Briefing is a creative process. Design is briefing, and briefing relies on design. Louis Kahn, the inspirational American architect, suggested that only when the building is completed, do you know what to build.

Design thinking – a term adopted by David Kelley of design firm IDEO – has much in common with briefing. First, it is important to understand the problem by talking to people, then observe how people tackle the problem, visualise possible solutions, and prototype solutions which can be refined through iterations of development.