Most design briefs we receive describe a deliverable: "a 12-slide Series A deck", "a new homepage", "some product screenshots". That tells us what to make. It doesn't tell us what the work has to do, which is the only thing that decides whether it succeeds.
This is the one-page brief we ask every founder and marketing lead for. It takes about twenty minutes to write. In return you get a fixed scope, timeline and fee in writing within 48 hours, and a project that starts from the right problem.
1. Who has to be convinced
Name the reader, not the market. "Seed investors" is a market. "A partner at a B2B fund who has seen four workflow tools this month" is a reader. The more specific the reader, the easier it is to decide what goes on the first slide or above the fold.
- Who reads it first, and who do they forward it to?
- What do they already believe about your category?
- How long will they actually give it? Three minutes, or thirty seconds?
2. The decision you need them to make
Every deck, page and one-pager exists to move someone one step: take the meeting, start the trial, book the demo, sign off the budget. Write that step down in one sentence. If you can't, the asset will try to do everything and do none of it well.
Finish this sentence: "After reading this, they should ___." If the answer is "understand our product", keep going until it's an action.
3. The proof you already have
Design can make proof land harder; it can't invent it. List what you have, even if it feels small: usage numbers, a pilot result, a named customer you're allowed to mention, a quote from a sales call, a before/after metric. We'll decide what leads and what goes in the appendix.
- Metrics (with the date range they cover)
- Customer names or anonymised descriptions you're cleared to use
- Screenshots or recordings of the product working
- Anything a competitor can't honestly say
4. Constraints and must-haves
Deadlines, brand rules, tools and approvals shape the scope more than the page count does. Tell us early so the proposal reflects reality.
- The date it has to be live, sent or presented
- Existing brand assets, or permission to propose a direction
- Where it will live: Keynote, Google Slides, Figma, Webflow, code
- Who signs it off, and how many people comment
5. What done looks like
Describe the finished state, not the process: "an editable deck the team can update every quarter", "a homepage we can A/B test without a developer", "six annotated screenshots for the sales deck and help centre". This is what the proposal's deliverables are written against.
What happens after you send it
- 1We read it, plus anything you link: current deck, site, product, recordings.
- 2If something is unclear we ask in writing, usually one or two questions.
- 3Within 48 hours you get a proposal: scope, milestones, timeline and a fixed fee.
- 4Nothing starts until you approve it in writing.
“The best briefs we get aren't long. They're specific about the reader and honest about the proof.”
A template you can copy
- Reader: who has to be convinced, and what they already believe
- Decision: after reading this, they should…
- Proof: metrics, customers, product evidence you can use
- Constraints: deadline, brand, tools, approvers
- Done looks like: the finished asset and how you'll use it
Paste those five headings into a doc, a Loom transcript or an email and fill them in roughly. That's enough. When you're ready, send it through the start-a-project form and we'll come back with a scoped proposal.
Working on something where this applies?
Get a scoped proposal in 48 hours.
Tell us the surface and the audience that needs to be moved. The matching engagement is services.