Module 10IntermediateWeeks 5–7

Working with Client Briefs

Learning outcomes

Translate a client's requirements into design decisions

Core concepts

Reading a design briefAsking clarifying questionsPresenting conceptsHandling revisions

Lessons

Weeks 5–7 (Level 3: Intermediate)

Module goal

Translate a client's (often incomplete or vague) requirements into confident design decisions, and complete Level 3 with the Intermediate Capstone.

Lesson 1Design work is a service, not just a craft

Every project so far has had a brief written specifically for this course — clear, complete, unambiguous. Real client briefs are rarely that clean. Clients often know roughly what they want but struggle to articulate it precisely, may not know design terminology, and sometimes contradict themselves without realising it.

The shift this module makes

Everything through Module 9 has built genuine design skill. This module begins building the service skills that sit alongside it — communication, interpretation, and presentation — which matter just as much professionally, since even excellent design work fails to land if it's built on a misunderstood brief or presented unpersuasively.

Lesson 2What a good brief contains

What is this for? — a logo, a social campaign, a full app: the deliverable itself
Who is the audience? — this shapes tone, colour, complexity; a children's brand and a law firm need very different visual approaches
What's the goal? — brand awareness, a specific promotion, a functional tool; different goals lead to different design priorities
Are there existing brand assets or constraints? — an existing logo or palette that must be used, competitor references, things to avoid
What's the timeline and format needed? — final file formats, dimensions, deadline

A mental model, not a checklist

Most real briefs are missing at least one of these categories, and the designer's job includes filling those gaps through good questions rather than simply refusing to proceed — which leads directly into Lesson 3.

Lesson 3Reading between the lines — handling a vague brief

A common real-world scenario: a client says something like “I want a modern logo, nothing too flashy, maybe blue?” This is a starting point, not a complete brief — and asking good clarifying questions is a core professional skill, not a sign of not understanding the assignment.

“Modern” and “flashy” mean different things to different people — can you share 2–3 logos (from any brand) that match what you're imagining, and one or two you'd want to avoid?
Who is your ideal customer, and how do you want them to feel when they see this brand?
Are there any colours or styles your competitors already use that you'd want to avoid overlapping with?

Asking questions is the professional move

A designer who proceeds confidently on a vague brief without clarifying often produces polished, technically excellent work that still misses what the client actually wanted, wasting both parties' time. Asking sharp, specific questions upfront is what experienced professionals do differently from beginners.

Lesson 4Presenting design concepts persuasively

Presenting design work well is a distinct skill from producing it well — the same concept, shown without context or explained poorly, can land very differently than the same concept presented with clear reasoning.

Restate the goal briefly — remind the client what problem this design is solving, showing the work is grounded in their actual brief, not just “here's what I made”
Walk through the key decisions with reasoning — “I chose this blue-green palette because it reads as trustworthy but distinct from your two main competitors, who both use standard corporate blue” is far more persuasive than silently presenting a finished image
Invite specific feedback — rather than a vague “what do you think?”, something like “does this colour direction feel right, or would you like to see an alternative palette?” gives the client an easier, more specific way to respond usefully

The culmination of a course-long habit

Throughout this course you have repeatedly been asked to explain design decisions using correct terminology, not just show finished output. The ability to articulate why a decision was made is exactly what makes a presentation persuasive rather than just decorative.

Guided labs

Design it yourself

Lab — respond to a sample client brief

1.Given a deliberately vague sample brief — “I run a small bakery and need something for Instagram, want it to feel homey but still professional”
2.Write out 3–4 clarifying questions that would be genuinely useful to ask before starting, using Lesson 3's approach
3.Without waiting for real answers, make reasonable, stated assumptions to fill the gaps and note them explicitly (e.g. “Assuming a warm, earthy colour palette to support ‘homey,’ with clean modern typography to support ‘professional’”)
4.Design 2 distinct initial concepts based on those assumptions — genuinely different directions, not two minor variations of the same idea
5.Write a short presentation rationale for each concept: restate the goal, explain key decisions, and note what feedback would be useful to gather next

Teaching point

Success criteria: the clarifying questions genuinely target the brief's real gaps (not generic, could-apply-to-anything questions), the two concepts represent meaningfully different creative directions, and each is accompanied by a clear, reasoned rationale rather than just being presented silently.

Intermediate Capstone — Social Campaign + App Landing Screen

1.Brief: “We're launching a new [your choice of business type — e.g. a repair service, a small app, a café]. We need a cohesive social media presence to announce the launch, plus a simple landing screen people would see if they clicked through to learn more.”
2.Write clarifying questions and stated assumptions (Module 10, Lesson 3), since there's no real client to respond
3.Build a 4-piece social media campaign set (Module 8) using a component-based template, platform-correct dimensions, and the fictional brand's existing identity from an earlier capstone, or a newly defined one
4.Design a single-screen app/website landing page (Module 9) — wireframed first, then fully designed, with clear hierarchy of information and an obvious primary action/button
5.Write a short presentation rationale (Module 10, Lesson 4) explaining the key creative decisions across both the campaign and the landing screen

Teaching point

Process: start with clarifying questions and assumptions; wireframe the landing screen before visual design; build the social campaign from a reusable template (the “recognisable without the logo” test remains a good check); write the rationale last, once decisions can be explained with real reasoning. Success criteria: a cohesive social set and a wireframed-then-designed landing screen exist together as one connected campaign, clearly sharing the same brand identity, with a rationale that explains specific decisions using correct terminology from across the whole course.

Success criteria

You can list what a strong brief contains, ask sharp clarifying questions, state assumptions explicitly when gaps remain, present concepts with persuasive rationale — and you've completed the Intermediate Capstone.

Knowledge Check

Multiple choice • instant feedback

Question 1 of 6

Name a piece of information a strong design brief typically includes, according to this module.

What you read

Study material

What a good brief contains
How to extract missing information from a vague brief
How to present design work persuasively

What you understand

Key takeaways

— Professional design work is a service — communication skill matters as much as design skill

Hands-on lab

Try it yourself

Lab tasks

1.Respond to a sample client brief with 2 initial concepts and a short rationale for each

Knowledge check

Identify red flags in a poorly written brief
Draft clarifying questions

Write your answers in your own notes before moving on — explaining a concept in your own words is the fastest way to find the gaps.

Intermediate capstone

Social Campaign + App Landing Screen

Design a complete social media campaign plus a simple app landing screen for a fictional client brief — demonstrating platform design, UI/UX basics and brief interpretation.