Interpreting the Client Brief

Why is interpreting a brief important?:

Interpreting the client brief refers to the process of closely examining a client brief to ensure that everyone on the team involved in the creation of the final product is clear and on the same page about exactly what they have been tasked with creating. This generally avoids wasting time, effort and resources.

The different types of brief requirements:

Implicit - those implied from the brief. E.G. 'this is an advert for a product for children.' (implies that the advert has to appeal to both children and parents).

Open - those which you can add some of your own input to. E.G. 'the product must feature Travis in some capacity.'

Constraints - limitations. E.G. 'the advert must be exactly 30 seconds long.'

Explicit - those which are needed exactly as specified. E.G. 'Travis must be shown on-screen for 12 seconds at once.'

(Some of these are combinations of the requirement types, for example most constraints are also explicit.)

Identifying requirement types in the shoe brief (which Mr Higgs pointed out sounds like a shoe-underwear hybrid):

Implicit - 'Reflects the style and choices in the video'

Open - 'a range of different camera angles, shots and movement'

Constraints - 'The video must last between 20 and 40 seconds'

Explicit - 'The video needs to be ready...in five weeks' time' (also a constraint)

Mr Higgs is bored.

Tools for analysing a client brief (elaborated on in solo blog posts):
1. Blue sky thinking
2. Mind maps
3. Mood boards
4. SWOT (not to be confused with PEST) analysis