Website brief template
A website brief as a document: pages against templates, what the site must do, who edits it afterwards, and who writes the copy. The parts that move the quote are marked.
For founders and marketing leads briefing a new site or a rebuild.
About 10 questions, mostly taps. Free, no account. About ninety seconds.
Start a website or digital product briefThis is what a finished website or digital product brief contains, with an example line in each section. Write it by hand from this, or answer the questions below by tapping and the page writes it for you.
The one thing that must not be got wrong
The constraint that overrides everything else.
“The booking flow must work on a phone with one thumb. Most of our bookings come from one.”
What we are making
The kind of site or product, and whether it is design only or design and build.
“A marketing site with booking. Design and build, on Webflow.”
Pages and templates
The page types and how many of each. Templates are counted for you.
“Home, six service pages, about, contact, a journal with around forty posts. Four templates.”
What it must do
Functionality, each item with what it implies.
“Booking with payment, a newsletter sign-up, two languages. Payments mean a privacy policy and card handling by Stripe.”
Who edits it afterwards
The person, their skill, and how often.
“Anna, once a week, comfortable with Webflow. No developer on staff.”
Audience and the one thing visitors should do
One person, one verb.
“For someone who has been recommended us and wants to check we are real. They should book a first call.”
Copy
Who writes it, and when it exists. This decides the timeline more than anything else.
“We write it. Drafts by 1 October, final by 15 October.”
Tone and references
Positions on scales; sites to sit beside and to avoid.
“Calm rather than energetic. Like the Aesop site for its restraint. Not like our competitors’ stock-photo hero.”
What exists
Logo, guidelines, photography, a domain, the current site’s analytics.
“Logo and guidelines, yes. Photography, no; budget for a half-day shoot.”
Budget, dates, sign-off
A band, the launch date, and who says yes.
“150–300k DKK. Launch by 1 December. Jonas signs off alone.”
Open questions
What is not decided, said plainly.
“Whether the journal migrates or starts fresh. Whether the second language launches on day one.”
You answer the questions. The brief writes these.
- Templates against pages
- What a CMS, accounts or payments imply
- Accessibility obligations
- Breakpoints, favicon and share image
- The production window copy decides
Most website quotes are wrong for one reason: you count pages and your designer counts templates. A site with a home page, an about page, forty case studies and two hundred 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 number you meant, and most briefs never say. This template makes the distinction visible: pick the page types, put a count on the ones that repeat, and the line underneath reads "4 templates, around 240 pages".
The document above is a finished website brief. The decisions below are the ones that size the job, so they are the ones to settle before you send it.
The decisions that move the quote
Who builds it. "Design only" and "design and build" are different quotes, different teams and different timelines. A brief that leaves it open invites both sides to assume the other is doing the hard part.
The platform. Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Framer, Squarespace, or something custom. It decides whether a content management system comes for free or has to be built, and it decides who can edit the site afterwards.
Who edits it afterwards. A site edited weekly by the marketing team needs a visual editor, training and documentation. A site nobody touches after launch can be static, fast and cheap to host. Name the person and how often.
Pages against templates. Say the page types and how many of each repeat. Forty case studies are one template. The home page is one template that will only ever be one page.
What it must do. A contact form collects personal data, and brings cookie consent, a privacy policy and a data-processing note with it. Payments and accounts imply a backend. Two languages mean every template is built twice. None of this is hard. All of it is invisible to someone who wants "a form on the contact page".
Accessibility. Shops and services sold in the EU fall under the European Accessibility Act, and public-sector sites have carried the obligation for years. Almost nobody volunteers it. It is asked as a plain question with four answers, because everybody needs to have decided.
Who writes the copy, and when. Designers can lay out a page with placeholder text. They cannot finish one. "Copy to follow" is a launch date that has already moved.
The one thing a visitor should do. Buy, book, get in touch, sign up, download, understand, trust, apply. A site for everything is for nothing. The brief checks the verb against the pages and functionality you chose, and says so when the verb has nowhere to happen.
Mistakes we see most
“A new website, around 90 pages.”
“Home, about, contact, six service pages, a journal with around forty posts. Five templates, around ninety pages. Design and build on Webflow.”
Ninety pages sounds like a big job. Five templates is the real one.
“Copy to follow.”
“Copy is not written. Anna writes it: drafts by 1 October, final by 15 October. Design can start on the home page with placeholder text.”
A name and two dates turn a risk into a schedule.
“A contact form and a newsletter box, nothing complicated.”
“Contact form and newsletter sign-up, which means cookie consent, a privacy policy and a data-processing note. We have a privacy policy; the other two are needed.”
Small functionality carries obligations. Naming them lets the estimate include them.
Answer the questions below by tapping, and the brief counts the templates, names the obligations, and works out the production window from the copy dates for you.
What it asks, and why.
- ScopeWhat are you making?
A landing page and a shop are different jobs with different questions. Naming which removes half the tree.
- ScopeWhich pages?only when it applies
The difference between a template and a page is invisible to most people briefing, and it is the main reason web quotes are wrong.
- ScopeWho builds it?
"Design only" removes platform, hosting, integration and performance questions. Left open, everyone assumes the other side is building it.
- CraftWhich platform, and who edits it?only when it applies
The platform decides whether a CMS comes for free, whether custom development is implied, and what the handover looks like. When your own team builds it, the designer has to know what in, or the design will not fit the tool.
- CraftWhat does it need to do, and how accessible must it be?
Forms and payments carry legal obligations and imply a backend. Accessibility is a requirement in the EU that almost nobody volunteers, so it is asked.
- LookWhat already exists?
Copy is the single biggest hidden cost in web projects. Every unticked asset is a line in the estimate.
- LookWhat 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 why it is cards. Who it is for makes the verb specific.
- PracticalitiesBudget range
A band is a signal about which kind of job is on the table, not a commitment. Without one the designer guesses.
- PracticalitiesWhen 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.
- PracticalitiesThe 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.