A clear brief gets you aligned quotes, faster timelines, and a designer or agency partner who actually understands your problem before they start solving it. And if you're shopping around, it lets you compare proposals on equal footing.
A vague brief gets you three rounds of "that's not quite what I meant", multiplied by however many people you sent it to.
Here's how to write one that works.
What a brief actually is (and isn't)
A brief is a document that tells a designer what you want, why you want it, and what you can spend. It covers where your business is headed, who you're trying to reach, what you like the look of, and the deadlines you need to hit.
It's not a secret to be whispered. It's not a contract. And it's not even the final word on anything. But it is the starting point for a productive conversation, the kind where both sides actually know what they're getting into.
The difference between a brief and a proposal
Worth clarifying early: you write the brief, the designer responds with a proposal.
Your brief says: "Here's what I need and roughly what I can spend." Their proposal says: "Here's how I understood your problem, what I'll deliver, how long it'll take, and what it'll cost."
It's fair to expect some back-and-forth until you both agree. Then you sign a contract that references the proposal, and work begins.
The eight things every brief needs
1. Who you are and who you're trying to reach
First answer: What does your business do? What makes you different from competitors? Where are you headed in the next two years (or five)?
Then flip it: Who are your customers? Don't just say "local shop owners." Give the designer something to work with. Are your customers time-poor entrepreneurs who make decisions on the phone? Pensioners who distrust online payments? The more specific, the better.
2. Why you need a new site
Context shapes everything. "Our sales dropped 30% and we're pivoting to a new market" leads to a very different website than "We're doing fine but our site looks like it was built in 2015."
Be honest about whether this site needs to generate revenue directly, build credibility, or just stop people calling to ask questions that your site should answer.
3. What the website actually needs to do
Skip "look sleek" and "feel modern." They're vibes. While you need to focus on goals.
Try instead:
- "Convert 10% more visitors into consultation bookings"
- "Let customers check their order status without emailing us"
- "Rank higher than [X competitor] for [specific term] in search results"
- "Stop people phoning to ask about dietary options"
If you can't measure it or point to it, it's not specific enough.
4. Technical requirements
Cover the practical stuff:
- Is there a platform you need to use or are already locked into? Wordpress, Wix, Webflow, or any of the other 100 ones?
- Are there any pages of your current site that must be replicated as closely as possible, and therefore require less page-specific design? (e.g. Terms of Business, Privacy Policy, and so on.)
- Do you need specific integrations (payment gateway, CRM, email marketing)?
- Who hosts your current site, and are you happy with them?
- If a content migration will be necessary, can you or a colleague assist?
- Are there accessibility or privacy requirements you need to meet?
If you don't know the answers, say so. "We're with GoDaddy but open to switching" is more useful than leaving it blank.
5. Look and feel (with direction)
Rather than asking for something "clean and professional", try to include three to five links to sites you admire. And even better if you took a shares notes on what you like about each.
"I like the typography on this one." "The navigation here feels intuitive." "This site's photography style matches our brand."
If it feels like I'm asking you to do a lot of work here, bear in mind that specifics, however brief, save everyone time... including yours later down the line.
6. How you'll measure success
Your new site goes live. Visitors arrive. Someone might even compliment the look of it. But is it actually solving the problem you detailed earlier in this brief?
That's why it's key to define upfront how you'll measure success. Try this:
- Success means newsletter signups increased by X%
- Enquiry form submissions doubled
- Time spent answering phone queries dropped
- You rank on page one for [target keyword] after [time period] from launch
These don't have to be perfect predictions, but having them helps focus the work and lets the designer or agency reading the brief quickly determine if they can help or if the project is beyond their expertise.
7. Timeline
State when the project is due and when you need an answer back.
If it helps, include:
- How long you'll take to review their proposal
- When you plan to make a final decision
- Whether the timeline allows for a phased launch (build X, Y and Z pages first, the rest later)
From experience, I'd say that anything under three months is considered a tight deadline (unless we're talking about, say, a single-page MVP website). If that's your reality, and you need it done quick, say so because it affects how the designer structures the work, and if they can say yes at all.
8. Budget
Please, please, please include this. Even a rough range. "Between £5,000 and £8,000" is infinitely more useful than "flexible."
Nobody with an ounce of respect for their craft is trying to squeeze every last drop out of you. The person on the other end is most likely trying to figure out whether they can deliver what you need with the budget and time available. And skipping this step wastes your time too, because you will get proposals you can't afford.
Get these eight key pieces of info right and you're ahead of most.
What if you don't know what you need?
Feeling unclear at the start is more common than you'd think. If you're sitting there thinking "something's off, I just can't articulate what", consider booking a paid consultation before writing the brief. Look for someone who works across both marketing and design, ideally someone who's diagnosed these problems before.
Ask them to compile their findings into a brief you can then use to shop around (yes, even to other designers). A good consultant won't mind. And you'll save money by getting there faster.
The stuff that will catch you off guard
Revisions aren't unlimited
Most designers include two rounds of revisions. After that, you pay extra. If you know you'll need more—because maybe you have a board that likes to weigh in or you're expecting having to manage a highly complex design with many moving parts—say so upfront. You'll likely negotiate a better rate per revision than asking mid-project.
Communication is billable
Some clients want weekly video updates. Others prefer near-silence until milestones. Neither is wrong, but they cost differently. Specify what you want: Bi-weekly updates? A shared Slack channel? Check-ins only at milestones? The designer will price accordingly. After all, delivering progress summaries, tidy prototypes, and status meetings all take time on their end.
Too many decision-makers will sink you
Nothing derails a project like conflicting feedback from five people with opinions. I would urge you to aim for no more than three people with final approval. Getting this wrong adds weeks. Mention in the brief who they are, how long you're expecting approvals to take, and (optionally) how to reach each stakeholder. And don't forget to clarify who should the designer contact if they have any questions about the brief itself.
TLDR
A good brief is an honest map of what you need, what you can spend, and how you work. Not a 20-page specification document or a brochure about how great it'll be to work with you.
Rough edges and approximations are fine, the rest you'll figure out together. That's the point.