What a Visualisation Brief Should Contain: A Developer's Checklist

A good visualisation brief tells the studio what the images need to do, who they are for, what has been decided, what hasn't, and who approves them. Get those right and you save review rounds, avoid re-renders and end up with images that work across the whole campaign.

Here is the checklist we would want from any developer or architect before we start.

1. What the images are for

Tell us where the images will be used and at what stage. A planning submission, an investor presentation and a launch campaign all need different things. A hero image on a hoarding has to read from across the street. A brochure spread needs room for text. Social content needs portrait and square crops.

2. Who you are selling to

Downsizers, first-home buyers, investors and families look for different things in the same apartment. The buyer shapes how we style a space, what time of day we show it and which rooms matter most. If your agent has a buyer profile, include it.

3. Drawings and models

Send the current drawings and any 3D model you have, whether that is Revit, ArchiCAD, SketchUp or CAD. Include landscape plans, site context and the revision date. Working from an outdated set is a common cause of re-renders, so tell us when the drawings change.

4. Materials and finishes

List the finishes you have chosen and flag the ones that aren't settled. If the benchtop or flooring is still open, we can show options, but the brief should say so.

Renders can also help make those decisions. On Marlow Ridge House, Ellery Moss Architects asked us to review the timber palette alongside the bathroom stonework. The seven final stills became a set for material discussions and client review as well as marketing.

5. Views, formats and quantities

List the views you need, their orientations and where each will be used. Say whether you need stills, animation or 360° views, and the resolution required for print.

It helps to plan the set as a whole. For Swan Residence, we built the ten images around how the rooms relate to a central courtyard, with landscape and portrait compositions prepared for presentations and the architect's own marketing.

6. Visual direction

Share references: images you like, images you don't, and a sentence on why. Mood, time of day, season and how much styling you want in the rooms all shape the result. References save a round of guessing.

7. Approvals

Name the person who signs off, and anyone else who needs to see the images before they are final. Agree the number of review rounds up front. Late comments from someone who wasn't in the loop are the most expensive kind.

8. Dates

Tell us when the images need to be in use, as well as when you would like to see drafts. We will work backwards from there. If your sales launch is fixed, our post on the off-the-plan campaign timeline explains where visualisation sits in the wider schedule.

Write the brief for the whole campaign

Renders end up in the brochure, on the website, on the hoarding, in the display suite and across social channels. A brief written with those uses in mind gives you images that work everywhere, and saves recropping and patching later.

Send us your brief

Our project enquiry form asks for most of this checklist, so it is a good place to start. If you are still pulling the details together, send what you have and we will help fill the gaps. You can read more about our architectural visualisation service.