Arts Council Wales invited me to talk about what constitutes a good brief so I talked in detail about a few examples. We worked with Tate, National Museums Scotland and Bristol Zoo on some great briefs the resulted in award-winning projects. To wrap things up I offer some advice on writing a great brief. Put your stakes in the sand!

1. @thoughtben
Ben Templeton
ben@thoughtden.co.uk
Writing good briefs

2. Web

3. Mobile

4. Installation

5. Outdoors

6. “Playful learning”
School ground games Board games
Physical games

7. Families & Kids
Raise awareness of
Arkive’s archive
Mobile game

9. 35,000 so far
iOS & Android
15,000 downloads
within 2 weeks

10. Casual audience
Playful experience
Outside the gallery

11. 2,500
artwork
‘tags’

12. @thoughtben
iOS
65,000
Nokia
55,000
110,000 so far
iOS & Nokia OVI

13. Bring
archive to life
Innovate &
Engage
Bristol
Zoo
Gardens

14. “Wouldn’t it be cool if...”
You could strike
a pose to unlock
an animal!?

16. Bring the
space to life
Engage with exhibits
Innovate

18. Launching May 17th 2013

19. Online +
in Gallery
Science of pain
Instantly fun

22. A good brief is...
freedom...?

23. A good brief is...
freedom...?
A better brief has...
restrictions!

24. Common fears...
Technology!?
Focus on the audience, the outcome, the story
Buying something complicated
Put a support contract in place. Technology breaks.
How much detail?
Don’t wildly guess, be honest.
If the vision is clear, lay it out. Don’t be precious.
Who to commission?
Engage the community.
Talk with agencies because people and communication are important

25. How briefs commonly fail...
Asking too much
Only so much can be achieved. Think small and well formed.
Not practical
An idea might be great in theory, impossible in practice.
Too verbose / too vague
We’re not academics, keep it as short.
Be clear what you want!
Technological restraints
Technology isn’t an issue, we can overcome it.
Our techies can play nice with your techies.

26. Admirable brief-writing behaviour...
A vision
A clear ideal and a drive to follow it through.
Bravery
Not just following the crowd. Roll the dice!
Collaboration
Work with us, not against. Get involved! Contribute knowledge.
Flexibility
Concepts evolve. Plan for unforeseen problems / new potential
Clarity
No surprises down the line please. What do you / don’t you know?

27. The 8 stakes of brief-writing...
Tone / style
Challenging / naughty / authoritative /
playful / dramatic / serious ...
Audience
Specifically who is it for? What do they like?
How do they behave?
Content
Text / images / video / user generated /
academic / crowd sourced / stories
Interaction
Gamey / tool / feedback / collaborative /
competitive / touch / gesture / mouse...
Inspiration
Projects / activity you admire. Ideas that
can be ‘re-appropriated’
Result
Understanding / awareness / ‘Likes’ / site
traffic / social shares / UGC etc
Context
Where / when / why / how is the project
used? Political / social / surroundings
Platform
Innovative / safe / PHP / mobile / TV /
audio / Facebook / Twitter...

28. You only need THREE for a good brief
Tone / style
“Challenge the audience member to think
for themselves. Dramatic, profound.”
Audience
Specifically who is it for? What do they like?
How do they behave?
Content
Text / images / video / user generated /
academic / crowd sourced / stories
Interaction
“Relaxed, calming. A dip-in, dip-out
experience. Delve for more.”
Inspiration
Projects / activity you admire. Ideas that
can be ‘re-appropriated’
Result
Understanding / awareness / ‘Likes’ / site
traffic / social shares / UGC etc
Context
“Our audience should feel comfortable &
safe, so most likely at home, at night.”
Platform
Innovative / safe / PHP / mobile / TV /
audio / Facebook / Twitter...

29. @thoughtben
Ben Templeton
ben@thoughtden.co.uk
Exercise / Questions

30. @thoughtben
Links
“Magic Tate Ball” press page - http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/magictateball
“Magic Tate Ball” Guardian Culture Pros - http://tdn.lv/MTBguardian
“Zoom” overview - http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/zoom
“Survival” download - http://tdn.lv/playsurvival / http://bit.ly/survivalandroid
“Survival” press page - http://tdn.lv/s7uzJJ
“Capture The Museum” - http://www.capturethemuseum.com
“OUCH” the game - http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ouch
“OUCH” Guardian Culture Pros - http://tdn.lv/ouchpress2
Further Thought Den work - http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/portfolio
Thought Den discussion / analysis - http://www.thoughtden.co.uk/blog