The quality of a website project is shaped long before design starts. A good brief helps an agency understand your business, price the work fairly and avoid surprises.
What a good brief includes
- 1About your business: what you do and who you serve.
- 2Goals: what the website must achieve and how you will measure it.
- 3Audience: who visits and what they need to do.
- 4Scope: the pages and must-have features.
- 5Content and assets: what you have and what still needs creating.
- 6References: sites you like and dislike, with reasons.
- 7Timeline: key dates such as a launch or campaign.
- 8Budget range: even an approximate one.
- 9Decision process: who approves work and how quickly.
Questions to ask the agency
- How will you learn about our customers before designing?
- Is the quote fixed, and what exactly does it include?
- What happens after launch, and who supports us?
- Who will we talk to week to week?
- Can we see similar work?
Red flags
- A price with no list of deliverables.
- No questions about your goals or customers.
- No plan for testing, speed or accessibility.
- Unclear ownership of the finished design and code.
- Pressure to sign quickly.
Make decisions easier
Name one person who can say yes, collect feedback into a single list rather than many separate messages, and agree review dates at the start. Slow decisions are the most common reason projects overrun.
Ready to brief us? Send your project details and we will come back with a plan, a timeline and a quote.