If a good brief is the foundation of successful publishing, then how can you make sure you get it right? On 18th October, a group of publishing professionals will meet in London to discuss just that.

As we prepare for the event, we have been digging deep behind the scenes at emc design (the UK’s largest design studio dedicated to publishing), to find out some of their insights after 26 years of being briefed by publishers.

The best design work comes when designers are confident in their brief. They can dedicate more time to designing and less time querying what is meant by confusing and sometimes conflicting information.

The team at emc design,have tried and tested processes of what happens once a brief hits their desks. If you are wondering what to include in your next brief, these steps, which run through what they do with a new brief, might help you:

• Read, re-read and then read it again.
• Highlight the things that we believe have most importance.
• Brainstorm and do our own visual research (often using Pinterest to capture ideas and snippets of themes we find).
• Share initial research with the client to try and elicit a defined route.
• Arrange a face-to-face meeting.
• Come up with different ideas before devising and presenting the final concepts.

Miscommunication between designers and other teams can be costly. If you would like to get more ideas and wise insights from a product development expert, a designer and a marketer, then please join us in London on 18th October. You are guaranteed to meet someone interesting too! If you work in educational publishing or with illustrated books (trade or children’s) you will certainly find the insights from this evening both interesting and beneficial.