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A brief your client can actually fill in.
Brief Builder helps freelancers put together a client questionnaire from reusable sections and send it as a fillable PDF. The client completes it in any PDF reader and sends it back, with no account and no portal. Briefs stay in your browser by default, or in an optional cloud account if you sign in.
01Story
A good brief is the first real conversation of a project, yet it usually starts as a copied document or an online form the client has to sign up for. Questions that don’t apply get asked anyway, and the answers come back scattered.
Brief Builder turns the brief into something you assemble: choose the project type, add sections from a catalogue, let questions appear only when they apply, then export a tailored, fillable PDF. Briefs stay in your browser unless you choose the optional cloud.
The rules behind conditional questions never guess. A question is shown only when its condition is definitely true, so an unanswered or hidden question can never open the wrong branch, and broken rules are flagged before anything is sent.
Freelancers and small studios who start projects with a client brief, and, through its landing page, people starting a business who want to map out the design decisions their launch needs.
02Key decisions
A question shows only when its rule is definitely true. A rule may only depend on earlier questions; anything else is treated as broken and flagged in Review.
Field names and option values are locked once created. Deleting something a rule depends on lists what is affected and offers a choice; nothing changes silently.
Adding a section copies a template from the catalogue into the brief, so later changes to the catalogue never alter existing briefs.
Briefs stay in the browser with no account. Cloud storage is optional, after Google sign-in, and local briefs are copied to it only when someone asks.
Every save keeps a working copy and a last-known-good copy, is verified by reading it back, and won’t overwrite a brief changed in another tab.
PDF viewers can’t reliably hide fields, so branching is printed as short hints, and the Scenario step leaves out whole sections that don’t apply.
03How it works
Name the brief and set what the client sees: the PDF title, an optional introduction, who prepared it, a colour and the page size (A4 or Letter).
Add sections from a catalogue of templates. The project type decides which are suggested first; sections and questions can be made conditional on earlier answers.
See the brief as the client will, with every required and conditional question listed. Rules that refer to missing or later questions are flagged here.
Optionally set the client’s situation so sections that don’t apply are left out, then export a fillable PDF. The client fills it in with any PDF reader and sends it back.
04What it does
Basics, Sections, Review, then Scenario and PDF. Changes save automatically.
A catalogue of section templates, suggested by project type: website or online shop, brand identity, product visuals.
Sections and questions can depend on earlier answers. Rules may only look backwards, and problems are flagged in Review.
Pick the client’s situation and sections that don’t apply are left out of the fillable PDF.
Deleting something other questions rely on lists what is affected and asks what to do. Nothing changes silently.
With no account, briefs live in the browser, work offline and can be backed up to a file. Optional Google sign-in saves them to the cloud, to open on any device.
05How it was made
Unit tests cover the rule engine, storage, backups and PDF output; browser tests cover the app flows, including offline use and updates on a real build.
Behaviour that needs a real device, such as Add to Home Screen and sharing on iPhone Safari, is listed as untested here rather than assumed to work.
A landing page and optional cloud storage were added later; storage on the device stayed the default.
06In detail
Next step
Brief Builder is an example of AX Designers’ ai engineering work. Businesses and teams that need a focused tool or a complete application designed and built, or an existing product made clearer and easier to use.
More case studies
Product brand & E-commerce Integration
Strange Forms is a small independent brand specialising in artist-designed, patterned sherpa fleece blankets. The website is a product showcase and online catalogue presenting a collection of unique blankets featuring original, digitally illustrated patterns inspired by nature, Japanese aesthetics and geometric compositions.
Web app (PWA)
Finemy.app is a personal finance and budget management application designed to help users take control of their everyday spending, organise expenses and manage their available money.
Contact
Tell us what you’re working on. We’ll ask the right questions and work out a useful next step with you.
