How to Create a Design Brief in ClickUp Step by Step

Using ClickUp to manage design briefs lets you turn scattered ideas into a clear plan your whole team can follow. This how-to guide walks you through building, customizing, and reusing design brief templates so every creative project starts with the right information.

A strong design brief captures your goals, audience, deliverables, and timeline in one place. When you build it directly in your workspace, you keep feedback, files, and approvals connected from day one.

Why Build Design Briefs in ClickUp?

A design brief can easily become a messy document spread across email, chats, and file folders. Creating it inside ClickUp centralizes everything and keeps your team aligned.

Using a workspace for design briefs helps you:

• Standardize requirements across projects and clients
• Reduce back-and-forth questions from designers and stakeholders
• Track due dates, milestones, and dependencies
• Store assets, references, and approvals alongside tasks
• Quickly clone successful brief structures for future work

The source article on design brief templates from ClickUp's blog highlights how the right template turns vague requests into actionable plans. The steps below show how to recreate that structure in your own workspace.

Step 1: Choose Where Your ClickUp Design Brief Will Live

Before you start, decide where the design brief should sit inside ClickUp so it is easy to find and reuse.

1. Create or select a Space
   Use a dedicated Space for Marketing, Product, Client Services, or Creative Operations. This keeps design projects grouped together.

2. Add a Folder for design briefs or campaigns
   You can group similar projects, such as Website Redesign, Brand Refresh, or Social Content, in a single Folder.

3. Create a List just for design briefs
   Within that Folder, create a List named something like “Design Briefs” or “Creative Requests.” Each task in this List will represent one design brief.

Organizing your structure first ensures every new brief follows the same process and is easy to track.

Step 2: Turn a Task Into Your ClickUp Design Brief Template

The simplest way to build a reusable brief is to convert a detailed task into a template inside ClickUp.

1. Create a new task
   In your Design Briefs List, add a task named like “Base Design Brief Template.” This is the master version you will clone for future projects.

2. Add a detailed task description
   Use the task description area to outline your brief sections. For example:

   • Project summary and background
   • Objectives and key results
   • Target audience overview
   • Brand guidelines and tone
   • Deliverables and formats
   • Scope, constraints, and must-haves
   • Timeline and milestones
   • Budget or effort expectations
   • Stakeholders and decision-makers

   Use headings, bullet points, and short prompts so requesters can quickly fill in what designers need.

3. Attach reference files
   If you often reuse the same assets (logos, brand books, mockups), attach them to the template task or link to your asset library.

Step 3: Add Custom Fields for Your ClickUp Design Brief

Custom Fields let you capture structured data in each design brief task so you can sort, filter, and report on projects across your List.

1. Identify key information to standardize
   Common fields for a design brief include:

   • Priority (High, Medium, Low)
   • Channel (Web, Social, Email, Print, Product)
   • Design type (Logo, Landing Page, Ad Set, Banner, Presentation)
   • Requested by (person or team)
   • Due date and launch date
   • Estimated effort or design points
   • Status (Draft, In Review, Approved, In Progress)

2. Create Custom Fields on your template task
   Use number, dropdown, date, and text fields to capture this data. Because you are working in ClickUp, these fields can be reused across all tasks in the List.

3. Make the fields required for new requests
   Encourage requesters to complete each field so designers always receive a complete brief.

Step 4: Define a ClickUp Workflow for Approvals

A design brief is only effective when approved by the right stakeholders. Set up a clear workflow in ClickUp so everyone knows what happens next.

1. Customize Statuses
   Edit List or Folder Statuses to match your process. For example:

   • Intake
   • Brief Drafted
   • Stakeholder Review
   • Approved
   • In Design
   • Completed

2. Add assignees and watchers
   Assign the task to the project owner and add key stakeholders as watchers so they receive updates and can comment directly on the brief.

3. Use comments for feedback
   Encourage reviewers to leave comments on specific sections instead of sending separate emails. This keeps feedback centralized and clear.

4. Create a checklist for review steps
   Inside the brief task, add checklist items like “Marketing review,” “Legal review,” and “Brand review” so it is obvious which teams have signed off.

Step 5: Turn Your Brief Into a Reusable ClickUp Template

Once you have your ideal structure, save the task as a template in ClickUp so you can launch new briefs in seconds.

1. Open your base brief task

2. Save as a task template
   Use the task menu to save it as a template with a clear name, like “Standard Design Brief” or “Website Design Brief.” Include the description, Custom Fields, attachments, and checklists.

3. Choose sharing and default options
   Make the template available to your team or workspace and, if helpful, set it as the default for your Design Briefs List.

Now, whenever a new design request appears, your team can spin up a complete brief in one click, instead of starting from scratch.

Step 6: Launch a New Design Brief in ClickUp

When a stakeholder needs new creative work, they should always start with the same brief template in ClickUp.

1. Create a task from your template
   In your Design Briefs List, add a new task and select the saved template. Rename the task with a clear title like “Q4 Landing Page Design” or “Client X Brand Refresh.”

2. Fill out the description prompts
   Ask the requester to complete each section of the brief. They can answer directly in the description or use headers provided by the template.

3. Complete all Custom Fields
   Set priority, channel, due date, and other details so your team can schedule and resource the work effectively.

4. Attach or link assets
   Upload existing creative, mood boards, competitor examples, or wireframes to give designers visual context.

5. Submit for review
   Move the task to the appropriate Status (such as “Stakeholder Review”) and tag reviewers so they know the brief is ready.

Step 7: Turn Briefs Into Executable Design Work in ClickUp

Once the design brief is approved, your team can turn it into a full project without losing context.

1. Create subtasks for deliverables
   Within the brief task, add subtasks for each asset or milestone, such as:

   • Homepage mockup
   • Mobile design variants
   • Ad creative set A/B
   • Final file export and handoff

2. Assign designers and add due dates
   Assign each subtask, add timelines, and use dependencies if some assets rely on others.

3. Use views to manage workload
   Use List, Board, or Calendar views in ClickUp to see how work from different briefs stacks up across your team.

4. Track progress against the brief
   Keep the original brief task as the single source of truth. Team members can reference it any time to confirm scope, messaging, and deliverables.

Step 8: Refine Your ClickUp Design Brief Process Over Time

Each project gives you new information about what your team truly needs from a design brief. Use those lessons to keep improving your ClickUp templates.

• Review completed briefs and note which sections were most useful
• Adjust prompts or add new questions to close recurring gaps
• Update Custom Fields to better reflect your real workload
• Clone specialized templates for websites, branding, campaigns, or product design

By continuously iterating, your brief template becomes a powerful tool that saves time for both requesters and designers.

Next Steps and Additional Resources

If you want help structuring your workspace, integrating automation, or aligning creative workflows with broader marketing operations, you can explore strategic consulting options at Consultevo.

To see more examples of design brief templates, including content marketing briefs, UX briefs, and creative campaign briefs, review the full resource on the ClickUp design brief templates page. Use those examples as inspiration, then adapt the steps in this guide to build a system that fits your team.

By setting up a clear, reusable design brief workflow in your workspace, you ensure every project begins with aligned expectations, streamlined approvals, and a smooth handoff from ideas to final creative deliverables.

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If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

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