The purpose of a set-design brief is not to arrive with every answer. It is to make the important constraints visible early enough for the concept, budget and production plan to develop together.
Start with the image’s job
Before discussing surfaces, props or colours, explain what the campaign needs to achieve and where the finished work will appear. A hero still, a sequence of social crops, a moving camera and a retail window do not ask the same things from a set. Usage changes the composition, scale, durability and number of angles that need to be designed.
Include the product, audience, market, required formats and the decision the image should help a viewer make. If several outputs are planned, identify the most important frame rather than asking one set to solve every possibility equally.
The eight inputs to include
- Objective and deliverables. State the campaign’s purpose, required stills or films, aspect ratios, crops and any mandatory pack shot or end frame.
- Product and talent. Share product dimensions, quantities, finishes and handling limits, plus the number of people who must fit and move within the set.
- Camera and lighting approach. Note intended camera movement, lens or framing requirements, reflections, practical lighting and whether several angles must work without a rebuild.
- References with comments. Explain what matters in each reference—colour, scale, material, atmosphere or composition— and what should not be copied. A folder of unexplained images often creates more ambiguity than direction.
- Location information. Provide measurements, photographs, access times, loading restrictions, power, ceiling height and any surfaces that cannot be altered.
- Schedule and geography. Include the shoot date, build and strike windows, city, approval deadlines and when the product or talent is available for tests.
- Responsibilities. Identify who owns creative direction, art direction, styling, props, construction, transport, location protection and on-set changes.
- Commercial boundaries. Share the working budget or range, required estimate format and who can approve concept, spend and substitutions. Hiding the boundary delays useful choices.
Use references to communicate decisions
Good references are specific. One image may explain the density of a floral arrangement, another the finish of a painted surface and a third the negative space around the product. Label that intention. Also identify the non-negotiable brand elements and the areas where the designer can propose a different physical solution.
For the Harvey Nichols Dubai campaign, the creative reference was a symmetrical, colourful and playful cinematic language. The set work had to respond to the real corridors, lounges and dining rooms of a ship rather than pretend the existing location did not exist. The useful question was how to transform those spaces for the frame.
Approve the project in stages
A clear approval sequence protects both the image and the schedule. The exact documents depend on the job, but four decision gates are a reliable starting point.
- Concept. Agree the visual idea, hero composition, relationship to the product and the boundaries of the set-design scope.
- Development. Review drawings, mock-ups, dimensions, material tests and the way the set works with camera, lighting and talent.
- Sourcing and build. Approve finishes, substitutions, samples, construction method, logistics and any change that affects the agreed image or cost.
- Shoot readiness. Confirm delivery, installation, dressing, safety, on-set authority, strike and the plan for protecting or disposing of materials after use.
Timeline and cost are shaped by the physical problem
Size alone does not determine complexity. Custom finishes, repeated modules, fragile products, specialist fabrication, location access, transport, overnight work, approval rounds and the number of camera angles can matter more than the footprint. Ask for options that make the trade-offs visible instead of reducing every decision to one total.
Two Kitavin projects show why the schedule must be tied to the actual production. For Chaumet’s Harper’s Bazaar covers in Doha, the painted canvases could not be transported from Dubai without a damage risk, so the backdrops and floral sets were produced on location over two nights. For Guerlain, two visually distinct fragrance sets were planned for one Dubai shoot day; the design and build had to support that shared schedule rather than treat the images as unrelated jobs.
Clarify where set design stops
Set design defines and prepares the physical world in front of the camera. Creative direction may define the wider campaign idea. Art direction coordinates how that idea is expressed across the image. Styling handles the talent or product styling, while production coordinates the complete crew, schedule, permissions, logistics and delivery. One team can cover several roles, but the brief and estimate should still name them separately.
This distinction is especially important when a studio is joining an existing agency, photographer or production team. Share the current decisions and identify who has final approval. A precise handover is more valuable than duplicating work already completed.
A concise briefing checklist
- Campaign objective, audience and priority deliverables
- Product dimensions, quantities, finishes and handling limits
- Talent count, movement and interaction with the set
- Shot list, formats, camera movement and lighting requirements
- Annotated references and mandatory brand elements
- Location photographs, measurements, access and restrictions
- Shoot, build, strike and approval dates
- Named responsibilities and final decision-makers
- Working budget or range and required estimate detail
- Reuse, storage, return or disposal expectations
Send what you have
A brief can still be useful when some answers are missing. Mark what is confirmed, what is flexible and what needs a proposal. That gives the set designer a clear place to begin and makes the first conversation productive.
See how these decisions appear in Kitavin’s work for Chaumet and Harper’s Bazaar, Guerlain and Harvey Nichols Dubai.