Every KORT project starts with the same document. It is one page long, and nobody is allowed to make it longer. It sounds like a small rule. It has saved us more time than any tool we use.
Long briefs hide decisions
Most briefs we receive are long. They list every channel, every competitor and every wish from every stakeholder. They feel thorough. But a ten-page brief usually means the hard choices have not been made yet.
When everything is important, nothing is. The design team ends up guessing which parts really matter. Then the first presentation becomes a debate about the brief instead of the work.
What goes on the page
Our one-page brief has five parts. We fill it in together during the first week, after interviews and a short review of the market.
The problem, in one sentence.
Who we are designing for, and what they need to believe.
What success looks like in numbers, six months after launch.
What is out of scope.
The one thing this project must get right.
The last point is the most useful. It forces a choice. For one client it was “be recognised from across a shop.” For another it was “make the price feel fair.” Everything else in the project serves that one line.
How we use it
The brief is printed and pinned up in every review. When a new idea comes in, we hold it against the page. If it does not help the one thing, it waits for later.
It also protects the client. Stakeholders who join late can read the brief in two minutes and understand why decisions were made. Feedback becomes more useful, because it starts from the same goals.
Try it on your next project
You do not need a studio to use this. Before your next project, write the problem in one sentence and the one thing it must get right. Share it with everyone involved. If people disagree, you have found your most important conversation, and you have found it in week one instead of week eight.
What changes when the brief is short
The first thing we notice is fewer rounds of revisions. When the whole team agrees on the one thing, feedback gets sharper. People stop asking for a little more of everything and start asking whether the work does its job.
The second change is speed. Designers spend less time guessing and more time making. Our projects now reach a first real direction in week two, not week four.
The last change is harder to measure but easy to feel. Clients trust the process more, because every decision connects back to a page they wrote with us.
Ingrid Vale
Founder & Creative Director
Ingrid started KORT in 2014 after ten years in brand teams. She sets the direction on every project and still draws the first sketches.
