How to brief design work so it comes back right first time
Most artwork that needs three rounds of changes didn't need a better designer — it needed forty more words in the brief. This covers what to tell us, what to send, and the handful of requests that guarantee a second attempt.
On this page
On this page
Design work goes wrong in predictable ways. Nobody said where it was going to appear, so it's the wrong shape. Nobody said the price wasn't confirmed, so it went out with the wrong number. Nobody mentioned the sponsor who has to be on it. None of that is a design problem — it's information that existed in someone's head and never made it into the request.
If you only read one thing
- Say where it's going to appear. A Facebook post, a portrait screen, an A-frame and a printed flyer are four different pieces of artwork. This is the single most-missed detail.
- Send final, signed-off words. Not a draft. Not "roughly this". Typos and price changes are the number one cause of a second round.
- Give a real deadline as a date. "ASAP" tells us nothing and gets prioritised badly.
- Attach the assets — photos at full size, logos as proper files, the PDF menu. Not screenshots, not pasted into the email body.
- Tell us what must be on it. Terms, licence numbers, sponsor logos, "members only", age restrictions. We can't guess your obligations.
01 — The essentialsThe seven things a brief needs
| Tell us | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What it's for | The occasion or promotion, in a sentence. "Mother's Day two-sitting lunch" or "new Cali Cream on tap". It shapes everything else. |
| Where it will appear | List every place: Facebook, Instagram, the portrait screens in the foyer, the TVs in the bar, an A-frame at the door, a printed A4 on tables, the website, the newsletter. Each needs a different size and often different amounts of text. |
| Who it's talking to | Members, families, the after-work crowd, function organisers, bowlers. A kids' menu and a members' draw should not sound the same. |
| The exact wording | Final copy, spelled and punctuated the way you want it published. Dates, times, prices, conditions. If something isn't confirmed yet, mark it clearly as TBC rather than guessing. |
| The deadline | A date. And the date it needs to be live, which is often earlier than the event. |
| What must be included | Sponsor logos, licence numbers, permit numbers, "conditions apply", 18+ notices, responsible-service wording, the club's own compliance requirements. |
| Anything to avoid | Last year's artwork the board hated. A colour a sponsor won't allow. A photo of a staff member who's since left. Anything gaming-related that can't be shown. |
A good brief describes the job, not the artwork. You don't need to specify colours, fonts or layout — that's what you're paying us for, and over-specifying usually produces something worse than letting us solve it. What we need is the constraints and the content. Tell us the destination; let us pick the route.
02 — TemplateA brief you can copy
Paste this into an email to support@cyberry.com.au and fill it in. It takes three minutes and it removes almost every reason for a second round.
Copy this into your email
- What it's for
- "Father's Day lunch, Sunday 6 September, two sittings"
- Where it needs to appear
- "Facebook + Instagram post, the two portrait screens in the foyer, the bar TVs, an A-frame at the front door, A4 on the bistro tables, and the website What's On page"
- Who it's for
- "Families and members, mainly locals booking a table"
- Exact wording
- The full final copy — headline, details, times, prices, conditions. Spelled and punctuated as you want it published.
- Live by / deadline
- "Live on socials and screens by Mon 10 Aug. A-frame and table cards printed by Fri 21 Aug."
- Must include
- "Club logo, 'Members save $5', 'Bookings essential — 02 xxxx xxxx', conditions apply line"
- Attached
- "3 photos from last year at full size, the set menu as a Word doc, sponsor logo"
- Avoid
- "Don't use the photo with the old carpet. Nothing from the gaming room in shot."
- Approved by
- "Final sign-off is the GM — I'll have it back to you within a day"
Not every field applies every time. A quick social post needs three lines; a Melbourne Cup campaign needs all of it.
03 — CopyGetting the words right before they reach us
The wording is the part we can't invent and the part that causes the most rework. A few habits that save whole rounds:
- Send it as text, not an image. A screenshot or a photo of a handwritten note means we have to retype it — and then a typo is ours, in your name. Text in the email body or a document is ideal.
- Check the day matches the date. "Friday 31 July" — is the 31st a Friday? This one catches people constantly, and it's embarrassing on an A-frame.
- Confirm prices with whoever owns them. A price that changes after artwork is approved means everything gets redone — print, screens, socials, website.
- Less is more on a screen. Artwork on a TV in a busy bar gets about three seconds of attention. One headline, one detail, one action. If you send us six bullet points for a screen, we'll come back and ask which one matters.
- Include the boring bits. Booking phone number, whether it's members-only, whether kids are welcome, dietary options, what time it finishes. These are the questions your members will actually ring to ask.
- Watch anything gaming-related. Promotions that mention or depict gaming machines carry real restrictions for registered clubs. Check with your compliance manager before it's designed — see our note on that.
04 — FilesSending us photos, logos and files
This is the other half of a good brief, and it's where a lot of otherwise fine jobs come unstuck.
Photos
- Originals, full size, straight off the camera or phone. Not a screenshot, not saved from Facebook, not sent through a chat app. See our phone guide for why chat apps ruin them.
- More than you think we need. Six photos of a dish gives us one good one. A single photo gives us no choice.
- Tell us about consent for anyone identifiable, and especially for children.
Logos
- Ask the owner for the original file. The words to use are: "could you send the logo as a vector file — an EPS, AI, SVG or PDF?" That's the version that stays sharp at any size, from a business card to a banner.
- A logo pulled off a website or Facebook won't print. It's a low-resolution copy with a white box behind it. It'll look acceptable on a screen and blurry on anything printed — and if it's a sponsor's logo, that's their brand you're publishing badly.
- Send us a set once and we'll keep them. Your own logo in all its variants, plus your regular sponsors. Then you never have to hunt for them again.
