You Can’t Design Clarity If You Don’t Start With It
At DesignLabs, we’ve worked on everything from one-page MVP sites to full-blown brand systems. And the one constant across every successful project?
A good project brief.
It sounds boring. But trust us — a solid brief is the single most underrated creative asset in your toolkit. It keeps projects focused, aligned, and friction-free.
In this post, we’re sharing the exact project brief template we use internally, why it works, and how you can steal it to make your own work smoother.
Oh, and yes — you can download it at the end. No email required.
What a Good Brief Actually Does
A lot of briefs out there are either:
Too vague (“We want something fresh and modern”)
Too long (15 pages of background, no direction)
Too generic (copied from a random Google Doc with no soul)
Ours is short, sharp, and designed to get used — not just filled out and forgotten.
A good brief should:
Align everyone on the what, why, and how
Capture the real problem to solve, not just the deliverables
Act as a compass during feedback, not a formality before kickoff
The Key Sections We Include
Here’s the structure of our internal project brief:
1. 🧭 Project Overview
What are we making?
Why are we making it now?
Who is the project for?
2. 🎯 Primary Goal
What is the single most important outcome of this project?
3. 👥 Audience Snapshot
Who are we trying to reach?
What do they care about?
What are they currently struggling with?
4. 🧠 Tone & Vibe
What should this feel like?
What should it definitely not feel like?
5. 🛠️ Deliverables & Scope
What’s in? What’s out?
What’s the format? Where is it being used?
6. 📅 Milestones
Timeline with checkpoints
Who’s doing what, and when?
7. 📎 Inspiration & References
Links, visuals, and notes
Not “to copy” — but “to calibrate”
How We Use It (Without Slowing Down)
Every DesignLabs project — internal or client-facing — starts with this doc in Notion. Here’s how it helps:
Keeps everyone clear from kickoff
Reduces vague feedback like “can you make it pop?”
Makes handoff between team members frictionless
Helps freelancers or partners plug into the process instantly
Best of all: it turns creative chaos into creative direction.
Why We’re Giving It Away
We’ve refined this template through real projects, feedback loops, and mistakes. And now we’re sharing it for free because… well, the industry could use fewer messy briefs.
We believe in building in public. And that means sharing the tools that make our work better.
✅ Grab the Free Template
👉 [Download the Project Brief Template (Notion + PDF)]
Includes:
Copy-paste Notion structure
Fillable PDF for offline use
Brief examples from real projects (with client details anonymized)
Use it, remix it, make it your own.
Final Thought: Start With Alignment, Not Assumptions
Great design happens when everyone’s on the same page — literally. This brief is how we make that happen.
