The final stage in our brief resuscitation process is to test it. We test a design brief by developing ideas in response.
When we do this we may discover:
- Zero solution — when we add up all the requirements and discover there isn’t a way to meet them all. We need to loosen the constraints.
- The ideas are unambitious — ideas that meet the requirements of the brief don’t achieve very much then maybe the brief is too limiting
- The ideas are uninspiring — when we come up with ideas that meet the brief but fail to delight, it may be that the brief stipulates the minimum that should be achieved, rather than provoking the heights we should be aiming for.
- The brief missed the point — sometimes we stumble upon ideas that don’t meet the brief, but would be a good idea in any case. In which case maybe the original brief missed the point, and a better outcome is possible by changing the assumptions.
Ultimately the brief and the ideas should match, but the two evolve to reach compatibility. Coupling a brief with the ideas it enables helps us to ask questions that challenge the brief, and keep it moving – that keep it alive.