A designer cannot read your mind, and the cost of an unclear brief is a revision cycle — days lost and a worse final image, because each round drifts a little further from what you meant.
Write one brief per image. Three images, three briefs.
Prefer to watch? One hundred and twenty-three seconds on what belongs in a brief, why the aspect ratio follows your traffic split, and the feedback discipline that avoids extra rounds.
What a brief contains
Your current main image. The starting point, so the designer can see what they are replacing and what changed.
The reference images, with your notes on what specifically you are borrowing from each. This is the core of the document.
Links to download the source files. Every product photograph, logo and asset the designer will need, in full resolution. A brief that makes someone ask for files has already cost you a day.
A written description of the image you want, in as much detail as you can manage.
The dimensions.
Writing the description
Be specific to the point of feeling excessive. Every ambiguity becomes a decision the designer makes for you.
Describe what is in the frame and where. Product position, angle, what surrounds it, what the background is.
Say what the focus is. What should a shopper notice first, in that fraction of a second? If everything is emphasised, nothing is.
Describe the feeling. Clean and clinical, warm and domestic, energetic. Designers work well from this and badly from adjectives like "premium", which mean nothing concrete.
Call out anything non-negotiable — the product must be unobstructed, a particular feature must be visible, certain text must appear.
Paste the reference images inline, next to the paragraphs they relate to, rather than collecting them at the end. Proximity removes interpretation.
Use annotated screenshots. Circle and label the exact element you mean on the reference. A marked-up image removes more ambiguity than a paragraph.
Choosing dimensions
Determined by where your traffic comes from, which you established in the previous phase.
| Traffic majority | Aspect | Pixels |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | square | 3000 × 3000 |
| Mobile | portrait | 2500 × 3000 or 2000 × 3000 |
This is not a small detail. A taller image occupies more vertical space in a mobile results feed, which means more attention before the shopper scrolls. On a mobile-dominant listing, the aspect ratio alone can move click-through rate.
Check the split before deciding rather than assuming — see Understanding Business Reports.
Working with the designer
Match the professional to the job. Standard graphic design, a 3D render and a photoshoot are three different skills, and a designer strong at one is often weak at another. Decide which you need before commissioning.
Expect two or three rounds. The first batch is rarely right, and that is normal rather than a sign of a bad designer.
Give feedback that is specific and comparative. Put the delivered image next to the reference and describe the difference concretely: "the product is too small relative to the frame — match the proportion in reference 2", not "it doesn't pop".
Batch your feedback. Collect every note into one message per round rather than sending observations as they occur. Drip-fed feedback produces drift and irritation, and multiplies the number of rounds.
Keep going until it is right. You are going to run this image on every impression the product receives for months. A further revision round is cheap by comparison.
When you are done
You should have two or three finished images, materially different from each other and from your current one, all built to the correct dimensions.
That is the input for testing — see Testing a New Main Image.
Common mistakes
A one-paragraph brief, which guarantees revision rounds.
References without annotation.
Missing source files, stalling the job before it starts.
Designing square by default when most of your traffic is mobile.
Vague feedback that the designer cannot act on.
Accepting something close enough because you are tired of the process. This image will be seen more than anything else you own.
Related
- Finding Reference Images — the inputs to this brief.
- Testing a New Main Image — what happens to the finished images.
- Why the Main Image Decides Your CTR — why this is worth the effort.