Free Project Brief Templates

Download Simple Project Brief Template
Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Microsoft PowerPoint | Google Docs 

Use this comprehensive, easy-to-fill simple project brief template to standardize your project brief creation process. The template includes sections to list project name, purpose, goals, audience, story, team, budget, and timeframe to ensure that you account for all project components. This universal, reusable project brief template helps ensure that your project team members and key stakeholders remain apprised of all project-specific developments, from initial brainstorming to project development and execution. 

Read our article on writing project descriptions to find additional templates and to learn more about getting the most out of your project briefs.

Download Graphic Design Creative Brief Project Template
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Account for every component of a graphic design-related project with this all-inclusive graphic design creative brief project template. Enter the project name, client information, and specific project details (e.g., purpose, opportunity, message) to provide your client with the broad strokes of the project. The template includes generous space for you to define the project’s objective, creative and design elements, target audience, competitive analysis, and image requirements. Use this template to capture and track all of your project details to ensure it is a success.

Download Sample Project Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs 

Use this sample project brief, which includes editable example answers to key project planning questions, to manage your project. This one-page template includes space to list details about every aspect of your project and will help you effectively communicate your project’s proposed purpose, goals, and other components to your board, clients, or key collaborators. 

To learn more about optimizing your project, read our article on successful project briefs.

Download Marketing Project Brief Template 
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs 

This marketing project brief template covers the fundamentals for successfully planning a marketing-related project. The template guides you through clarifying your marketing project’s basic elements, including defining the purpose, opportunity, objective, target audience, attitude, key message, and tagline. The Comments and Approval section prompts project sponsors to note project-related comments, as well as sign and date the document to ensure that your marketing project receives the green light.

Download Project Proposal Brief Template
Microsoft Excel | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Use this thorough project proposal brief template to define all of your planned project features for project sponsors and other stakeholders. This template prompts you to detail your desired outcome, the action(s) to completion, benefits, projected schedule, proposed budget, and suggested team and resource requirements for your project. This fully customizable template is perfect for capturing your proposed project details, so stakeholders can easily understand the benefits of undertaking the project and leading to high project-approval rates.

Download Web Design Project Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Google Docs 

Use this web-design project brief template to provide your clients with a compelling, all-encompassing website project overview. Enter details about the site’s objectives, target audience, and desired reaction. The template also provides space for you to perform a competitive analysis of rival sites to ensure your site is unique and ranks highly in its respective field or market. Use the Site Architecture section to clarify desired features, look and feel, aesthetic, searchability, and tie-ins to social media to guarantee significant website traffic.

Download Agile Project Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs 

In order for Agile projects to be successful, you first need a method for capturing the broad strokes of a project, before you break it down into features, tasks, and sprints. Use this Agile project brief template to create a framework for capturing the high-level components of your proposed Agile project, including your intended audience and proposed project team. This Agile project brief template helps you to gather all pertinent details so that you can gain project approval and get started on development.

Download Construction Project Design Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

Construction project managers, building owners, architects, interior designers, and contractors can all use this customizable construction project design brief template to define a construction project’s requirements and features. Start with the purpose of the project, and then enter details for your design goals, audience, story, team, and projected budget. This unique construction project design brief template is ideal for proposing construction plans — from broad strokes brainstorming to construction itself — and is the perfect solution for keeping proposed construction design project details in a centralized, shareable location.

Download Design Project Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs 

Whether you’re an interior designer, a graphic designer, a user experience (UX) designer, or a website designer, this universal, one-size-fits all design project brief template helps you to  capture a design project’s objective, design elements, target audience, attitude, and creative requirements. This template provides a simple layout, so you can clearly communicate all proposed details of your design project, which you can then reuse to standardize your design projects’ requirements going forward.

Download Software Project Brief Template
Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs

It’s crucial for software project managers and key stakeholders to have a method for gathering the details of a proposed project, so members of the product, development, and quality assurance (QA) teams can proactively participate in the project proposal process. Use this software project brief template to ensure that your proposed software project meets all organizational requirements and your action plan is clear to all project board members and team members.

Download Video Project Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Google Docs

Create compelling briefs for video production team members, project sponsors, and marketers with this video project brief template. Use the template to define your project’s purpose,  opportunity, core message, and intended call to action (CTA). The template prompts you to define your video project’s objective, subject, budget, target audience, deployment, and media strategy. The template’s Resources section provides significant space for defining content (e.g., “existing footage, scripts, locations, actors, graphics, etc.”) and equipment (e.g., “cameras, sound equipment, lighting, editing software, etc.”), so that you receive the green light on your project and can start production.

Download Project Plan Brief Template
Microsoft Word | Google Docs

Plan and pitch your proposed project with this in-depth project plan brief template, which includes generous space for a project executive summary, project management approach, work breakdown structure (WBS), detailed communication management plan, and resource management plan. Project managers can use this planning tool to account for all project elements and to confidently submit the project to the project board for approval.

A project brief template is a structured document that details the purpose, goals, audience, team members, and timeframe of your proposed project. Present the project brief to the project board and other stakeholders for approval.

Given that your project has a lot riding on it, a project brief template provides a condensed framework with which you can capture your proposed project’s key elements. By providing a detailed summary, you help ensure that your project not only receives approval from project sponsors and all resources you require, but also that the stakeholders have a clear understanding of project requirements. 

In short, your project brief helps you communicate the reasons for the project, the approaches you will take, and the processes that you will use to manage the project — from start to finish — to ensure successful project execution. 

A project brief template typically includes the following components:  

• Audience: Define your project’s audience. This could be demographic information, or a list of personas that your project will address and attempt to engage. 
• Budget: Provide a breakdown of the project’s expenses and how you will fund the project (e.g., by what funding sources or departments). 
• Goals: Provide details of your project’s goals and the intended outcome(s). Use specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) criteria to adequately and accurately define the goals of the project. 
• Project Name: Enter a project title for your brief that provides a summary of your project’s key elements to your project’s stakeholders. 
• Purpose: State your project’s primary purpose (i.e., how will your project solve a problem and support your company’s mission). 
• Story: State your project’s overall message or theme, including the value of your project’s offerings. 
• Team: List your project’s leader (e.g., project manager), team members, contributors, cross-functional contributors, and other stakeholders who will work on the project. 
• Timeframe: Specify the period of time during which you will execute your project. Include any deadlines for key tasks, milestones, and due dates for project deliverables. 

Additionally, although project brief templates differ, some may include the following sections:  

• Authorized Signatures: Ask the project’s sponsors or project-board members to sign and date the project brief to authorize it, so that you and your team can commence work on your project. 
• Communication Management Plan: List all stakeholders and departments that need project-related information and details as the project progresses. Additionally, note how frequently they will be updated and the method of communication you will use (e.g., a weekly update meeting of the project roadmap). 
• Cost Baseline: Detail the cost baseline of your project, including cost categories and the duration of the project and associated costs. 
• Project Management Approach: Provide details about the project’s scope, key deliverables, WBS, stakeholder analysis, schedule baseline, milestone list, change management plan, and project scope management plan. 
• Quality Baseline: Explain the method you will use to QA the project, including any standards or tolerance-measurement methods, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs). 
• Resource Management Plan: Describe how you will manage resources (e.g., team members, equipment) for the project, so that stakeholders have a clear understanding of required resources and any logistics.  
• Risk Management Plan: Outline how you plan to identify project-related risks, analyze and prioritize them, and mitigate them so that your project stays on track. 
• Schedule Management Plan: Explain how you will develop the project schedule and what tools you will use to record and communicate the project’s schedule (and any changes) to team members and stakeholders.

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