type of project
Ideal use case
The template helps project managers at creative or marketing agencies organize project requirements, assign tasks, and set clear milestones for each client project. It provides a structured approach for seamless communication and project execution.
💡 Pro Tip: Use a design project management tool like ClickUp Design to work on design ideas, collaborate, and manage tasks—all in one place. It also offers several customizable design templates tailored to any use case in your design process. Use the power of AI, automation, and much more to deliver flawless designs.
2. ClickUp Design Brief Whiteboard Template
The ClickUp Design Brief Whiteboard Template is an excellent tool for project briefing meetings. The template contains sections to map client requests, objectives, references, marketing directions, and more. This visual framework can be used for project kick-off meetings to ensure everyone is working towards the same goal.
This template allows you to leverage the ClickUp Whiteboard by giving you a pre-defined structure for effective collaboration. Whiteboards act as a digital canvas, enabling you to brainstorm with your team. And with this ClickUp template, you can turn ideas into tasks from your whiteboard. Plan out project timelines, deliverables, and objectives interactively and collaboratively with the flexibility of a whiteboard.
Key features
- Map out client objectives, references, marketing directions, and more using sections
- Use the visual framework to explain ideas and concepts during project kickoff meetings
- Monitor the progress of different tasks and sub-tasks with the Board View
- Work collaboratively with stakeholders and other team members using collaboration features for better design outputs
- Plot tasks along a flexible timeline using Gantt View
Ideal use case
Project managers can use this template to visually organize different project elements and communicate them effectively to team members across multiple departments. It offers a collaborative space for team members to brainstorm ideas, offer suggestions, and map out the project requirements.
3. ClickUp Creative Brief Whiteboard Template
The ClickUp Creative Brief Whiteboard Template is a visual tool for brainstorming and planning the different aspects of a creative design project. It helps you create a clear action plan and manage all the project-related tasks in a single place.
The template offers a bird’ s-eye view of the entire creative process, helping plan, execute, and track the various tasks involved in the project. It covers information on the target audience, tone and style, brand guidelines, and deliverables.
Key features
- Create tasks within the template and assign each one a custom status like Client Review, Complete Development, In Progress, and Final Approval
- Use priority labels, tagging, and nested sub-tasks to create a well-structured creative brief with ease
- Add attributes such as Responsibility, Involvement, Session Type, End Date, and Email to organize different tasks using Custom Fields
- Describe the creative brief process and set the context for what’s to follow in the document using the Start Here View
Ideal use case
This template is excellent for marketing and advertising professionals to outline the details involved in a creative project. It is also ideal for project managers leading creative projects. They can help multiple departments, such as design, copywriting, and strategy, to brainstorm and ideate in one place.
Read more: How to Write A Creative Brief in 8 Steps
4. ClickUp Creative and Design Template
The ClickUp Creative and Design Template streamlines request intake, planning, and execution of all your design tasks. You can also use the template to brainstorm ideas, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress. This ensures that every aspect of your design process is thoroughly planned, improving project efficiency and clarity.
Key features
- Give a quick overview of the design process to those using the template with the help of the Welcome View
- Allow stakeholders to submit creative requests using the Form View
- Organise and manage design assets such as graphics and multimedia files using asset management
Ideal use case
The template is a useful tool for creative directors and design project managers to outline campaign goals and kick-off project meetings. It’s highly effective for facilitating creative brainstorming and showcasing concepts for feedback and approval from stakeholders.
5. ClickUp Creative Brief Document
The ClickUp Creative Brief Document Template is a must-have for aligning stakeholders and the creative design page to deliver results for any creative project successfully. Its well-defined sections help you organize project information in an easy-to-grasp format. You can also use the template to set timelines and budgets to ensure the project is completed on time without going overboard on costs.
Key features
- View your work in multiple ways, such as the List, Gantt Chart, Workload, or Calendar view. This allows you to view your workload and visualize all your tasks along a flexible timeline
- Use custom fields in the template to track things like your budget or the key demographics of your target audience
- Streamline the review and approval process using @mentions and comments to tag team members and assign them tasks and action items
Ideal use case
Marketing managers can use the ClickUp Creative Brief Document to provide team members with comprehensive project guidance. The template has sections on target audience, budget allocation, deliverables, and timelines for every project, ensuring each team member knows what to produce and when.
6. ClickUp Graphic Design Template
If you are a graphic designer, you may have struggled with ineffective project briefs that make it rather challenging to understand client expectations. Managing design projects is tricky if details are scattered across channels like email, chat, or other documents.
The ClickUp Graphic Design Template perfectly organizes such scattered information using a single, standardized framework. It allows you to keep all project-related information in one place, saving time and effort.
This template addresses most challenges graphic designers likely face when managing multiple requests. It helps them stay accountable and adhere to timelines.
