R093 TA2: Client Requirements and the Brief
How a client sets out what they want, the difference between what they say and what they also need, and the constraints every job arrives with.
What a client brief contains
A client brief is the document that says what the client needs. Written properly, it answers six questions, and the exam expects you to know them because almost every longer question starts from a brief.
| In the brief | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Purpose | What the product is for: to inform, promote, entertain, provide a service |
| Target audience | Who it is for, in detail, not "everyone" |
| Message | The single idea the audience should take away |
| Content | What must be included: text, images, logo, contact details, legal lines |
| Deliverables | Exactly what is handed over, in which formats and sizes |
| Constraints | Deadline, budget, house style, platform, legal limits |
Types of brief
| Type | How it works |
|---|---|
| Negotiated | Client and agency discuss and agree it together, so both sides understand it |
| Commission | The client approaches a specific company and asks them to produce the work |
| Formal | A written, contractual document, used where the money or risk is significant |
| Informal | Discussed verbally, quick but easy to dispute later |
| Contractual | Legally binding, setting out deliverables, payment and ownership |
| Tender | The client invites several companies to bid, and picks one |
| Cooperative | Two or more companies work on the brief together |
The type decides what happens when there is a disagreement. An informal brief leaves no record of what was agreed, so the client can insist they asked for something they never mentioned. Questions about brief types are really questions about risk.
Explicit and implicit requirements
This distinction is worth marks almost every year, and students lose them by not knowing the words.
- Explicit requirements are stated in the brief. "The logo must work in one colour." "Deliver by 14 March." "Include the charity number."
- Implicit requirements are not stated, but the client would expect them anyway. Correct spelling. A logo that still reads at the size of a pen. Images the client actually has the right to use. Accessible contrast. Files that open on the client's software.
Why implicit requirements get missed
Nobody writes down what they assume. A client asking for a website does not say "and it should work on a phone", because to them that is what a website is. Two thirds of their visitors will be on a phone, so if it does not work there, the job has failed even though the brief never mentioned it.
Delivering exactly what the brief listed, with a typo in the client's own name, fails. The explicit requirements were met and an implicit one was not, and the client will only see the typo.
Constraints and limitations
Every job has limits. Naming them is a one mark answer; explaining what each one forces you to change is a three mark answer.
| Constraint | What it forces |
|---|---|
| Time | Fewer concepts, simpler production, earlier sign off |
| Budget | Stock images instead of a shoot, one voice actor instead of three |
| Resources | The software, cameras and people actually available |
| Technical | Resolution, file size limits, codecs, platform specifications |
| Legal | Clearances, certification, advertising rules, data protection |
| House style | The client's existing fonts, colours and logo rules must be obeyed |
| Platform | A square crop for one feed, 16:9 for another, 9:16 for a third |
Working with a client
- Negotiation happens where the brief asks for something impossible in the time or money available. It is normal, and it is better done at the start.
- Sign off is the client formally approving a stage. Once a stage is signed off, changes to it cost money, which is why sign off points exist at all.
- Scope creep is requirements growing after the brief was agreed. The defence is a written brief and recorded sign off.
"The budget was limited" earns little. "The budget would not cover a photo shoot, so the campaign was built around bold typography and one licensed stock image, which also meant the design worked at any size without recropping" earns the mark, because it names the constraint and the decision that followed from it.
Key terms you must be able to define
- Client brief
- The document setting out the purpose, audience, message, content, deliverables and constraints of a job.
- Explicit requirement
- Something the brief states directly.
- Implicit requirement
- Something the client expects without stating it, such as correct spelling or mobile support.
- Tender
- A brief offered to several companies, who each bid for the work.
- Sign off
- Formal client approval of a stage, after which changes cost time and money.
- Scope creep
- Requirements expanding after the brief has been agreed.
- House style
- A client's existing rules for fonts, colours and logo use.
Flashcards
Say the definition out loud before you flip the card. Retrieving it from memory is what builds recall, reading it again is not.
Reach the top grade on this topic
The top band answers tie every requirement to a consequence for the work. A brief is not a list to be repeated back; it is a set of instructions that each rule out some options and force others. Show that chain — requirement, decision, effect on the audience — and the marks follow.
Mistakes that cost marks here
- Confusing explicit and implicit. Explicit is written down; implicit is assumed.
- Listing constraints without saying what each one changes about the work.
- Describing the audience as 'everyone', which tells a designer nothing.
- Forgetting that a deliverable includes the format and size, not just the thing itself.
- Treating negotiation as failure. Agreeing a realistic brief at the start is professional.
A brief that says only 'make us a logo' is the most expensive kind of brief, because every assumption the designer makes has to be unmade later. Experienced studios refuse to start without a written one.
Knowledge check
Exam-style questions
Five written questions in the style of the real paper. Write a full answer, then let the marker check it against the mark scheme.
- LOne valid element of a brief
- LA second, different valid element
The target audience, and the deadline for delivery.
- LExplicit is defined as stated in the brief
- LAn example of an explicit requirement
- LImplicit is defined as expected but not stated
- LAn example of an implicit requirement
An explicit requirement is one the client has stated in the brief, such as a deadline of 14 March or an instruction that the logo must work in a single colour. An implicit requirement is one the client has not written down but would still expect to be met, such as the text being correctly spelled or the website working properly on a phone. Both have to be satisfied, because a product that meets every explicit requirement but misspells the client's own name has still failed.
- LThe budget constraint is identified
- LA decision that follows from the budget
- LThe time constraint is identified
- LA decision that follows from the time
The small budget means a photo shoot is not realistic, so the designer will build the labels around typography and illustration, or a single licensed stock image, which keeps the cost to one licence rather than a day's shooting. The three week deadline means fewer concepts can be explored and sign off has to come early, because printing and die cutting need time at the end; the designer will therefore present two or three developed ideas rather than six rough ones, and will confirm the print specification with the printer before any artwork is finished.
- LThe brief records the purpose and message
- LThe brief defines the audience
- LThe brief fixes deliverables including formats and sizes
- LWithout it, assumptions are made and the wrong product is produced
- LWithout it, there is no defence against scope creep
- LWithout it, disputes about payment or ownership cannot be settled
- LLegal requirements specific to a charity may be missed
- LA judgement about which risk matters most and why
A written brief matters here because the video has to do a specific job for a specific audience, and both of those have to be agreed before anything is filmed. It records the purpose and the single message the charity wants viewers to take away, which is what every editing decision will be judged against. It defines the audience, since a video aimed at existing donors is a different film from one aimed at recruiting new ones. It fixes the deliverables precisely: the website needs a 16:9 version, social media needs a square or vertical crop, and the two have to be framed differently at the shoot rather than cropped badly afterwards, so this cannot be decided at the end. It also captures the constraints that a charity in particular carries: consent from anyone appearing on camera, safeguarding if children are involved, and the charity number or regulated wording on any appeal for donations. Without a brief, the most likely outcome is simply the wrong product: the producer builds what they imagined and the charity sees something that does not match what they pictured, with no record to show who was right. Beyond that, there is no defence against scope creep, because each new request looks reasonable in isolation, and no evidence to resolve a dispute over payment or over who owns the footage afterwards. The greatest risk is the legal one, because a missing consent form can mean the finished video cannot be published at all, and unlike a disagreement about style, that cannot be fixed in the edit.