Documents and menus
Word documents and plain text are ideal — we can copy the words straight out. A PDF is workable. A photo of a printed menu means retyping every item, which is slow and risks errors in your food names and prices.
Getting big files to us
Attach anything small to the email. For a folder of photos or video, use Outlook's prompt to upload to OneDrive and send a link instead — and check the link permission lets us open it. The website guide walks through that step by step.
A photo found on Google, a supplier's promotional image used without permission, or artwork pulled from another venue's page can all land you with a copyright problem — and they're published in your name, not ours. If you didn't take it or commission it, tell us where it came from and we'll check. Breweries, suppliers and tourism bodies will usually give you proper assets if you ask.
05 — SponsorsSponsor logos and partner artwork
Sponsor obligations are the most common cause of artwork having to be reissued after it's already up. Worth getting on paper once:
- Who must appear, and on what. Some sponsorships require the logo on every piece; some only on the event artwork. Tell us which, per sponsor.
- Size and placement rules. Major sponsors often specify minimum sizes, clear space or "must not appear alongside competitors". Send us their brand guidelines if they have them.
- Does the sponsor need to approve it? If so, that's another approval round in your timeline — factor it in from the start.
- Watch supplier artwork with alcohol branding. Brewery and distributor artwork comes with its own conditions, and responsible-service requirements apply to how it's presented. Your licensee should have a view.
- Tell us when a sponsorship ends. Old sponsor logos sitting on screens and website pages after the deal lapsed is awkward for everyone.
06 — FeedbackHow to give feedback we can act on
When artwork comes back and isn't right, how you say so decides whether round two lands or whether there's a round three.
Useful
- "The price should be $32, not $34"
- "The date's wrong — it's the 14th"
- "Can the booking number be bigger? People ring us to ask"
- "It reads too formal for a family lunch"
- "The board won't approve that photo — here's another"
- "Sponsor logo needs to be on this one too"
- All the changes in one reply
Hard to act on
- "Not quite right"
- "Can you make it pop?"
- "Try something else"
- "I'll know it when I see it"
- "A few of us aren't sure about it"
- Changes trickling in over four emails
- Feedback that contradicts last round's
If you genuinely can't articulate it, that's fine and it happens — say what you were expecting to feel, or send an example of something you liked. "I wanted it to feel like a family Sunday, this feels like a corporate function" is completely actionable. "Not quite right" is not.
Gather your feedback before you send it. One consolidated reply from the person who's actually approving beats four people's opinions arriving separately over two days — especially when two of them disagree.
07 — Sign-offWho actually approves it
Worth deciding once, in the calm, rather than during a deadline:
- Name the approver per type of work. Routine social posts might not need anyone. A members' campaign might need the GM. Anything constitutional or financial might need the board.
- Tell us who it is in the brief, so we know whose feedback is final when two people disagree.
- Build board timelines into deadlines. If artwork must be tabled at a monthly meeting, your real deadline is weeks before the event. That's the single biggest hidden constraint in club marketing.
- Give someone permission to approve small things. If every date change needs the GM, small jobs will always be slow. A "under $X and no new claims, marketing can approve it" rule saves everyone.
08 — QuestionsThe ones we get asked
How many rounds of changes do we get?
We're not counting — but a good brief usually means one round of small corrections rather than three of guesswork, and that's better for both of us. If a job genuinely changes direction after it's been designed, that's effectively a new job, and we'll say so before starting again rather than surprising you later.
Can we just send you last year's and say "same but 2027"?
Absolutely, and it's often the smartest request you can make. Tell us what changed — dates, prices, sponsors, photos — and confirm what should stay. It's quick, cheap and it works.
Can we design things ourselves in Canva?
Yes, and plenty of venues do for quick internal bits. Where it goes wrong is brand drift — twenty pieces that each look slightly different from your actual identity. If your team is going to make things, ask us for a set of templates with the right logo, fonts and colours locked in. That way self-serve stays on brand.
What sizes do we need for our screens?
Don't worry about it — tell us which screens and we'll produce the right sizes. If you're designing yourself, ask us for the dimensions of your specific players and we'll send a list.
Something's gone out with a mistake. What now?
Tell us straight away and tell us where it's live — screens, socials, print, website. We'll pull and replace what we control. Printed material already distributed is the one that can't be undone, which is why we ask you to check the final proof properly.
Do you keep our artwork?
Yes. Everything we produce for you is kept, so next year's version starts from this year's rather than from scratch. If you want copies of source files for your own records, just ask.
09 — Print thisThe brief sheet
Print a few and keep them where requests get raised. Fill one in and email a photo of it if that's quicker than typing.
Design brief — before you send it
Cyberry Know-How · cyberry.com.au/know-how
In the brief
- What it's for, in a sentence
- Every place it will appear
- Who it's talking to
- Final wording, signed off
- Deadline — and the live-by date
- Must-include items and logos
- Anything to avoid
- Who gives final approval
Check the copy
- Day and date actually agree
- Prices confirmed by whoever owns them
- Booking number included
- Members-only? Age limits? Conditions?
- Nothing gaming-related unchecked
Attached
- Photos at full size, not screenshots
- Logos as vector files (EPS/AI/SVG/PDF)
- Menu or copy as text, not a photo
- Big files via OneDrive link we can open
- Consent noted for anyone identifiable
Last reviewed 25 July 2026. Compliance requirements — licence and permit numbers, responsible-service wording, gaming restrictions, sponsor conditions — are your club's to confirm. We'll flag anything that looks off, but we can't know your obligations better than your licensee and compliance manager do.
Got something to brief?
Send it through and we'll get started.
Design, artwork, campaigns and screens — one team who already know your venue and your brand.