What a website brief should contain
The ten things a designer needs from you before a build starts — and the ones that quietly cause most delays.
6 min read · Updated 21 Oct 2026
Why the brief matters
Most website projects that run late do not run late in design or code. They wait: for a logo file, for the text of the About page, for someone to log in to the domain registrar. A good brief removes most of that waiting before the first day of work.
A brief does not have to be long. One or two pages that answer the questions below are worth more than a 30-page document nobody reads.
1. What the business does, in two sentences
Write it the way you would explain it to a new customer, not an investor. If you cannot say it in two sentences, the homepage will struggle to say it either.
2. Who the site is for
Name the two or three kinds of visitor that matter most, and what each of them is trying to do. "Parents in Sofia looking for a weekend swimming class" is far more useful than "everyone".
3. The one action that counts
Booking, calling, buying, requesting a quote, signing up. Pick the action that pays the bills; every page should make it easy.
4. The pages you need
List them, even roughly: Home, Services, Prices, About, Contact. Mark which ones already have text and which need writing.
5. Sites you like (and why)
Three to five links, each with one line on what you like about it: the menu, the photography, how prices are shown. "I like it" on its own tells a designer very little.
6. Brand assets
- Logo in a vector format (SVG, AI or PDF), not a screenshot
- Brand colours and fonts, if you have them
- Photos you own the rights to, in the largest size you have
7. Access
Who controls the domain name and the DNS? Who has the login? This one item causes more launch-day delays than any other.
8. Legal details
Your registered company name, address and registration number, so the legal pages and the footer are right from the start.
9. Tone of voice
Three adjectives are enough: for example "warm, precise, unhurried". They steer copy and design alike.
10. Dates that cannot move
A launch event, a season, a campaign. Say so at the start; it changes how the work is planned.
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