What makes a good brief (and what to leave out)

If you have ever briefed a creative project, you know the feeling: you spent two hours writing the brief, you sent it off, and the result was nothing like what you imagined. You either over-shared and the artist had no room to interpret, or under-shared and the artist had to guess.

After running hundreds of commissions, we have learned what separates a brief that gets you the painting you wanted from one that gets you something else.

Include. - The subject — what the painting should depict. People, places, objects, abstractions. - The use — where the painting will live. Living room, office, bedroom, public space. This affects scale, palette, and mood. - The feeling — what you want the painting to do for you. Calm you down, energize you, remind you of someone. - The palette — three or four colours you would like to see. Don't say "surprise me" — that is not a palette. - The references — one or two examples of work you like, with notes on what you like about them.

Skip. - Long background stories. The artist is interested, but the brief is not the place. - Lists of every colour you don't like. Two or three is plenty. - Detailed technical instructions (brushwork, paint type). Trust the artist on these. - A pre-formed mental image of the finished painting. The whole point of commissioning is that the artist will surprise you.

The middle path. gestuo's AI brief wizard walks you through these questions in order. It catches over-sharing (it will tell you if your brief is too long) and under-sharing (it will tell you if your subject is too vague). The output is a draft brief you can edit before sending.

The wizard is not there to write the brief for you. It is there to ask you the questions you would otherwise forget. The brief is still yours.

One last thing. Briefs are read by people, not algorithms. Write the way you would talk to a friend who is going to make the painting for you. That is the tone you want.