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26 Jan 2027
What to send a design agency before the first call
A one-page brief template for founders hiring a design agency, and why each line changes the proposal you get back.
Short answer
Send a one-page brief before the first call. Cover what you’re building, who it’s for, what isn’t working, a budget range, the deadline and why it exists, plus links, competitors and who makes the final decision. A good brief turns a polite introduction into a real proposal, and it’s the cheapest protection against paying for rework later.
A number to keep in your pocket. In a global survey by the BetterBriefs Project, 80% of marketers said they write good briefs. Only 10% of agencies agreed. Somebody is being generous with the marking. The same respondents estimated that a third of marketing budgets is wasted on poor briefs and misdirected work.
That gap isn’t about effort. It’s about knowing which details change the answer. Founders often send a link and the words “we need a rebrand”, then spend the first call rebuilding the brief out loud.
At Dtail Studio, a Barcelona design studio working with HealthTech and renewable energy startups, we read a lot of first messages. The ones that turn into good projects tend to open with the same handful of facts. Here they are.
Why does a brief matter before the first call?
Because the first call is where scope, price and timeline get set, and you can only set them on what’s known. With a brief, the call is spent on judgement. Without one, it’s spent on questions you could have answered in ten minutes at your desk.
The cost of fuzzy requirements is well documented outside design. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession research found that 47% of unsuccessful projects missed their goals because of poor requirements management, and 37% of organisations named inaccurate requirements as the primary reason projects fail. A design project is still a project. The maths doesn’t get kinder because the deliverable is pretty.
What should a one-page design brief include?
Eight lines. Each one changes the proposal you get back, which is the only reason to write it.
What you’re building.
One paragraph: the product, the stage you’re at, and what already exists (a logo, a live site, an app in beta).
Why it changes the proposal: a studio prices a rebrand of a live product very differently from a first identity. What exists also decides what gets kept, migrated or retired.Who it’s for.
The primary user, and the buyer if that’s a different person. Name them as specifically as you can.
Why it changes the proposal: two audiences usually mean two sets of flows, messages and tests. A HealthTech app bought by a clinic and used by a patient is two design problems sharing one logo.What’s not working.
The specific problem, in your words. “Investors don’t get it in the first slide” beats “we need a fresh look”.
Why it changes the proposal: this decides whether you need strategy, identity, UX or all three. It’s also how you’ll both know, later, whether the work succeeded.Budget range.
A range, not a single figure. “Between X and Y” is enough.
Why it changes the proposal: the same goal can be met at very different depths. With a range, a studio proposes the best version you can afford. Without one, you get a guess, and guesses run high to be safe. Our post How much does brand and product design cost for a startup in Europe? has public benchmarks if you don’t know where to start.Deadline, and why.
The date, plus the event behind it: a funding round, a trade show, a product launch.
Why it changes the proposal: the reason tells a studio what must be ready on the day and what can follow. A pitch deck and a launch site for the same date are a different plan from a full rebrand by that date.Links.
Your current site, product, deck, and any research or analytics you’re happy to share.
Why it changes the proposal: the studio can judge the size of the gap before the call, not after it.Competitors and references.
Three companies you compete with, and two or three brands you admire, from any industry, with one line on why.
Why it changes the proposal: it shows where you need to stand apart and what quality you expect. It also saves one full round of “not quite like that”.Decision makers.
Who gives feedback, and who signs off. Include anyone with a quiet veto, such as an investor or a co-founder who joins late.
Why it changes the proposal: every extra approver adds review time. A studio that knows this up front plans the rounds properly, instead of meeting a new stakeholder in week six.
If something isn’t decided yet, write that down. “Budget not set, likely under X” is far more useful than a blank.
What happens when “who it’s for” is two people?
The answer changes the whole project. On the Elli App, it was the line that mattered most.
Elli Cares is an app for people living with cognitive impairment and their families. The problem we found was high cognitive load, low contrast and an unclear hierarchy. For someone with memory difficulties, every extra choice on a screen is a small wall.
You can see the work in the Elli Cares case study. Since November 2023 we’ve worked across the website, platform and app: simpler flows, a high-contrast UI and a calm visual language. The features serve both audiences. Reminders, mood tracking, scheduling and location help the person using the app. Caregiver communication helps the family around them. The Elli App is now used in 19 countries.
“Working with Dtail felt like having a senior team that truly cared about results and users,” says Angela Edwards, CEO of Elli Cares.
Two users, two sets of needs, one product. Any proposal that ignored the second group would have been wrong on day one. That’s what line two of the brief is for. If you’re in HealthTech, we go deeper on this in how to choose a design agency for a HealthTech startup.
What should you leave out of the first brief?
Leave out the solution. “We need a new logo and an app redesign” tells a studio what you’ve already decided, not what’s wrong. It’s a bit like walking into a doctor’s office with your own prescription. Describe the problem and let the proposal suggest the fix. You can still disagree with it.
Also leave out anything you can’t share yet without an NDA. A good studio can scope from the shape of the problem and sign before the detail.
How do you know you’re briefing the right kind of agency?
Watch what they ask after reading it. A strong studio comes back with sharper questions, not a price within the hour.
If the questions are all about pages and screens, and none about users or the business, you may be talking to the wrong type of design agency. For software products, our guide on how to choose a design agency for SaaS lists the questions worth asking back.
FAQ
Should I tell a design agency my budget?
Yes, as a range. It doesn’t weaken your position. It lets the studio propose the best scope for the money instead of guessing.
What if I don’t know my budget yet?
Say so, and give an upper limit you wouldn’t go past. Public benchmarks, such as Clutch’s pricing pages, help you pick a realistic starting point.
How long should a design brief be?
One page. If it runs longer, move the detail into links. The brief’s job is to make the first call useful, not to replace it.
Should I send the same brief to several agencies?
Yes. Identical briefs give you proposals you can actually compare, line by line.
Do I need an NDA before sending a brief?
Not for the one-page version. Keep confidential details for after the NDA is signed.
A test you can do today
Open a blank document, set a timer for 30 minutes and fill in the eight lines. Any line you can’t complete is a question for your own team, not for the agency. Sort those first, and your first call will be about the work.
When your page is ready, send it to us.
About the author: Slavena Vasileva is Brand Strategist and partner at Dtail Studio, a senior brand and product design studio in Barcelona with 300+ projects, a 5.0 rating on Clutch and 79% of clients coming back.
Sources: B&T, The BetterBriefs Project findings · PMI, Requirements Management: Core Competency for Project and Program Success (Pulse of the Profession, 2014) · PMI, Poor requirements management as a source of failed projects (Larson, 2014)
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