A PRACTICAL STARTING POINT
Your website
brief checklist.
A website brief does not need to be a long document. It needs to make the important decisions visible: who the site is for, what it should help them do, and what you need at launch.
Use these questions to prepare for a conversation with a designer. Short, specific answers are more useful than a list of visual effects. Where you do not know an answer yet, mark it as a decision to make together.
1. Choose the main job.
Write one sentence that describes the result you want. “Help visitors understand our service and request a quote” gives a project a clearer direction than “make it more modern”. A shop, a booking site and a company brochure need different journeys.
- What is the main action a visitor should take?
- What makes that action difficult on the current site?
- What evidence would show the new site is helping?
2. Describe the visitor.
Think about someone arriving for the first time. What do they already know, what are they unsure about, and what would they need before contacting you? Build the brief around their questions rather than your internal department names.
A customer choosing a service may need to understand the scope, see relevant work and know how an enquiry will be handled. Put those answers before details that only matter later.
3. List the pages and their purpose.
Give every page a distinct job. A homepage introduces the business, a service page explains a specific offer, and a contact page helps someone start a conversation. Two pages answering the same question may work better as one stronger page.
- List the pages that must exist at launch.
- Write the main question each page should answer.
- Identify existing URLs that customers already use and need to keep working.
4. Gather content and evidence.
Collect your logo, brand guidance, existing copy and suitable images. Mark what is ready, what needs editing and what still needs to be created. Confirm that you can use any client names, photographs or testimonials you supply.
A useful case study explains the starting problem, your role and the work delivered. Only include results you can substantiate. If an image shows a concept rather than completed client work, label it clearly.
5. Explain the functions and handovers.
“We need a booking button” leaves important questions open. Describe what happens after someone clicks: which service handles the booking, what information is collected and who receives the confirmation.
- Where should enquiries go, and who responds?
- Do payments, bookings or accounts use an existing provider?
- Who will update the site, and what should they be able to change?
- What should the visitor see if a form or connected service fails?
If the problem extends beyond the public website into repeated administration, include it as a separate business systems requirement. That helps distinguish a website project from an internal workflow project.
6. Set priorities, budget and timing.
Separate launch essentials from useful later additions. State any fixed deadline and why it matters. Include who approves the work, how feedback will be gathered and who supplies the content.
Ask what the quote includes: design, build, content, revisions, hosting, domain, maintenance and third-party fees are different parts of a project. Made Catchy’s one-page website package starts at £299; the website pricing section explains its scope. Larger or connected projects need an agreed quote.
7. Agree what a finished project means.
Before work begins, agree the pages, functions and handover you expect. Review the site on a phone as well as a desktop, test the important enquiry journey and check that links and supplied content are correct.
Ask who owns the domain and accounts, which files or access you receive, and how future updates will be handled. Search engines decide when to index a site; publication and an indexing request are not the same as a guaranteed ranking.
Your brief, in seven lines.
- Our website should help visitors to…
- Our main audience needs to know…
- The pages we need at launch are…
- The content and assets we have ready are…
- The functions and existing tools we need are…
- Our budget, deadline and approver are…
- At handover, we need to be able to…
Keep this as a working brief. It should make the first conversation easier, not force you to solve every design decision alone.
Discuss your website brief with Made Catchy, or explore our website design service.