A bad design brief is the single biggest cause of over-budget, over-schedule website projects. I have been on both sides of this — as the designer receiving a vague brief and as the agency producing one for a client. Here is exactly what needs to be in a design brief if you want an accurate quote and a project that finishes on time.
Start With Business Goals, Not Design Preferences
The most common mistake in a design brief is leading with aesthetics — “we want something clean and modern” — without establishing what the website needs to accomplish. A designer who does not understand your business goals cannot make good decisions about structure, copy hierarchy, or conversion architecture.
Your brief should open with: What is the primary business goal of this website? (Generate leads, sell products, book appointments, establish credibility?) What is your revenue model? Who is your target customer and what are they looking for when they arrive? According to a 2024 agency survey by Superside, 67% of project delays stem from unclear objectives at kickoff. A clear goal statement eliminates the most common source of scope creep.
Document Your Target Audience Specifically
Generic audience descriptions (“small business owners,” “homeowners”) give a designer nothing useful. Be specific: “Our primary customer is a San Diego homeowner aged 35–60, owns a home worth $700K+, is searching for HVAC repair after a unit failure, and is comparing 3 providers simultaneously.” That level of specificity shapes every design decision — urgency in the copy, trust signals in the layout, mobile optimization priority.
Also document what your customer is NOT. If you do not want DIY price-shoppers, say that. If you only serve commercial clients, not residential, that changes the site’s tone, imagery, and positioning entirely. This scoping saves weeks of revisions. See how we apply this at Derick Downs Digital when we onboard new web design clients.
List Every Page With Its Purpose
Do not just say “we need a new website.” List every page, what it needs to accomplish, and what the primary CTA on each page is. A page list might look like: Homepage (convert new visitors to contact form), Services — HVAC Repair (rank for ‘HVAC repair San Diego’, drive call requests), About (build trust with new visitors, humanize the brand), Contact (make it trivially easy to reach us).
This list becomes your scope document. Anything not on this list is out of scope. This protects you from scope creep and gives your designer clear criteria for what success looks like on each page.
Provide Examples of What You Like (And Why)
Sharing three to five websites you like is useful — but only if you explain what specifically you like about them. “I like this site’s homepage layout” is not actionable. “I like how this site shows the phone number in the sticky header and has a testimonial immediately below the hero image” is extremely actionable.
Equally useful: examples of what you do not want. Designers can avoid specific patterns more reliably than they can guess your aesthetic preferences. The clearer your references, the fewer revision rounds you will need.
Specify Technical Requirements Upfront
Platform preference (WordPress, Webflow, Squarespace), hosting environment, integrations needed (CRM, booking system, payment processor, live chat), and any existing tools you are locked into — all of this belongs in the brief. Discovering mid-project that a client uses a CRM that requires custom API work is a timeline and budget blow. Document it upfront and get it scoped accurately. Ready to start a project the right way? Book a strategy call and we will walk through your brief together.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be included in a web design brief?
A complete web design brief should include: business goals for the website, target audience description, full page list with each page’s purpose and CTA, examples of websites you like (with specific notes on why), brand assets (logo, colors, fonts), technical requirements (platform, integrations, hosting), timeline, and budget range. The more specific, the fewer surprises.
How long should a web design brief be?
A useful brief for a small service business website is typically 2–5 pages. It does not need to be a formal document — a well-organized Google Doc works fine. The goal is specificity, not length. A 10-page brief full of vague aesthetic preferences is less useful than a 2-page brief with clear goals, audience details, and page-level requirements.
What happens if I submit a bad design brief?
If you submit a vague brief, you will receive a vague — and often inflated — quote. Designers price for uncertainty. The vaguer the scope, the more buffer they build into the price. A poorly scoped brief also leads to revision cycles that cost you time and the designer money, which creates frustration on both sides.
Should I include my budget in the design brief?
Yes. Hiding your budget does not get you a better price — it gets you a quote that may be completely misaligned with reality. Sharing your budget range lets a designer propose the right approach for what you have to spend, rather than proposing a custom solution that is $10,000 over budget and requires a full scope revision.
How do I write a homepage brief for a web designer?
For the homepage specifically, document: the primary visitor (who is landing here and from where), the single most important action you want them to take, the three to four pieces of information a new visitor needs before they will take that action, and any specific trust signals or proof elements that should be visible. That is enough to design a high-converting homepage.
What design examples should I share with my web designer?
Share 3–5 competitor or industry-adjacent websites. For each one, note what specifically you like — navigation structure, hero section layout, color approach, typography style — and what you want to avoid. Also share one or two sites from completely different industries if they have a layout or element you want to reference. Context makes references useful.
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