A door to a cupboard slams into an adjacent handle. A watering can is awkward to carry when it is heavy. A desk organizer slides across the worktop when a drawer is pulled. Such small daily irritations make excellent starting points for an object design brief, because they already involve a clear action, context, and user need. A brief does not set out to produce an object straight away, but to identify enough of a problem to be able to develop it through studies.
First, take no decisions about solutions. Make notes on who is involved, what the activity is, the space where it happens and what interrupts it. Notice the contact between the hand and the tool, or nearby walls, furniture, other objects, moving parts or other things to avoid. For a difficult-to-hold watering can, observe the hand position in relation to the handle, the distance from handle to tank, where the center of mass is when it is filled and when the water is about to spill from the spout, and the angle of the hand holding the handle. Note these things, rather than just say that the design is uncomfortable.
Second, focus on the activity, and not the tool in its current form. It is unproductive to write “I want a better desk organizer” because that presupposes the solution. A more useful formulation is “I want a way to keep tools visible and stable when the cabinet beneath them is open.” A brief of that type leaves open how the tools are shaped, supported, made or placed. It also sets a clearer way to measure the effectiveness of an idea.
The brief itself can be very short, but should make a connection between user, activity, environment and problem. A user working at a desk wants to be able to access regularly used drawing instruments without moving other tools and while keeping the desk surface clear. The brief does not have to specify all the design features, just identify the parameters that will shape the development of ideas and not all the details that would be needed for manufacturing.
Once you have a brief, turn it into some thumbnail sketches. Draw a page of small silhouettes to compare and do not think about buttons, finishes, joints or decorative details. Vary one aspect at a time. You might test the proportions or the shape of the base. Some designs may open flat or in the other direction. Try a low form, a tall form, a form that is tipped or turned so the contents are revealed. That allows you to explore more forms before becoming attached to the first one that looks right.
Check these ideas against the criteria of the brief. Is there enough room for the object in the available space? Is a major part of the tool accessible in an ergonomic position? Will the tool remain stable if something is removed from it? Is the form easy to clean or store in another room? It is not enough to look at it from one point of view; you may find you do not like it from another, or that the proportions will not work well at full scale. Make a paper cutout, or a quick mock-up from card. At an early stage, you need to judge whether the proportions and scale are right, and where the gaps and contact points are.
A good indicator of a good outcome is not just that the final concept is more elegant or more complex. It is that there are reasons for all the major decisions based on what is required from the brief. The handle is where it can be reached comfortably by the hand, the base is able to take the weight, and the volume is right for the situation in which it will be used. When a mundane frustration has become a problem with specific actions, context and constraints, it is not a bug report; it is a design project.