Design Brief Example

1. Design Brief Example Your Name Here This is similar to what we use on the Cisco.com team.

2. Revision History • Version 1.4: Corrected Category types (page 6), added SMEs, minor updates from Stephanie Smith • Version 1.3: Added Editorial SMEs • Version 1.1: Minor revisions with examples

3. Intake Submission Info [internal only] • Project Name • Mission of the project (one-liner) • Primary business objective • Approximate budget available • Key sponsors • [Note: Use a form like this internally to get the project started quickly]

4. Overview • {Our organization} needs to improve measured customer engagement on {x, y} and as part of this effort is redesigning and streamlining {z} • The primary goal is to help customers [ …] • A secondary important goal is to [ … ] • There will be two tracks of related work, which could happen in parallel: • Track 1: Quick fixes to [ … ] • Track 2: A more thorough design based on existing research [ … ] • These two tracks should be estimated together but as separate line items.

5. Key Issues/Challenges • Design not aligned with business objectives (see section) • Inconsistent Treatments: • Page titling / naming (causes SEO issues) • Inconsistent top box treatment – sometimes the grey box is associated with the image – sometimes not • Inconsistent presentation and layout of video treatments within pages • Not enough specification information readily available • Unclear content and visual hierarchy • Not ready for coming features such as [ … ]

6. Audiences • Primary audiences: • Audience 1 • Audience 1 • Secondary audiences: • Media and bloggers • Procurement managers • Tip: Here think about: • Who are the users you are targeting? • Think about specific personas -- what motivates the specific targets?  What are their buying patterns? 

7. Business Objectives/Desired Outcomes • From a business standpoint, these pages need to to […] • The new experience should : (edit or add) • Specific project objectives: (edit or add to these – pick a few focused objectives) • Educate and excite customers about [product] • Disseminate knowledge and information • Raise public awareness of a new initiative. • Generate purchases • Other:  (specify) • Measurement: • How are you measuring success?

8. Customer Needs • Top tasks: [These] pages[experiences] need to address the basic needs of our visitors: • Help customers to [ … ] • Help customers to [ … ] • They pages should also: • [ … ] • [ … ] • Provide a path to [ … ] • Note that wording will be different for mobile or tablet initiatives, but the principle is the same.

9. Calls to Action • List any specific known calls to action for this area

10. Existing Research • List any known existing metrics, usability, audience research, or competitive research 

11. Usage Data/Metrics • List any existing relevant metrics you have on this area or product • List measurement plans you have in mind post launch (what would you like to measure, key conversions, etc)

12. Content Audit and Status • List any known content audit information that may be available to the vendor or design team

13. Design Deliverables • We require a new set of designs that (1) restructure the [ . . .] of the site and (2) visually redesign the [ … ]. Deliverables include: • Content audit • Wireframes • Usage flow diagrams • Prototype for discussion and testing • Visual comps and specification (leveraging existing components) • Xx More

14. Out of Scope • The product does not address the [ … ]. This may be a future project.

15. Contacts & Stakeholders • Stephanie Smith: Product Lead/SME • Vinny Paris: Global Lead • Christine Farnham: Visual Design • Jane Walrus: User Experience Lead/Engagement Manager • Cat Robbin: Usability contact • Gita Ratcliffe: Editorial • Technical lead: Keith Grapefruit • Mitch Jones: Site Producer • Gina Jackson: Maketing Manager

16. Timeline • Initial wireframes delivered by January 15, 2014. • Usability test results January 27, 2014 • Final wireframes delivered February 10, 2014 • Visual designs delivered by February 28,, 2014 or earlier • Documentation for new components March 5, 2014

17. Coordination Points • Hero spotlight explorations (Chris Farnham), a separate mini-project • Video treatment (Vendor W) • Task-based navigation and product hierarchy navigation on new Cisco.com Support area

18. Details on the Tracks • (Use this slide if there are multiple tracks) • Track 1: Quick fix approach for deployment this quarter [ … ] • Track 2: [ … ]

19. Technical Constraints • [ … ] • Consult with your IT team or Rick Rose’s team for any potential issues. Mail: [team mail] • This is a good section to include so that you and vendors don’t waste time on designs that can’t be implemented easily.

20. Applications • Are there any special features you would like to include on the website [e.g. shopping cart, database applications, rich media etc] • Should this web page or section be optimized for mobile devices?

21. Global Considerations • Countries this solution will support: [ … ] • Languages this solution will support [ … ] • Localization considerations beyond language include [ … ] • Timing

22. Current Page (include pages as illustrations) Call out things that work and don’t about the existing designs.

23. Model Pages from Other Sites • Here are some best practices from other sites. • Not all of these features make sense for [our site area], but are worth factoring into our design thinking. • [ Add pictures of good practices from other sites, with callouts about what you like and don’t ]