A website brief is the document you give a designer or developer before work begins. It explains what you need, why you need it, and what success looks like. A good brief saves you money, reduces revisions, and dramatically improves your chances of getting a site you're actually happy with.
Most clients skip it — or write something so vague it's barely useful. This guide shows you exactly what to include.
Why a brief matters
Without a brief, you and your developer are working from different mental pictures of the end product. You might imagine a sleek, minimal design; they might build something more feature-heavy. You might expect five pages; they might quote for three. When expectations don't match, someone is always disappointed — usually the client, and usually after they've already paid.
A brief aligns everyone before a single pixel is designed. It also protects you: if the finished site doesn't match what the brief describes, you have grounds to ask for changes.
The website brief template
Use the sections below as a starting point. You don't need to write an essay — a few clear sentences per section is enough.
Website brief template
The sections most people miss
Your goal, not your list of pages
Clients often describe what they want (a homepage, an about page, a services page) rather than what they need the site to achieve. The most important line in any brief is the primary goal. Everything else — design, structure, copy — should serve that goal. Be specific: "get 10 enquiries per month from local searches" is a goal. "Have an online presence" is not.
Your audience in detail
Who visits your site determines how it should be designed. A B2B professional services firm and a consumer lifestyle brand need completely different approaches even if they sell at similar price points. Describe your ideal customer in detail — their context, their concerns, and what question they need answered before they'll get in touch.
Design references, not just descriptions
"Clean and professional" means something different to everyone. Sending three URLs with a note about what you like ("I like how this one uses white space" or "I like the dark colour scheme on this one") gives your designer something concrete to work from. Without references, you're hoping they read your mind.
Tip: Don't only send examples you love — also send one you dislike and explain why. "I don't want anything that looks like this" is just as useful as a positive example, and often more revealing about your actual preferences.
How to handle content in the brief
The biggest project delay in web design is content — specifically, clients who haven't prepared it before the project starts. Your brief should clarify:
- Whether you or the designer/developer is writing the copy
- What photography you have (real photos are almost always better than stock)
- What existing materials exist (company brochures, old website content, LinkedIn profiles)
- Whether you need a blog and who will maintain it
If you're writing the copy yourself, block time in your calendar to do it before the project kicks off — not after design has started. Nothing slows a project like a developer waiting on words for a hero section.
Budget: be honest, be specific
Many clients are reluctant to share their budget upfront, fearing it anchors the quote. In reality, the opposite is true — knowing your budget lets a developer propose the right solution rather than something over or under what you actually need. A vague "we want something affordable" helps no one.
Share a range. If your budget is £3,000–£5,000, say so. A good developer will tell you what's achievable in that range and where trade-offs need to be made.