How to Brief a Brand Identity Project in One Route

Most brand identity design projects I see reach round three because the brief describes a feeling instead of a place. It lists taste words like warm, then the logo has to survive a 4mm courier label, a black-and-white advert and a marketplace thumbnail. That gap is where the extra rounds come from.

I have watched this happen often enough at Seven Purple Mangos to stop blaming the designer. The brief did too little work at the start. So let me walk you through a different way to write one.

You will get the context a brand identity design brief has to carry, the hard edges you already know, and a named list of surfaces with real sizes for the next twelve months. Then we look at asking for one route built across those surfaces instead of three mood boards of marks. There is a template you can copy, plus how the brief keeps working after the route is picked.

From the first call to the last file, you get a fixed price before you decide anything. A brief this clear is part of that.

Why brand identity briefs end up on round three

I read a lot of brand identity briefs, and most open with modern, clean, bold, premium. Those are taste adjectives. They describe how you want to feel about the work and say nothing about the job the design has to do.

Nowhere does the brief say the logo will sit at 4mm on a courier label. Nowhere does it mention the black and white advert or the squeezed marketplace thumbnail. So the first route gets judged at full size on a bright screen, where almost any mark passes.

It comes back looking good and behaving badly. Round two trims it down, and round three is the version you should have seen first.

That pattern is my own experience from running identity projects at Seven Purple Mangos, not a published figure. It happens often enough that I now ask for the surface list before I open a design file. The rules that follow a finished identity live in Key Elements of a Brand Style Guide.

A longer brief does not fix this. A brief that names situations and real sizes does. If you want to see the studio behind that, sevenpurplemangos.com is the place to look.

The three things a surface-led brand identity brief has to carry

A brief that names real sizes does. Three things carry the whole thing: context, constraints, and a named surface list.

Context is what you sell, who buys it, and what the brand identity has to do once someone sees it. Constraints are the hard edges: the smallest size the logo must survive, the colour limits you cannot change, the formats you work inside. The surface list names every place the brand appears over the next twelve months, with sizes: courier labels, ad placements, marketplace thumbnails, packaging, site favicons.

Those three give me enough to build one route you can actually review. If you want more on why the brand itself matters here, Understanding Brand Design covers the groundwork.

Then close with the ask. One route built across those surfaces, smallest sizes first, plus a short written note on each choice. That note keeps the review on the design instead of on taste.

Context: where the brand identity has to do its job

Before you write anything else, name the buyer. A marketing manager at a 40 person software company tells me more than 'modern professionals' ever will. Do the same for the product: something like 'we sell shed insulation to builders in the North West' gives me plenty to design around.

Then say what happens after someone sees the identity. They visit the site, order on a marketplace, click a paid ad, or lift the box off a shelf. That next move is the job the design has to do.

Name two or three brands you sit next to in a search result or on a shelf. That is the company your identity keeps. It matters because marketers tend to overestimate how well their own identity elements are known.

Leave the values out. The situation and the job will show them anyway, which is where strong branding and design to build connection starts.

One page is plenty. Long briefs get skimmed, and the sizes get lost in the middle.

Constraints: the hard edges you already know

You have the context written, so now add the edges you cannot move.

• Smallest size. A 4mm courier label, a receipt footer, a favicon. That number decides how much detail the mark can hold.

• One colour. Paid placements, single colour print runs and embroidered clothing tend to force a mono version at some point.

• Colour limits. Spot colours, CMYK only, screen only, plus any palette you cannot change.

• Formats and platforms. A Shopify product page, a Framer site, a marketplace listing template. Each one comes with its own size and file rules.

• Reserved space. A legal line on packaging, a price box on an advert. If you do not know the number, ask your printer or platform before the brief goes out.

Columbia's logo restrictions show how these numbers get written down, with a 25.4mm minimum print width and clear space measured from the letter o.

Five lines, and they save more rounds than any adjective. The surface list is where the brand identity gets its sizes. If you are weighing up logo directions, my Frequently Asked Questions page covers the ones that come up most.

The twelve-month surface list, with real sizes

With the constraints listed, add every place the brand will appear over the next twelve months. Write it as a table with four columns: surface, size, colour mode, who produces it.

These are my working sizes, not published standards. Keep the list to surfaces you genuinely expect in the next year, because forty maybes make me guess where to spend the hours.

Sort the rows into decided, likely and possible. Decided gets the attention. Possible can take a compromise.

Then ask to see the brand identity on every surface, at the stated size, before you judge anything. It earns its keep at 4mm, long before it earns anything at 400 pixels.

Ask for one route across surfaces, not three moodboards of marks

That surface list changes what you ask for at the very end of the brief. A moodboard of marks shows isolated shapes on a clean background. A route shown across twelve surfaces shows how the brand identity behaves when it is small, flat, mono and sat next to other brands.

Three routes split the same studio hours three ways. One route, built out fully, gets all of those hours and shows you more.

Put the ask in writing. One route applied to every surface on the list, with one alternate direction only if the decision genuinely forks. Ask to see the smallest sizes first, because if the mark holds at 4mm the larger uses are straightforward.

Then ask for a short written note on each choice. It keeps the review on the decisions instead of on taste, which is where most extra rounds come from. That written ask is also what brand guidelines get measured against later.

