The Design Brief

The "Inspire" stage of design thinking is about setting a clear, compelling context for why a problem is worth solving. A great way to do this is by creating a design brief—a statement of intent that inspires both you and your team.

A well-crafted design brief must meet three key conditions:

1. Inspirational: It should set an audacious, "stretch" goal that cannot be achieved with linear thinking alone. Creativity is triggered when you are forced to think beyond the obvious solution. For example, the goal should be to get from one end of a room to another in a single jump, forcing you to think creatively, rather than just taking a few steps.
2. Constrained: It must include specific constraints that push you to be creative. A goal without constraints will not lead to innovative solutions. For instance, a design brief to "improve employee retention from 80% to 99%" is a good stretch goal, but adding the constraint "without increasing the cost of operations by more than 5%" forces a more creative approach. The Apollo 11 mission's constraint of a lunar module needing enough fuel to land and take off but also being light enough to be lifted was a powerful example of a constraint driving innovation.
3. Vague: A good design brief should avoid being too specific or directional. It should provide a broad, high-level objective (like a 10,000-foot view) that allows for multiple possibilities. A brief that directs you to a specific solution, such as "by looking at compensation," can stifle creativity by limiting the options for exploration.

The "Sandbox" Analogy

A great way to think about a design brief is as a sandbox. The sandbox has a clear, defined boundary, and you must stay within it. However, within the sandbox, the sand itself is malleable, allowing for endless creativity and playfulness. The design brief sets the clear conditions for the project while leaving the inside open for creative exploration.

Leaders and program managers must spend significant time crafting a compelling design brief. A poorly defined problem can never be solved effectively because different people will have different assumptions about what the problem is.

Case Studies of Great Design Briefs

• John F. Kennedy's Moonshot: The brief to "put a man on the moon and bring him back safely by the end of this decade" was inspirational, constrained by the timeline and safety requirement, and vague enough that it didn't specify how to achieve the goal. This statement galvanized millions of people.
• Aravind Eye Hospital: Their vision statement, "Eradicate needless blindness," is a powerful, three-word design brief. It is inspirational (to eradicate), constrained (needless blindness, not all blindness), and vague in its approach.
• Tata Indica: Ratan Tata's design brief for the Indica was to create a car with the "internal volume of an Ambassador, the size of a Maruti Zen, and the ease of entering and exiting, particularly for the rear seat". The goal was to design an Indian car from scratch (inspirational), with specific features from existing successful models (constrained), and it didn't prescribe the exact design or engine type, allowing for innovation like using a diesel engine (vague).
• Google: Their brief was to make the web "as accessible as flipping through a magazine". This used a powerful metaphor to inspire an intuitive and fast user experience.
• Mahindra XUV 500: The design team used the metaphor of a cheetah to guide the creation of the XUV 500. Key design elements like the front grill and door handles were inspired by the cheetah's jaws and paws, making the product revolutionary.

A compelling design brief is crucial for a project's success and is the most common reason

design thinking programs fail when it's not well-defined or given enough time.