ART 418 11: Creative Brief Studio

Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · Workshop

The pitch becomes the brief, in class. First the two readings, Davis on the advanced strategy session and Neumeier on the gap between strategy and design, each run as a test on your own brief. Then what a Markdown file is, and DESIGN.md, a way to describe a visual identity in plain text, with the project template you will use when the repository comes back on October 19. The rest of class is time on the brief, the nineteen sections from Monday, turned in on Blackboard.

Read before this class

- Davis, Creative Strategy and the Business of Design. chapter 7, the advanced strategy session, 12 pp. - Neumeier, The Brand Gap. the opening, what a brand is and the gap between strategy and creativity, then the first two disciplines, Differentiate and Collaborate; illustrated and fast.

Due

- The creative brief.

Assigned today

- The explorations, due Wednesday, October 14, 2026. - The moodboards, in progress, due Wednesday, October 7, 2026.

Materials

- [The slides](/lecture/art418-s11.html). Part 1, the two readings as the books tell them. Part 2, the brief. Part 3, what a .md file is and how DESIGN.md describes a design system to AI tools. Part 4, the starter repo, and student access to AI tools. - [The slides as a PDF](/lecture/art418-s11.pdf). The same deck, one slide per page. - [The starter repo](https://github.com/workhorse/brand-project-starter). The template for the project repository, which comes back on October 19. The README has the steps and where each file goes. - [The study guide](/course/business-of-design/handout/study-guide-s11). Davis chapter 7 and the opening of The Brand Gap: what each argues, the terms, and which brief sections each one feeds. - [The creative brief, the simple version](/course/business-of-design/handout/creative-brief-simple). The nineteen sections from Monday's class, each marked with where its answer comes from. Download the Word copy, fill it in, and turn it in on Blackboard as a PDF or a link. - [The full creative brief template](/practice/creative-brief). The same sections with where each one comes from and what the books say. - [The Resume Place brief](/handouts/ART-418-example-brief-resume-place.pdf). A finished brief Workhorse wrote for a client in 2022, to compare against. - [DESIGN.md, the spec](https://github.com/google-labs-code/design.md). Google Labs' format for describing a visual identity to AI tools: exact values on top, the reasons in prose below. - [DESIGN.md, the philosophy](https://github.com/google-labs-code/design.md/blob/main/PHILOSOPHY.md). Why intent described clearly does more than precise values. Short; read it before October 21. - [DESIGN.md files for real brands](https://github.com/VoltAgent/awesome-design-md). Examples to read, not to copy. - [Markdown, from the source](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/). John Gruber's 2004 page introducing the format. - [GitHub Student Developer Pack](https://education.github.com/pack). Free GitHub Pro and Copilot Student for verified students. - [Google AI Pro for students](https://gemini.google/students/). A free year for US college students 18 and over; claim by Dec 31, 2026. It bills after the year unless you cancel. - [Figma Education](https://www.figma.com/education/). The Professional plan free for verified students, with Figma Make and AI credits. - [NotebookLM](https://notebooklm.google.com). Free. Load your readings; it answers from them and cites them.

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Class 11 of 28, ART 418, The Business of Design, Charleston Southern University, Fall 2026.