A website brief you can write before lunch
Six questions that help a designer understand the job, without a twenty-page specification.
A useful website brief explains the business decision behind the website. It gives a designer enough context to recommend an approach without forcing you to invent every screen in advance.
1. What needs to happen?
Finish this sentence: “The site will be useful if the right visitor can…” Choose one primary action. For a service business it might be to request a quote with enough detail for a sensible reply. Keep secondary actions separate.
2. Who is that visitor?
Describe a situation, not just an age bracket. A homeowner with a leaking tap has different questions from a property manager comparing maintenance providers. List the first three questions this person is likely to ask.
3. What can you confidently promise?
Write the service, location, inclusions and important limits in plain language. Add the proof you actually have: approved project photographs, relevant qualifications, a clear process or permission to use a customer comment. Leave unsupported claims out of the brief.
4. What already exists?
List the current domain, website platform, useful pages, content, photography and enquiry tools. Record who controls each account. Share access through an agreed secure method later; passwords do not belong in the brief.
5. What happens after the enquiry?
Name the person or role that receives it, the information they need and the next step offered to the customer. A form that works technically is only one part of that journey. Include a test from submission through to the receiving inbox.
6. What are the constraints?
State the available budget, any real deadline, who approves the work and who will maintain the site. Ask providers to separate essentials from optional work and to explain ongoing costs. If you do not know a figure yet, say so instead of inventing one.
Turn the brief into a conversation
Download the editable website brief. It is a plain text document you can paste into your preferred writing tool. Ask potential providers which parts they would clarify before quoting. Their questions can be as useful as their proposal.
SMB Sites offers website services and shares our ownership. The template is equally usable with another designer.