Website brief template

Why web quotes go wrong at the template count, and the questions that fix it before a designer opens a file.

Start this briefAbout 90 seconds. No account.

Most website quotes are wrong for one reason: the briefer counts pages and the designer counts templates. A site with a home page, an about page, forty case studies and two hundred blog posts is four templates and two hundred and forty-two pages. Whether it is a two-week job or a two-month one depends entirely on which of those numbers you meant, and most briefs never say. This template makes the distinction visible as you tap: pick the page types, put a count on the ones that repeat, and watch the line underneath read "4 templates, around 240 pages".

The three decisions that size the job

The first is who builds it. "Design only" and "design and build" are different quotes, different teams and different timelines, and a brief that leaves it open invites both sides to assume the other is doing the hard part. The second is the platform, which decides whether a content management system comes for free or has to be built. The third is who edits the site afterwards, because a site edited weekly by the marketing team needs a visual editor, training and documentation, and a site nobody touches can be static and fast.

Functionality is where the obligations hide

A contact form collects personal data. So does a newsletter box, a booking flow, a login. Each one brings cookie consent, a privacy policy and a data-processing note with it, and payments or accounts bring a backend. None of this is hard, but all of it is invisible to someone who just wants "a form on the contact page". The brief should say it so the estimate includes it.

Accessibility belongs here too. Shops and services sold in the EU fall under the European Accessibility Act, and public-sector sites have carried the obligation for years. It is asked here as a plain question with four answers, because almost nobody volunteers it and everybody needs to have decided.

Copy is the biggest hidden cost

Designers can lay out a page with placeholder text. They cannot finish one. A site briefed with "copy to follow" is a site whose deadline has already moved, and if the copy needs writing by someone, that someone is a line item. This template asks whether the words exist, and if they do not, who is writing them.

One verb

The hardest question in the set is what you want a visitor to do. Buy, get in touch, book, sign up, download, understand, trust, apply. It is asked as cards rather than a text field because in a text field the answer is always "all of the above", and a site that is for everything is for nothing. The brief then checks the answer against the pages and functionality chosen, and says so when the objective has nowhere to happen.

The one thing that must not be got wrong

Every project has one. Put it at the top, in a box.

The questions, and what goes wrong without them

  1. Scope
    What are you making?
    A landing page and a shop are different jobs with different questions. Naming which removes half the tree.
  2. Scope
    Which pages?only when it applies
    The difference between a template and a page is invisible to most briefers and is the main reason web quotes are wrong.
  3. Scope
    Who builds it?
    "Design only" removes platform, hosting, integration and performance questions. Left open, everyone assumes the other side is building it.
  4. Craft
    Platform, and who edits itonly when it applies
    The platform decides whether a CMS comes for free, whether custom development is implied, and what the handover looks like.
  5. Craft
    Who edits the content afterwards?only when it applies
    Who edits afterwards decides CMS complexity, editor training and whether a visual page builder is required.
  6. Craft
    What does it need to do, and how accessible must it be?
    Forms and payments carry legal obligations and imply a backend. Accessibility is a commercial requirement in the EU that almost no briefer volunteers.
  7. Look
    Pick what you like
    People are unreliable at describing taste and reliable at recognising it. Five picks say more than a paragraph of adjectives.
  8. Look
    Your picks pull two ways. Which is closer?only when it applies
    When the references contradict each other, the designer has to pick a side. Better that you do.
  9. Look
    What already exists?
    Copy is the single biggest hidden cost in web projects. Every unticked asset is a line in the estimate.
  10. Look
    What should they do, and who are they?
    One verb is the hardest question in the set and the one most often dodged in a text field, which is exactly why it is cards. Who it is for makes the verb specific.
  11. Practicalities
    Budget range
    A band is a signal about which kind of job is on the table, not a commitment. Without one the designer guesses.
  12. Practicalities
    When does it need to be live?
    A date only means something next to the minimum production window. If they do not fit, better to know now.
  13. Practicalities
    Who signs it off?
    The number of approvers, with a named tiebreak, predicts revision rounds better than anything else in the brief.
  14. Practicalities
    The one thing that must not be got wrong
    Every project has one. It is rarely written down because it feels obvious to the person who knows it.
Answer them by tapping

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