Key features
- Enable your team to share real-time updates and contribute their insights or provide feedback using collaboration features
- Organize all your design-related tasks under different lists, such as project planning, concept development, design creation, or review and approval, using the List View
- Import your work stored in external tools such as editors, cloud storage, or design apps in no time with the Import View
- Use the Gantt View to see all your tasks along a flexible timeline. Prioritize your tasks and stay on track with project deadlines
Ideal use case
Lead designers and creative heads can use the template to manage the graphic design process from conception to delivery. It is handy for documenting essential information such as color schemes, typography options, and example images, which are vital in graphic design projects.
💡 Pro Tip: Use a comprehensive design brief as a critical reference point to help graphic designers understand how their work addresses project specifics. This is essential to streamlining the graphic design workflow and avoiding ambiguity regarding the design requirements.
7. ClickUp Web Design Template
The ClickUp Web Design Template is a great way to manage the multiple facets of web design, such as UX design, content management, visual design, and optimization. Use this template to plan your web design process meticulously by adding tasks, descriptions, and priorities for each project stage.
The template also allows you to manage your team’s workload and effectively allocate resources so your teammates can handle multiple design requests.
Key features
- Use Custom Field attributes such as Industry, Email Address, Output Drive, Purpose, and Contact Phone Number to easily visualize important information regarding projects
- Track the time spent on different tasks and amp up efficiency
- Create visual representations of websites using the Board View
- Leverage Design Capacity View to see how much work is being handled by your designers and how much more they can take up
Ideal use case
This template is ideal for web designers to design workflow, track tasks, and collaborate with clients and developers. Project managers leading web design projects can use this to plan out the project, assign tasks, set deadlines, and monitor progress.
8. ClickUp Design Ideation Template
Struggling to put together all the different design ideas from your team into impactful solutions?
The ClickUp Design Ideation Template is ideal for a fruitful brainstorming session. It is structured to help you capture and categorize your team’s ideas effortlessly. All you need to do is add your teammates to the template and enable them to work collaboratively on identifying potential solutions.
Key features
- Assign custom statuses, such as open or closed, for every idea to track their progress
- Organize different ideas by their owners or other categories using custom fields. This helps designers easily visualize the design process
- Use the Getting Started Guide View to describe the design ideation process
- Visually represent the ideation process using the Design Ideation Diagram View
Ideal use case
Design heads can use the design brief template to add some structure to the ideation process. It is a visual aid that helps you neatly categorize ideas, suggestions, and other inputs during an ideation activity.
💡 Pro Tip: Using creative project management software that combines traditional features with advanced functionalities can help design teams stay creative and avoid bottlenecks, resulting in a quicker and more efficient design process.
9. ClickUp Design Board Template
The ClickUp Design Board Template offers a single space where everyone can collaborate on design ideas and visualize different types of content. It acts as a centralized source for you to upload design files, mockups, wireframes, and images so that everyone can view these assets and provide real-time feedback using comments and annotations.
Key features
- Save important information about your design projects using custom fields such as Design Links, Strategy Documents, Design Stages, and Approval
- Alert users to complete all activities before changing the task statuses using the Dependency feature
- Use the Priority View to plan your tasks and resources according to their urgency
Ideal use case
Creative and design teams can use the design board template to visually represent and explain complex concepts and ideas quickly. It makes it easier to share ideas, and once the ideas are finalized, they can be converted into tasks with a few simple clicks.
10. ClickUp Design Review Template
The ClickUp Design Review Template provides a streamlined way to organize and document your design review process. It can be shared with your team to get feedback and identify potential risks or errors. The most significant advantage is that the template offers a consistent process for approving your designs.
Key features
- Divide the review process into different stages and use custom statuses to denote the progress of each stage
- Record your screen with ClickUp Clips to explain design concepts and add them to the design review template for easy access
- Edit your designs in real-time with your team members to ensure all of them are on the same page
- Add comments on the template and use @mentions to assign each comment to the appropriate team member
Ideal use case
Design teams can use this template to centralize feedback, iterate on designs, and collaborate effectively. This is also an excellent tool for project managers to review the design process, invite stakeholders, and track progress with custom statuses.
11. ClickUp Graphic Design Advanced Template
The ClickUp Graphic Design Advanced Template is customizable according to your project requirements. It provides all the tools you need to foster collaboration and ensure the successful execution of graphic design projects. This simple-to-use template manages complex graphic design projects with advanced features and requirements.
Key features
- Create better workflows for the graphic design process using customizable workflows
- Use custom statuses to understand the different stages of the design project
- Stay updated whenever a change is made to the design tasks with the notifications feature
Ideal use case
The template is a good choice for design teams to improve their workflow. It is effective in scenarios where graphic designers must focus on creating diverse collateral requiring immense attention to detail.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChoose the Right Template to Elevate Your Design Process
Design templates are a great way to simplify creating standardized processes for each request. However, choosing the right template for your specific use case can be slightly challenging.
A well-rounded list of templates like this one and ClickUp’s repository help you make informed choices. Sign up for free to learn how ClickUp can fast-track your creative process in various other ways!
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