creative brief
A short document that tells a creative team what problem to solve, for whom, with what message, and within what limits.
Definition
A creative brief is the foundation of creative work. It states the objective, the target audience, the main message or proposition, the reason to believe it, the tone, the required formats and the constraints such as budget, deadline and legal wording. A good brief is short, clear and honest. Vague briefs produce vague work and wasteful revisions. The brief is written by the client or strategist and agreed before creative development starts, and is referred back to when judging ideas.
In a sentence
The creative brief fit on one page and named a single audience.
The team judged each concept against the brief.
