The brief we ask every client to write

Before our first workshop with a new client, we ask them to write a brief. Not a long one: a single page, answering seven questions in plain sentences. Some clients are surprised. They are paying a studio, after all, and writing briefs sounds like our job.

It is our job to write the final brief. But the first draft has to come from inside the business, because the most useful thing in it is not the answers. It is finding out whether the people around the table agree on them.

Why one page

Long briefs hide disagreement. A twenty-page document can describe three different websites at once without anyone noticing. One page forces choices, and the choices are what we need to design anything.

It does not need to be polished. Bullet points are fine, and so are typos. We would rather read three honest sentences from the managing director than a page of finished copy from someone who was not in the meeting.

It also tells us how decisions are made. If the brief comes back in a day, signed off by one person, we know the project will move quickly. If it takes three weeks and four rounds of comments, we plan the review stages accordingly, and we are glad we found out before the design phase rather than during it.

The seven questions

1. Why now? What has changed in the business that makes the current site a problem this year?
2. Who is the site for? Name the two or three types of visitor that matter most, in order.
3. What should those visitors do? One main action for each, such as book a call, buy, apply or visit.
4. How will we know it worked? A number you already track, and where it is today.
5. What must not change? Rankings, a booking engine, a URL structure, a piece of brand equity.
6. Who decides? One name for content, one for final sign-off.
7. What would make this project a failure? Be specific.

What good answers look like

A weak answer to the second question is “everyone”. A strong one sounds like this: “Operations managers at mid-sized manufacturers who are comparing us with two competitors, then their finance director, who needs to see accreditations and case studies before signing.” We can design for that person.

A weak answer to the fourth question is “more traffic”. A strong one is “Demo requests from the website are around 14 a month. We would like 30 within six months of launch.” That gives us a baseline, a target and a reason to set up tracking properly before launch rather than after.

The sixth question is often the hardest. Naming one person for sign-off can feel political. But a project where final approval is shared between five people is a project that will be redesigned in review, and the result is usually a compromise none of them wanted.

What we do with it

We read every brief before the workshop and mark where answers are vague or where two stakeholders have written different things. The workshop then spends its two hours on those gaps, not on introductions. By the end of the first week we turn the client’s page into our written brief: the same seven answers, sharpened, plus scope, platform, timeline and the measures we will report against.

Both sides sign it. From then on, every design decision can be checked against it. When a reviewer asks for a bigger logo or another carousel on the home page, the brief helps everyone ask whether it serves the visitor named in question two, or just the person in the room.

Write yours before you talk to anyone

You do not need to be working with us to use this. Write the seven answers before you speak to any studio, and send the same page to each one. You will get better proposals, easier comparisons and, often, a clearer idea of what you need. If two of your colleagues answer the first question differently, that conversation is worth having before anyone quotes.

If you would like the seven questions as a document to share internally, ask on the first call and we will send you the version we use.