Six things to include
1. The business, in two sentences What you sell and who buys it. Designers make hundreds of small judgment calls, and this is what calibrates them.
2. The deliverable and where it lives "A pitch deck" is not the same job as "a pitch deck presented in person to Series A investors and emailed afterwards". The context changes the design.
3. The decision it has to drive Every piece of design is trying to move someone one step: book a call, take a meeting, order the dish, approve the budget. Say which step.
4. What must be respected Existing logo, fonts, colours, legal requirements, print specifications, partner branding. Include the files, not descriptions of the files.
5. Who approves Name the decision-maker. Most delays come from feedback arriving in pieces from people who were not in the brief.
6. The real deadline If there is an event, a launch or a board meeting behind the date, say so. Scope can be shaped around a hard date if it is known at the start.
What to include about taste — and what not to
Examples are useful when you say *why* you picked them. "This one, because the hierarchy is clear" is worth ten links with no comment. Avoid listing competitors as inspiration unless you want to look like them.
What you do not need to write
You do not need to specify colours, layouts or typefaces. If you have solved the design in the brief, you are paying for production rather than design — and the result will usually be weaker than what a designer would have proposed.
What happens after the brief
At Reezalt, a brief is followed by a short call and then a written proposal with scope, deliverables and timeline before any work starts. Work is shared in context with structured feedback rounds, so you always know what you are approving, and final files plus source files are handed over at the end.