Contents5 sections
A good brief ultimately gets you a better site. Here's what we're actually looking for when a new brief lands on our desk.
Most website projects are shaped long before anyone opens a design or development tool. They're shaped in the brief, or in the gap where a brief should be. We've built sites off two-page documents and off a single call, and in our experience, the success of build usually comes down to just a few key bits of information.
So, here's five things we're looking for in a great brief, with a few examples of things to include.
What does the site need to do?
Not what it should look like. A brief that says "modern and clean" doesn’t tell us much. A brief that says "get a student looking for accommodation from search result to booked viewing in three clicks" tells us everything we need need to know.
Knowing this guides every decision made during the design of the site; content decisions, UX/UI design, architechture and integration choices. This is how we turn your website from a digital poster to a valuable asset to your business.
Useful things to include:
- The primary action a visitor should take
- How you'll measure success (enquiries, bookings, sign-ups, sales)
- What the site replaces or improves on
- Anything it must connect to, like a CRM, booking system or payment tool
Who it's for?
Who is the person who will be using your website? Their concerns, what convinces them, what makes them leave. The Quarter House brief worked because we understood who was looking at that site and what information they needed to understand and what they should feel before they booked a viewing.
Useful things to include:
- Your main audience, and any secondary ones
- Their questions, doubts and objections
- Where they arrive from (search, referral, social, email)
- What they're doing on their phone versus a desktop
The non-negotiables.
Integrations, platforms, a specific feature you have already promised a project stakeholder. We'd much rather know upfront than redesign around it in week four. It’s far more efficient doing it this way.
Useful things to include:
- Required platforms or tools (CMS, booking engine, email software)
- Fixed deadlines, launch dates or event tie-ins
- Budget limits
- Brand guidelines, legal or accessibility requirements
- Anything a stakeholder has signed off on or expects to see
Room for us to push back.
The best briefs leave space for a conversation, not only a list of instructions. Some of our favourite outcomes came from a client saying "here's the problem" and letting us propose the solution, rather than briefing the solution itself.
If a brief prescribes every page and feature, we can only build what's written. If it describes the problem, we can bring what we've learned from similar projects, and sometimes find a simpler, cheaper or more effective route.
Useful things to include:
- Which parts are fixed, and which are open to challenge
- Features you want, and the reason behind each
- Examples of sites you like, and what specifically you like about them
Fully honest about the problem.
We'd rather get a rough voice note describing what's frustrating about a current site than a beautifully formatted document that avoids saying anything specific.
Useful things to include:
- What isn't working today, and how you know
- What you've already tried
- Any past agency experiences, good or bad
- Internal disagreements about the site, which are better surfaced early
If you're planning a website and your brief is still taking shape, even a rough document, a voice note or a list of frustrations is enough to start. The strongest briefs and best websites grow out of that first conversation. You can see how we approach web design in Bristol, or start a project and tell us what you have.
