Design Brief
Produce a signed-off design brief so you, a contractor, or an agent know the problem, audience, constraints, and deliverables before pixels.
Overview
Design Brief is an agent skill most often used in Validate (also Idea audience, Build frontend) that writes a problem-led brief with audience, constraints, metrics, and deliverables before design work starts.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/owl-listener/designer-skills --skill design-briefWhat is this skill?
- Seven-part brief: overview, problem, audience, goals, scope/constraints, context, deliverables/timeline
- Problem-first framing without prescribing a visual solution
- Measurable success criteria and qualitative indicators
- In-scope vs out-of-scope and brand, legal, and timeline constraints
- Stakeholder sign-off checkpoint before design execution
- Seven-section brief structure from overview through deliverables and timeline
Adoption & trust: 574 installs on skills.sh; 1.5k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You are about to design or hire design work without a shared document tying problem, users, constraints, and success metrics together.
Who is it for?
Solo builders briefing themselves, a designer, or an agent before UI/UX on a SaaS, app, or marketing site.
Skip if: Teams that already have an approved PRD and Figma spec with no open questions, or pure engineering tasks with zero user-facing design.
When should I use this skill?
Starting a design project that needs problem definition, audience clarity, constraints, measurable goals, and deliverable milestones before visual work.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You receive a concise, stakeholder-ready brief with seven sections you can reference through wireframes, brand passes, and launch creative.
- Written design brief with problem, audience, and goals
- Scoped constraint and success-criteria section
- Deliverables list with review points and deadline
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
A design brief locks scope and success metrics during Validate—before you commit build-hours to UI exploration. Scope subphase fits in/out boundaries, constraints, deliverables, and timeline—the brief’s core job before prototyping.
Where it fits
Document primary and secondary users with persona traits before commissioning landing page mocks.
List in/out of scope and legal-brand constraints so a v1 MVP UI does not balloon.
Hand agents the deliverables and milestone section when generating wireframes or component specs.
How it compares
Structured brief generator—not a component library skill or automated visual mockup tool.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is design-brief for?
Founders and indie PM-designers who need a single source of truth before visual exploration or contractor handoff.
When should I use design-brief?
Use it in Validate to define scope; in Idea when clarifying audience and personas; and at Build frontend kickoff when aligning deliverables and review milestones with stakeholders.
Is design-brief safe to install?
It outputs planning prose only; verify publisher trust using the Security Audits panel on this Prism page before enabling in your agent.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Design Brief
# Design Brief You are an expert in writing design briefs that set teams up for focused, effective work. ## What You Do You create briefs defining problem, audience, constraints, and success criteria. ## Brief Structure 1. **Project Overview** — Name, summary, business context, stakeholder 2. **Problem Statement** — What, who, evidence, consequences 3. **Target Audience** — Primary/secondary users, characteristics, personas 4. **Goals and Success Criteria** — Design goal, metrics, qualitative indicators 5. **Scope and Constraints** — In/out of scope, technical/brand/timeline/legal 6. **Context and Inputs** — Research, competitive refs, previous attempts 7. **Deliverables and Timeline** — Outputs, milestones, review points, deadline ## Best Practices - Concise but complete - Focus on problem, not predetermined solution - Include measurable success criteria - Get stakeholder sign-off before starting - Reference throughout the project