Brand Brief Template: The 12 Questions Behind Every Good Logo Project

A brand brief template is a one-page document with 12 questions that a designer needs answered before drawing anything. If you can answer them in writing, your logo project will move faster, need fewer revisions and has a far better chance of working in the first round of concepts.

We have worked as logo and graphic designers since 1992, and the pattern is consistent. Projects that begin with a clear brief finish quickly. Projects that begin with "make it look professional" circle through revisions, because nobody has agreed what the logo is supposed to do. This article gives you the 12 questions we use, what each one decides, and how to answer them without overthinking.

Why a written brief changes the outcome

A logo is a solution, and a solution needs a problem stated clearly. Without a brief, the designer guesses, you react to the guesses, and the project becomes a series of opinions about taste.

A written brief moves the conversation from "I like it" or "I don't like it" to "does this do what we agreed it should do". That shift protects your budget and your patience. It also protects the designer's work, because feedback becomes specific.

There is a second benefit. Writing the answers forces decisions you may have postponed for years, such as who your customer really is. Many owners tell us the brief was the most useful part of the project.

If you want a longer walk-through of the document itself, we cover it in Logo Design Brief: How to Write One That Works. The template below is the short version.

The brand brief template: 12 questions at a glance

Copy this table into a document and answer each row in one to three sentences.

Questions 1 to 4: the business itself

Question 1 sounds simple and is often answered badly. Write it as you would explain the business to a stranger at a trade fair. If it takes a paragraph, the logo will be asked to carry too much.

Question 2 is about preference, not quality. Customers rarely choose the "best" supplier. They choose the one who is faster, closer, more specialised or easier to trust. Name the actual reason, even if it is modest.

Question 3 matters because a logo should last. A company planning to add services or enter new countries needs a mark that does not box it in. Our article on taking your brand international shows what tends to break first when a brand outgrows its first logo.

Question 4 is a checkpoint. If the name may still change, pause the logo. Designing around a name you might drop wastes money. Our guide on how to name a brand can help you settle it first.

Questions 5 to 8: customers, competitors and personality

Question 5 includes the people you do not want. A logo for a premium B2B manufacturer should not try to charm every buyer. Saying who the brand is not for makes the design sharper.

For question 6, list the three or four competitors your customers actually compare you with, not the biggest names in the sector. Then look at their logos side by side. Most industries share the same colours and symbols, and your brief should say which of them you want to step away from. This is also the main reason so many logos look alike, which we explain in Why Every Logo Looks the Same in 2026.

Question 7 gives the designer your taste in concrete form. Send three to five brands you admire and one line on what you like about each. "The colours", "the confidence" and "the simplicity" are all useful answers. Do not ask for a copy. The aim is to find the shared quality behind your choices.

Question 8 is where personality gets decided. Choose a few words for what the brand should feel like, and a few for what it must never feel like. The second list is often more useful. "Friendly but never childish" tells a designer more than "friendly" alone.

Questions 9 to 12: use, limits and decisions

Question 9 is the most practical and the most often skipped. A logo that appears mainly on a website header, on engraved steel parts or in a tiny social avatar needs different proportions. Note the three places it will be seen most. If a circular avatar matters, read Logo for a Small Circle before you finalise anything.

Question 10 lists the hard limits. Perhaps your industry convention requires a certain colour, or a family member insists on a particular symbol. State these now. Surprises in round three are expensive.

Question 11 separates a refresh from a new start. Say what must survive, such as a recognisable shape, a colour customers associate with you or a vehicle livery already on the road. If most of it must survive, you probably need a refresh, not a rebrand.

Question 12 names the decision maker. Projects stall when approval is shared between four people who have never agreed on anything. Name one person with final say, a realistic deadline and the budget range.

How to fill in the brief without overthinking it

Most owners need about 45 minutes. These habits help:

• Write short, specific sentences. "Family-run CNC shop, 14 staff, customers are German automotive suppliers" beats a paragraph of adjectives.
• Answer from your customer's point of view, not from your own.
• Mark unknowns honestly. "I don't know" is a valid answer and a useful one.
• Ask one or two customers question 2 directly. Their answer may surprise you.
• Keep it to one page. A longer brief usually hides indecision.

If you plan to use an AI design tool at any point, the same answers work as its instructions. We explain how in Your AI Tool Doesn't Know Your Brand. Give It a Brief.

What the brief means for price and delivery

A complete brief is the cheapest improvement you can make to a logo project, because it reduces the number of revision rounds you need. At MalbarDesign our prices are fixed and final, and we are not a VAT payer, so the figure you see is the figure you pay.

• Logo Start, €310: 2 concepts and 2 revision rounds, suited to a clear, simple brief.
• Logo, €430: 4 concepts, up to 4 revision rounds, vector files (SVG, AI, EPS, CDR) plus JPG and PNG, and 12 months of free edits.
• Logo Refresh, €175: 1 concept, for businesses that answered question 11 with "keep most of it".

Delivery is within 5 business days, with express delivery in 24 hours at double the price. Logo packages are paid 100 % upfront. If none of the first logo concepts works, we refund you in full within 5 business days. You can compare all packages on the pricing page or read about our logo design service.

Fewer concepts, delivered with focus, usually serve a good brief better than a long list of options. We explain why in Why 2 Logo Directions Beat 10 Concepts.

Send us your answers

Fill in the 12 questions, even roughly, and you will already know more about your brand than most businesses do at the start of a project. If you want a second opinion before commissioning anything, request our free 5-point brand check at /contact/. You will receive a one-page PDF within 48 hours on business days, with no sales call.

If your answers are ready and you want a logo, send them through the logo inquiry form and we will tell you which package fits.