How to Write a Website Brief

By the end of this doc, you'll be able to:

• Understand what a website brief is and why it matters
• Write a website brief that gives clear direction, for your own site or a client's
• Build a client questionnaire to collect the right information upfront

What Is a Website Brief?

A website brief, also called a web design brief, outlines a project's goals, audience, requirements, and constraints before design begins. It's the shared source of truth for decisions and disagreements. A good brief doesn't need to be long, just clear enough that two readers picture the same website.

A brief typically covers:

• The business behind the site: who they are and what they do
• Why the project is happening now (a first website, rebrand, outdated site, or new product launch)
• Who the site needs to reach, and what those visitors should do once they arrive
• The pages, features, and integrations the site needs
• Brand assets, competitor examples, and design inspiration
• Budget, timeline, and how success will be measured

Length varies with the project — most briefs run one to ten pages, long enough to remove ambiguity, short enough to get read.

How to Write a Website Brief

Build it in layers: start broad, then narrow to specifics. It's a working document; you don't need every section right first time.

Start with why the project is happening

What problem does this website solve, what led to this, and what would change if it succeeds? Capture the goal in one or two sentences. "Increase demo bookings for our safety training courses by 50% this year" gives a design team something to aim at; "we want a nicer website" doesn't.

Give background on the business 

Summarise what the company does, its history, and its market position: best value, premium, or in between. If a site exists, note when it was built and last updated, and which pages convert well today. Carry that forward instead of redesigning it away.

Define who the site needs to convert

Describe your audience by what matters to them, not demographics — "local homeowners researching a kitchen renovation" beats "homeowners." Note their pain points, relationship with the product, and how this project changes things for them.

Map out the actions you want visitors to take

Most websites offer more than one path: a new visitor might read a guide and join a mailing list; a warm lead books a call. Map primary and secondary actions so pages serve people at every stage.

Outline the pages and features you need

A rough sitemap is enough. List features the site can't launch without, and flag non-negotiable integrations: a CRM, booking system, members' login.

Decide who's responsible for what

Say who's supplying each: brand assets, copy, photography or video, translations, and note anything still needing production. After launch, decide who maintains the site day-to-day and drives launch activity.

Share references, not just descriptions

Link to two or three competitor sites and two or three you admire, noting what you like about each: navigation, tone, layout. Do the same for your marketing materials, brand guidelines, and logo, fonts, and colours.

Add your constraints

Budget, deadline, brand guidelines, hosting, domain, and SEO expectations belong here, plus anything with real technical weight: accessibility standards, cookie consent rules, required platform or CMS, and any payment or third-party tool the site must connect to.

Define what success looks like

Decide upfront how you'll know the site worked: more enquiries, lower bounce rate, higher conversion on a page. If analytics or a CRM exists, connect it from day one. Decide who owns the site once live, too, handling updates and maintenance.

Get feedback before calling it final

Circulate the brief to stakeholders, clients, or teammates before it's locked in. Name a single point of contact who can approve decisions, and confirm the timeline, budget, and objectives.

Client Questionnaire: Website Brief Questions to Ask

Gathering a brief from a client? A client questionnaire gets better answers than an open-ended "tell me about your project" chat. Clients often don't know what matters until asked.

Build it around key website brief questions, structured in the same layers as the brief:

• Business context — When was the company founded? What do they sell, and to whom? What's changed recently?
• Current site (if any) — When was it built and last updated? Which pages convert best today?
• Goals — What's the single most important outcome? How will they know it worked?
• Audience — Who are their best customers today? Who do they wish they had more of?
• Content and features — What pages do they need? Is content ready, or does it need writing? Who's sourcing copy and photos, and by when?
• Design direction — Do they have brand guidelines, or does this project need to establish them? Which competitor or inspiration sites do they like, and why?
• Logistics — Budget? Deadline? Who's involved, and who has final sign-off?

Don't skip analytics access on an existing site; you risk redesigning pages that already work. Clients won't always have ready answers on audience or brand guidelines; treat gaps as something to resolve.

Turn the answers into a brief, flagging gaps or contradictions before design begins. Keep the brief accessible to the team, with links to the client's site, assets, and examples.

📝 If a client sends speculative designs with their answers, treat them as inspiration, not a finished direction.

Website Brief Template & Example

[Add template(s)/examples here - currently creating LumerOS brief]

What's Next After Finalising Your Website Brief

A finished brief becomes a sitemap and wireframes next. A tool like Relume can help: feed in the goals, audience, and pages from your brief to start from a working draft, then refine the wireframes and copy using your brand assets and references.

Related Articles

• Setting Up Your First Relume Project
• Building a Sitemap From Your Website Brief
• Discovery Call Questions to Ask Before You Design
• Client Onboarding Checklist