A web design brief is a short document that tells a designer what your website needs to achieve, who it’s for, what it needs to include, what you’ve got already, and your budget and deadline. One or two pages is plenty. A good brief gets you more accurate quotes, a faster project and fewer expensive surprises halfway through.
I’ve been a freelance web designer since 2011, and the single biggest predictor of a smooth project isn’t the budget or the deadline. It’s whether the brief was any good. Here’s how to write one, with a template at the bottom you can copy.
Why the brief matters so much
A web designer prices your project on how long they expect it to take. Give them vague information and you’ll get one of two things: a quote padded to cover the unknowns, or a low quote that grows every time something new turns up.
Most projects that blow their budget fail in one of three ways, and all of them trace back to the brief.
Problem 1: Bad briefs
Some briefs are so tight-lipped they’d make Barry White sing soprano. Sometimes it’s a trust thing (nobody’s going to steal your idea, I promise; the evil laughing in a darkened room is a separate hobby), sometimes it’s time, and sometimes it’s not wanting to put the effort in before you’ve seen a price.
But a designer quoting off three sentences is guessing, and guesses are either expensive or wrong.
The fix: tell them everything. No designer ever complained about a client who gave them too much detail. They’ll probably raise a toast to you that evening.
Problem 2: Scope creep
Scope creep is anything added after everything’s been agreed. You’ve signed off the design, the build is under way, and then: “I love it! But wouldn’t it be cool if it had a newsletter signup, and a members’ area, and music playing in the background?”
Each idea might be small. Together, they reshape the project after the price and timeline were set around something else.
The fix: think it through before you start. A good designer helps by asking the right questions upfront, but the brief is where you list everything you want, including the “maybe laters”, so you can decide together what’s in phase one.
Here’s a fair representation of what scope creep feels like on the design side (not exaggerating at all):
Problem 3: Missing assets
The brief’s signed, the contracts are done, the designer is ready to go… and the copy, photos and logo files are “coming soon”. “Can’t you just use placeholder text and fill it in later?”
Not really. Design is built around real content. A heading that’s three words long and one that’s fifteen need different layouts. Projects waiting on content are the most common reason launches slip.
The fix: in your brief, say what content exists, what needs creating, and who’s doing it. Then give the content its own deadline.
What to include in a web design brief
1. About your business
Two or three sentences: what you do, who for, and what makes you different. Link to your current site if you have one.
2. The goal of the website
What’s the one main job? More enquiries, online sales, bookings, recruitment, credibility? If you can, add a number: “20 qualified enquiries a month” is far more useful than “more leads”.
3. Your audience
Who visits, what they’re looking for, and what they need to do. “Facilities managers at mid-sized companies, comparing suppliers on their phone between meetings” tells a designer more than any mood board.
4. What’s wrong with the current site (if there is one)
Slow? Hard to update? Looks dated? Nobody finds it on Google? Embarrassing to send people to? Be honest. It shapes the priorities.
5. Pages and structure
A rough list of pages is enough: Home, Services (and how many), About, Case studies, Blog, Contact. Note any page that needs to do something special.
6. Features and functionality
Contact forms, bookings, payments, a shop, logins, search and filtering, integrations with your CRM or email marketing, multi-language. Split them into must have and nice to have.
7. Content
What exists, what needs writing or rewriting, and who’s doing it. The same goes for photography, video and branding.
8. Look and feel
Three to five websites you like, and why you like them. “I like how calm this feels” and “I like how quickly I found the prices” are both useful. Add any you dislike, too. Include your brand guidelines if you have them.
9. Competitors
Who you’re up against online, and what they do well or badly.
10. Budget
Yes, really. A budget isn’t an invitation to spend all of it; it lets the designer propose the best solution for the money, rather than guessing. If you’re not sure what’s realistic, my guide to how much a website costs has current UK prices.
11. Timeline
Your ideal launch date, and whether it’s fixed (a product launch, an event) or flexible.
12. After launch
Who’ll update the site? Do you need hosting, maintenance and support? It affects how the site’s built. See how much website maintenance costs for what that usually involves.
A web design brief template
Copy this, fill in what you can, and leave a question mark where you don’t know. That’s what the first conversation is for.
About us: What we do, who for, and what makes us different.
The main goal of the website: The one thing it must achieve (with a number, if possible).
Our audience: Who they are, what they’re looking for, what we want them to do.
What’s wrong with our current site:
Pages we think we need:
Must-have features:
Nice-to-have features:
Content: what we have, what needs creating, who’s doing it.
Sites we like (and why):
Sites we don’t like (and why):
Competitors:
Budget: £
Ideal launch date, and is it fixed?
Who’ll look after the site after launch?
What happens after you send it?
A good designer will come back with questions, and that’s a good sign. They’re working out what you actually need, not just what’s written down. From there you should get a proposal with a clear scope, timeline and cost.
If someone sends a price back within minutes without asking anything, they’re quoting for the site they always build, not yours.
Ready to send yours? Email it to me, or get an instant price first to check your budget’s in the right range.