Where brand guidelines fit in

The route is picked, and the rules get written down. Brand guidelines come after that decision. They record what you chose, they do not set the brief.

Say in the brief whether guidelines are included, in what format, and who will use them day to day. A one-person marketing team building ads and email visuals needs something different from an in-house team working with a packaging supplier. Write the document for its reader, and pair it with a clear view of how branding and marketing work together.

My minimum for those brand guidelines is short: logo versions, minimum sizes, clear space, the mono version, colour values and a type scale.

Treat the guidelines as a dated item on the delivery schedule. Slot it beside the final files, so it arrives when you need it and not as a favour at the end.

A brand identity design brief template you can copy

Now that guidelines are on the schedule, here is the template I send. Copy it, fill it in, and the sketch work has somewhere to land.

Context. What we sell, who buys it, what changes after they see us, and the two or three brands we sit next to on a shelf or in a search result.

Constraints. The smallest size the logo must survive, in millimetres. The mono requirement, your colour and format limits, and the space a layout has to leave open, like a legal line on packaging.

Surface list. Every place the brand appears in the next twelve months, as a table: surface, size, colour mode, and who produces it. If you are unsure which formats you need, Exploring Types of Designs walks through the common ones.

The ask. One route across all surfaces, smallest sizes first, one written note per choice.

Scope and plan. What sits inside, what sits outside, when brand guidelines arrive, which files you get, who signs off, the decision date and the delivery days. I give a fixed price before you decide anything, so this is also where we agree what that price covers.

How the brief keeps working after the route is picked

The template is the start, not the finish. Once you approve a route, the surface list stays open on my desk, because most of the design work still ahead of you gets built against it.

Ad creatives get built at the sizes already on that list. I set up the export sizes once and the whole campaign inherits them.

Packaging work uses the dieline and the smallest logo size we agreed. That way the label design and the box design start from the same rules, instead of each one inventing its own.

A Framer site or a landing page takes its type scale, spacing and 32 by 32 favicon from the brand guidelines. Email visuals and social media design inherit the same colour values. New pieces stay consistent without a fresh round of decisions every time someone needs a header.

That continuity is the payoff of a surface-led brief. One set of rules, from the first call to the last file.

Do this before your next brand identity brief goes out

You have the surface list working after approval. Before you send the next brief, do four things in order.

Write the surface list first, before you open a single reference board. Real sizes, such as a 4mm courier label and a 32 by 32 pixel favicon, do more for the work than a page of mood words. Then add the smallest size and the mono requirement to your constraints. Those two decide more of the design than any adjective you can write.

Next, ask for one route built across those surfaces, smallest sizes first, with a short written note on each choice. That single ask keeps the review on decisions. If you later need a site template that fits the identity, choosing the right Wix templates for your brand is a separate job from the brand identity itself.

State whether brand guidelines are included and who will use them day to day. Then send it.

A brief built from sizes gets used. One built from taste adjectives gets answered with three moodboards, and you are back where you started.

Conclusion

A surface-led brief starts with real sizes. Put your 4mm courier label and 32 by 32 pixel favicon on the page before any reference boards. Add the smallest size and mono requirement to your constraints, because those two shape the design more than any adjective.

Ask for one route built across those surfaces, smallest sizes first, with a short note on each choice. Say whether brand guidelines are included and who will use them day to day. That clarity keeps the review on decisions instead of moodboards.

The payoff is continuity. One set of rules carries from the first call to the last file. Before your next brief goes out, I would write the surface list first. If a website template comes later, choosing the right Wix templates for your brand is a separate job. That first list is your next step. Then send it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do most brand identity projects reach round three?

The author says most brand identity design projects reach round three because the brief describes a feeling instead of a place. Briefs list taste words like warm or modern, but never say where the logo will appear, so the first route is judged at full size on a bright screen and then fails at small sizes. Round two trims it down and round three is usually the version that should have been seen first.

What three things should a surface-led brand identity brief include?

A surface-led brief has three parts: context, constraints, and a named surface list. Context covers what you sell, who buys it, and what the brand has to make the buyer do next. Constraints are the hard edges, such as the smallest size the logo must survive, colour limits, and formats. The surface list names every place the brand will appear over the next twelve months, with sizes.

What should the context section of the brief cover?

Name the buyer specifically, describe what you sell, and state what happens after someone sees the identity, such as visiting the site, ordering on a marketplace, clicking a paid ad, or picking up a box from a shelf. Also name two or three brands you sit next to in a search result or on a shelf. The author advises leaving values out, since the situation and the job will show them, and keeping the brief to one page.

What constraints should be listed in the brief?

List the smallest size the logo must work at, such as a 4mm courier label, a receipt footer, or a favicon. Also include whether a one-colour version is needed for paid placements, single-colour print or embroidery, the colour limits such as spot colours, CMYK only, or screen only, the formats and platforms you use, and any reserved space such as a legal line or price box. If you do not know a required number, ask your printer or platform before the brief goes out.

What should the twelve-month surface list look like?

Write it as a table with four columns: surface, size, colour mode, and who produces it. Include only surfaces you genuinely expect in the next year. Sort the rows into decided, likely, and possible, giving decided surfaces the most attention and allowing compromise on possible ones. Ask to see the brand identity on every surface at its stated size before judging it.