Free tool

Design brief generator for founders

A design brief tells a designer what to design, for whom, and why. Answer five short steps and this builds a one-page product design brief with the screen list, the states and deliverables most briefs forget, and the questions a designer will ask you back.

Not sure where to start? Open an example:

The productStep 1 of 5

Product name

What it does, in one sentence

What it does and who for. Skip the adjectives.

What kind of product is it?

Where is it today?

Brief strength

0 of 9

Next: Add a name and a one-line description.

Everything stays in your browser. Nothing is sent or stored on our side.

Design briefSeptember 28, 2026

Your product

One sentence on what it does and who it is for.

What needs designing

The surfaces and screens in scope, so the designer can size the work.

Who it is for

The people who use it, and what they are trying to get done.

The problem

What is not working today, and why it matters now.

What success looks like

How you will know the design worked, ideally a number.

Constraints

The stack, the brand and anything the design has to work within.

States to design

Empty, loading and error states, which most briefs forget.

Deliverables

What the designer hands over, matched to your stack.

Out of scope

What this project is not, so nobody designs it by accident.

References

Products you admire, and what specifically you like about each.

Timeline and budget

When you need it and roughly what you can spend.

Questions a designer will ask

The questions a designer will ask about each surface, so you can answer them up front.

The template

What goes in a product design brief

The same eight sections the generator fills in. The longer version, with examples of briefs that work and the mistakes that cost revisions, is in how to brief a product designer.

01
What needs designing
The surfaces in scope. It is the first thing a designer uses to size the work and the first thing missing from most briefs.
02
Who it is for
The people using the product and the job they hire it to do. Without this, the designer invents a user.
03
The problem
What is not working and why it matters now. Describe the problem, not the screen you picture; the screen is the designer's job.
04
What success looks like
How you will judge the result, ideally a number: activation, trial conversion, demo requests.
05
Constraints
The stack, the component library, the brand and anything that has to stay. This is what keeps a design buildable.
06
Out of scope
What this project is not. One line here prevents the most expensive kind of revision.
07
References
Products you admire and what specifically you like about each, so references guide the work instead of boxing it in.
08
Timeline and budget
When you need it and a rough range. Designers scope very differently for $3,000 and $30,000.

After the brief

What product design costs

Published prices only, by hiring model. Most agencies do not publish theirs, so treat the agency rows as a floor. For a side-by-side of the options, see agency vs freelancer vs subscription.

Model	Cost	Best when
Senior freelancer	$80 to $150 an hour	One well-scoped piece, when you can manage the work yourself. Our SaaS design cost guide
Product design subscription	$2,995 to $4,995 a month	Ongoing product work with one senior designer, pause when you are done. Published prices: Awesomic, Designpixil, DesignJoy
Agency project	From about $10,000	A defined project with strategy, research and a team. Published agency pricing
Agency retainer	$12,000 a month and up	Several product areas moving in parallel. Published agency pricing
Full-time senior hire (US)	$164,000+ a year, fully loaded	Design is a full-time, multi-stream job, usually after Series A. Levels.fyi, 2025

Questions

About design briefs

Last updated September 28, 2026

What is a design brief?+

A design brief is a short document that tells a designer what to design, who it is for, what problem it solves and what constraints it has to work within. A good product design brief fits on one page and describes the problem rather than the solution.

What should a product design brief include?+

Eight things: what needs designing, who the users are, the problem, what success looks like, constraints such as the tech stack, what is out of scope, references with reasons, and the timeline and budget. The generator on this page walks through each one.

How long should a design brief be?+

One page is enough for most startup projects. Longer briefs tend to specify the solution, which leaves the designer operating Figma instead of solving the problem.

Is this design brief generator free?+

Yes. There is no sign-up and nothing is sent to us. Your answers stay in your browser, and you can copy the brief, save it as a PDF or download it as a Markdown file.

Can I use the brief with any designer?+

Yes. The brief is written for any freelancer, agency, subscription or in-house designer. If you want our take on scope and price, you can book a call and the brief comes with the booking.

Anant Jain, Creative Director at Designpixil

Taking new projects

Rather talk it through?

Bring your brief to a free call and I will tell you how I would scope it and what it should cost, whether or not you work with us.

Our clients

Echo AI
Whizo AI
Ovawise
Hal51 AI
Transdyne
Poshn
Azympto
Slixta
Stegofy
Vocalini
& 25+ startups