A free template for founders
A creative brief template for turning your expertise into a branded product
This template walks through the same steps Story Forge uses to help founders — especially women-led businesses in education, parenting, wellbeing, spirituality, nature and creative experiences — plan a branded book, colouring book, card deck or game. Use it on paper, or let Story Forge guide you through it and export a finished brief.
1. Your story
Write down the narrative behind your work: why you do it, who it serves, and what change it creates. Capture three themes that run through everything you offer, your tone of voice, and a handful of example phrases you actually use. Note five visual or symbolic motifs that recur in your work.
- What do your customers thank you for most often?
- Which three themes appear in every talk, post or session you give?
- Which words do you use that others in your field don’t?
2. Storytelling language and motifs
Look closer at how you describe your work. Write down the phrases customers repeat back to you, the metaphors you use in every session, and the symbols that keep reappearing in your visuals. These motifs become the backbone of your product.
- Which images, objects or symbols feel unmistakably yours?
- How would your ideal customer describe their problem, in their own words?
- Which motifs would make this product instantly recognisable?
3. Colour palette and art direction
Collect colours, styles and references that fit your brand. Note the mood you want your product to carry — calm, playful, sacred, bold — and the illustrated styles that could express it.
- Which three colours instantly feel like your brand?
- Which illustrated style would your audience trust?
- Should your product feel minimal, ornate, or somewhere between?
4. Compare books, colouring books, decks and games
Weigh each format against your audience and your goals. A book explains your world. A colouring book lets people slow down inside your motifs. A deck or game invites people to use your ideas again and again.
- Who will hold this product, and when?
- Which format fits the way your customers learn, reflect or play?
- Will it be a keepsake, a working tool, or both?
5. Test the numbers
Estimate what your product could cost to produce and what it could earn. Use your own price, unit-cost and sales assumptions — the same transparent calculator Story Forge provides.
- What price feels fair for your audience?
- How many units would make the project worthwhile?
- Which assumptions are you least sure about?
6. Leave with a brief you can use yourself
Pull everything together into one finished brief. Summarise your story, motifs, palette, format and numbers, then keep it for yourself or bring it to Quartz Ripple to develop the artwork and design.
- Could someone else understand your vision from the brief alone?
- What would you want an illustrator to know before starting?
- What does a successful finished product look like?
Prefer a guided version?
Story Forge walks you through the same six steps and exports a finished brief.