Name the one thing the board has to accomplish
Every brief should start with a single sentence: what does this board need to make someone do or feel? Not a list of goals — one. A brief that tries to accomplish awareness, a promotion, and a phone number all at "equal priority" produces a design with no priority at all.
Give the concrete constraints, not just the vibe
Board size and true aspect ratio, the actual viewing distance and typical traffic speed, and any brand assets that must appear exactly as-is (a logo that can't be reinterpreted) all belong in the brief up front — these are the constraints that shape a distance-legible layout, and guessing at them after a draft exists means starting over, not revising.
Show, don't just describe
A reference board you like — even from a different industry — communicates tone and hierarchy faster than a paragraph of adjectives. Point at what specifically works about it (the size of the headline, the color contrast, the amount of white space) rather than just "something like this."
Say what's off-limits
A short, explicit list of what not to do — no stock-photo clichés, no crowding a second offer in, no touching the logo's proportions — prevents an otherwise-strong draft from getting derailed by one avoidable mistake, and it applies exactly as usefully to an AI studio's prompt as it does to a written creative brief for a person.
Key takeaways
- Lead the brief with one sentence naming the single goal — competing goals produce a design with no clear priority.
- Give concrete constraints (size, distance, locked brand assets) up front rather than discovering them after a draft exists.
- A reference example plus a short "don't do this" list heads off the most common derailments, for a human or an AI studio alike.