Your team jumps into an exciting new project, the ideas are flowing, and the client is on board. Fast forward a few weeks, and the original goal has become clouded over by missing bits of knowledge and a client who can’t seem to make up their mind about what they want.
Sound familiar?
What this scenario is missing is a project brief. In this blog, we’ll explore how to create a project brief that covers all your bases and increases the chances that your project will be the success you envisioned.
Credit: Pixabay
What is a project brief?
A project brief is a concise document that tells you all the basics you need to know about a project, including goals, success metrics, timelines, and target audience.
The project manager will typically be in charge of creating the project brief and will then share it with team members and stakeholders to ensure everyone fully understands the various aspects of the project and is fully on board.
Not to be confused with a project plan, a project brief is less granular and focuses on the high-level vision of the project rather than on things like specific tasks and resources.
Creative briefs are most commonly used by creative and marketing agencies, where team and client communication and alignment are key.
What is the purpose of a project brief?
- Reduces ambiguity: Project briefs set a clear direction before work begins. A lot of time (and people’s patience!) can be saved when the work is set out clearly from the outset.
- Makes project priorities clear: Including a project’s key focus in a project brief ensures that the project moves in the right direction and also ensures that the stakeholders' idea of success matches the project team’s.
- Avoids scope creep: Since project briefs include deliverables and overall scope expectations. This avoids having to deal with situations where the client requests more mid-way throughout the project.
- Helps measure success: Project briefs include the criteria for the project’s success. This serves as a reference point throughout the project for progress to be checked against.
- Saves money: All of the above contribute to the money-saving effect that project briefs create, as they avoid confusion, which avoids rework.
What to include in a project brief
The following is a detailed breakdown of what to include in your project brief.
Project overview/problem statement
- One paragraph summary of what the project is and why it exists. Include any relevant past projects, marketing info, or client info.
Goals and success criteria
- What does this project aim to accomplish? And how will you know when you’ve accomplished them, i.e., what are the success criteria?
Deliverables
- What are the tangible outputs of this project? E.g., website redesign, campaign assets, video content.
Scope of work
- This should detail what is included in the work your company will be doing for the client.
Timeline
- Major milestones, deadlines, and launch dates.
Budget
- High-level estimate or confirmed budget.
Stakeholders & roles
- Key players on both client and agency sides (e.g., approvers, contributors).
Optional:
- Risks and assumptions
- Legal or compliance considerations
How to write a project brief
Writing a project brief is simple. Just follow these steps.
1. Gather stakeholder input
Stakeholders include both clients and project sponsors. Information should be gathered from clients to give the project context, and internal stakeholders should be consulted to clarify the project vision.
2. Clarify project goals
Determine what the project goals are and ensure that they are SMART.
3. Define your target audience
Pull insights from user personas, client feedback, analytics and use them to build a picture of your target audience.
4. List deliverables clearly
Specifically list each individual deliverable, e.g., 3 ads, one website rewrite, not ‘ads and website’.
5. Outline scope and constraints
Clearly write down what the project scope includes and clarify what ‘out of scope’ means for this project.
6. Schedule timelines and milestones
Use Workamajig to forecast based on your capacity. Plan a completion date for each milestone.
7. Assign roles
Decide who is going to be responsible for what (e.g., who approves, who executes), and who reviews, and make those people aware of their responsibilities.
8. Get sign-off
Ensure buy-in from all parties before work starts.
9. Keep it concise
Your project brief should be 1-2 pages max.
What is a project brief example?
The following example of a project brief should give you a good idea of what a project brief should look like with this real-life example.
Project Brief: Wanderlust Travel Co. Website Redesign
Project overview/problem statement:
Wanderlust Travel Co. is a boutique travel agency specializing in tailor-made holiday experiences across Europe and Asia. Our current website, launched in 2016, no longer reflects our brand positioning or supports modern user behaviors. With declining website traffic and increasing customer queries via phone and email, we need a full website redesign to improve user experience, streamline booking, and better communicate our offerings. This project follows our successful 2023 rebrand, which introduced a new visual identity and tone of voice.
Goals and success criteria:
- Increase online bookings by at least 25% within 6 months of launch
- Reduce bounce rate by 40%
- Ensure mobile responsiveness and accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA)
- Clearly communicate travel packages, customer testimonials, and brand personality
- Integrate seamlessly with the existing CRM and booking platform
Deliverables:
- New website design (desktop and mobile)
- UX wireframes and user journey mapping
- Web development and CMS integration (WordPress)
- Booking engine integration and testing
- SEO migration and setup
- Launch campaign assets (banners, email template, social graphics)
Scope of work
Included:
- User research (surveys and analytics review)
- Sitemap restructuring and content audit
- Full design and build of the website
- QA, testing, and training for internal staff
- Basic SEO optimization
Not included:
- Ongoing maintenance after handoff
- Copywriting (to be provided by client)
- Third-party booking system customization
Timeline:
Discovery & Research: July 1 – July 15
Design Phase: July 16 – August 20
Development Phase: August 21 – October 1
Testing & Review: October 2 – October 15
Launch: October 20
Budget:
Estimated total: $45,000
(Broken down as $10K discovery/design, £30K development, $5K QA and support)
Stakeholders & roles
Client-side:
- Lucy Raines – Marketing Director (Primary approver)
- David Koenig – IT Lead (Technical contact)
- Samira Patel – Copywriter (Content Lead)
Agency-side:
- Jess Morgan – Account Manager
- Tony Lin – UX/UI Designer
- Maria Gomez – Lead Developer
- Alex Finch – QA Analyst
Legal or compliance considerations:
The site must comply with legal regulations, including cookie consent and data handling policies.
All imagery used must be appropriately licensed or provided by the client.
Project Brief Template
Use the following downloadable template to write your own project brief.
How can Workamajig help you with project briefs?
Workamaig is a project management software built specifically for creative teams. The following are just four out of many ways that Workamajig helps its clients with their project briefs.
1. Centralized Project Intake Forms
Workamajig allows you to build custom project intake forms that standardize the way new projects are requested and initiated. These forms ensure that key information, like objectives, timelines, stakeholders, and deliverables, is captured from the start, making it easy to generate a well-informed project brief without chasing down details.
2. Integrated Resource Planning
Understanding team availability and workload is crucial to defining the scope and timeline in a project brief. Workamajig’s built-in resource management tools allow you to align project needs with real-time capacity. This allows for more realistic scheduling and improved delivery confidence from the project brief stage until the end.
3. Budgeting and Cost Estimation Tools
With access to historical data and configurable budgeting tools, Workamajig helps you create accurate, high-level cost estimates. You can build budgets within the platform that reflect internal rates, vendor costs, and project-specific pricing models. These estimates can be generated with just a few clicks and are sure to impress stakeholders and keep you on track throughout the project.
4. Stakeholder and Role Management
Workamajig makes roles and responsibilities very clear by allowing you to define project roles and assign stakeholders directly within the system. This creates accountability and visibility on who’s responsible for what, which is essential information to be included in any solid project brief.
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Published June 25, 2025.