Web design brief guide

A web design brief is a written document that helps a web design agency understand what is required by a potential client for a particular web design project. So why go to the trouble of writing a web design brief? There are a number of reasons:

website design brief client benefits

Increased Participation and Company Buy-in: Enable a number of stakeholders to participate in defining the goals of the website design project.

Future Measurability: The web design brief enables the organisation to precisely define the goals of the project which enables measurement of the success of the project.

Reduce Risk: Writing a good web design brief takes much of the risk out of the project as participating agencies will have a clear understanding of what the project involves.

Open Tendering: Writing a web design brief enables the client to invite a number of web design agencies to submit proposals to the web design brief. The client can then compare each agency based on selection criteria.

website design brief agency benefits

Understand the Scope of the Project: A web design agency is a services company it is therefore important to be able to estimate the time required to complete the project to meet the project's goals in order to provide an accurate quote. By having a detailed web design brief the agency can be sure that they are estimating the correct amount of time and cost for a project.

Provide New Ideas and Input: A good web design brief enables a client to get their ideas on paper. The website design agency can then look at those ideas with and provide fresh ideas. New ways can be found to improve a client's business that previously may not have been realised.

Be able to estimate resources: Website design is a services business it is therefore very important to understand the scope of the project to be able to give an accurate cost estimation for the client.

Be able to allocate resources: Every website design agency works with a team of fixed and flexible resources to be able to handle excess workload. By having a detailed understanding of the work involved helps the website design agency plan and allocate resources on the various projects that are currently underway.

Understand the Expertise Required: Expertise is another important issue to understand. Many sites have requirements that they be built using a particular web technology. Other clients may have other niche or specific expertise required. Most agencies have specialist skills in certain area and it is important for a website design agency to make sure they can deliver the project before submitting a proposal.

Introduction

• Introduce the company
• Introduce the project

Project Goals

• State the management objectives of the website design project in order of priority

Selection Criteria

State what a website design agency must show in their proposal to be awarded the project.

• Particular expertise
• Having completed a similar project before
• Cost (Budget)
• Location

Current Website and Internet Marketing Strategy

If there is an existing web site? It would be very useful to the potential website design agency bidding for the project to be able to see it and evaluate the website. It would also be useful to understand the existing internet marketing strategy in place.

User Requirements

The user requirement states all the users in a system and what they need the system to be able to do to perform there tasks

System Requirements

Site Map/User Interface diagrams

Technical Requirements

This section specifies if there are any specific technical constraints or requirements placed upon the project for example if the web site needs to have a database from a specific vendor.

Reference Web Sites

It is always very useful to have a number of reference websites to be able to get a feel for what the client is looking for or what they like that is already out there. We would never clone or copy a web site, it simply serves as a guide.

Competitor Sites

Your website will be competing with your rivals for keyword positioning under specific keywords, it is therefore very useful to have competitor URL's to see how their sites are ranking under specific keywords.

Hosting and Data Migration

It is important to know where the system will be hosted to understand the technical implications of this as the client may not be aware of them. Some servers will only support certain technologies and version of those technologies and will therefore affect the development of the website.

There may also be data embedded in the current website that needs to be transferred to the new one. This is an important consideration that should be detailed in the brief and discussed in any website design agency proposal.

Articles & Assets supplied by the company

Building a website for a client is a working partnership. It is important to state what areas the client can supply material and in which areas the agency is expected to supply this material.

For example will the client be supplying the copy for the website or does that have to be produced from scratch. Are there any images that are going to be supplied or will the agency have to source those.