Teaching students the design process and providing opportunities for design is at the core of engineering/technology education. The design process is a key feature of technological literacy, and design is the most represented element within "Standards for Technological Literacy" (ITEA/ITEEA 2000, 2002/2007; Lewis, 2005; Wicklein, 2006). A design brief can help guide students through the problem-scoping phase of design. A design brief is one approach to introducing a design activity. Unlike the well-documented design process models, the design brief has not been clearly defined, and the key elements of a design brief are not clearly identified in technology education literature. This article will seek to identify, define, and describe key elements of the design brief and provide perspectives from an author with over 20 years of experience using the design brief in K-12 classrooms and as a research and design assessment instrument.