“Is there room for self-expression in design? Is the designer’s voice an essential element? Or does the nature of design as given by the client demand that the hand of the designer be invisible, that the voice be purely empathetic? Also quote instances where your creativity was choked by a client’s brief.”
This was the topic of a discussion that I started a few weeks back in a LinkedIn community. The responses present three different point of views. I will be elaborating on those comments but before that let me explain why the need for this discussion.
The main purpose of this discussion is to come to an understanding with mutual inputs from designers and business owners about enhancing and improving the terms of client brief. It’s a general observation that a stringent client brief either silently kills the natural creativity of the designers or forces them to withdraw from the ordeal. What I intend to find is a middle path that both client and designer can take and understand each other’s point of view while doing so. What we basically need here is a standardized creative brief that addresses the challenges faced by designers in general and the shortfalls of the brief due to client’s limited knowledge of design.
This discussion can be segmented into 3 portions. Some comments were fairly tilted towards the topic, whereas, some designers rejected the idea that any brief can sabotage their creativity. However there is one thing that truly stands out from this discussion. The majority of the designers working in the mainstream graphic design industry prefer co-created/ design briefs.
In Favor
In the real world, designers are tied with stringent briefs that don’t leave much room for them to explore their creativity. In this discussion, some designers have proved with examples. One of them was Henk C. Meerhof who pointed out that the choice of projects should be smart. Not all clients know what they want.
Henk C. Meerhof

His wish was something he had seen at a sew and textile shop, where the name was perfect to transform into a tread that was attached to a needle.
* This is not what the clients of an electrician expect.* His name was not suitable to play around with the letters to form something of his trade.* Covering his trade and the shop, which carried all kind of tings, not only electrics, was impossible with a single ‘icon’I made some sketches, but we could not find resonance in each others ideas…In general
No we designers should not be too arrogant to resolve all problems our ‘design’ way.
No we should either give in too all the customer wants.Would be disastrous if I went to my doctor and told him how to cure my pains, who is the doctor.
The same goes for design, we designers dedicated all our lives – more than the average 9 to 17hrs – to design. The best our customers can be is a talented amateur, but most of the time they are not.With time I became more critical on taking on projects. Like in many other trades, I want to be chosen for my work. If the client chose me by luck or lack of choice, I take serious time for getting to know each other, with the possibility to turn the request down and refer to someone else if I can.
Walter Walverman added to the notion mentioning that designers should be able to select a stance and prove it with their work. Sometimes the client prefers your creative designs over the ones that s/he asked for.
Walter Walraven

Aleksandar also shared a thought-provoking idea. He believes that doing exactly what the client wants is impossible and absurd. He thinks that it should not be a client brief but a creative brief where the designer can also have some contribution.
Aleksandar Topolac
Mehreen Siddiqua, there is a rather old profession which is known for acting exactly according to what the client wants. Design is not that profession. Or at least I hope is still isn’t, considering the trend many designers are adopting nowadays. You know, the one in which the client spews his list of “I wants” (wrongly named “the brief”) and in which the designers are supposed to tailor their designs in whichever the way to cater that client’s taste.Contrary to popular belief, the creative brief is not set in stone, it is not the law. What it is – is set of guidelines. Especially if written by someone who do not exactly knows what he is talking about. We, the designers, are supposed to answer to what works, not to what client likes. Besides, design (proper one that is) is supposed to be result of adding our design knowledge and talent to the understanding of that client, his business, his target audience and so on, not some set of “I wants”. Based on that understanding we could just as well be the ones who would write creative brief even if the client is completely clueless. (Many if not all old school big name designers actually did write their own creative briefs and pitch it to the client.) Of course, that understanding implies Two Way communication between the client and the designer, not One Way shouting of orders.
Against
Kim feels that the creativity of a designer can never be affected by a creative brief from the client. She quotes from her experience that it has always affected her in a positive way as she says here.
Kim Van Houten

Co-creation
Although this is the ideal situation, it doesn’t happen in the real world majority of the time. In some instances where co-creation of a clients’ brief does take place, it is either because the client is experienced or flexible or the designer knows that his/her knowledge is limited. This kind of implies that the “creative brief” (let me name it that way) is a tradeoff or a mutual compromise between the designer and the client. Let’s see what designers have to say about co-created creative briefs.
Michael Nieman

Terry Nicholls
A brief needs to be created and discussed together so you both get what you need out of it. If a client hands my a brief they have written it’s usually toilet roll with very large holes in it.
Final word
So basically this is what designers had to say about client brief. I am still looking for opinions from clients who have good experiences working with designers as well as those who felt their business knowledge was disregarded. What’s your say on this issue?