Are you hoping for a website redesign or development project that runs smoothly, and meets timeframes & budgets? If the answer is likely yes, then a great brief from the outset is essential in achieving this.
Why write a brief?
A proper written brief is not old-school or a thing of the past, they’re just as important as ever! Briefs can help to make sure that everyone is on the same page with the requirements, therefore making your project more cost & time effective.
What should you include in a brief?
We find the below areas really helpful to be detailed within a brief:
1. Project Background
Providing an overview of the project background & strategic context of the project requirements can be really helpful to getting the website designers & developers up-to-speed with your world. It will help to steer the recommended approach & rationale throughout the project.
2. Audience
Having an overview of the target audiences that the website is aimed towards is critical to making sure that the website meets the needs of your users. As the client, you will have a good idea of who these audiences are and we can help to distil these into user personas.
3. Project Requirements
Defining a list of specific project requirements that need to be considered & actioned is important to make sure that the project does what you need it to do.
4. Content
It can be helpful to have an understanding of content upfront so that this can be used throughout the website design & development process to help bring it to life. The use of dummy text can make it hard to have a clear vision for the project.
5. Project Targets
If you have any project targets or measurement KPIs, it’s good to share these upfront as it can help to give an indication of the priorities for the project to help in achieving these.
6. Budget
If you have a set budget in mind, it’s always helpful to know this upfront so that the proposal you receive is within your budget.
7. Deadlines
Being transparent with the intended deadline and reason for this can help to ensure deadlines are met. This will also be used to inform the project timeframes. It’s important to be realistic with deadlines, but if a project has a very tight turnaround, there could be ways to consider phasing the project which can be considered at the start of the project.
8. Design References
If you have come across any other websites, whether these are competitors or not, can help your web company to understand the landscape better and will ultimately help in achieving a website that stands out from the crowd.
9. Housekeeping
Some simple things that are often missed is stating the names of the project lead & contact details, as well as the key stakeholders within the decision making process.
It’s important to note that in reality briefs often change over the course of the project. If this is the case, it’s helpful for the new scope to be captured and updated within the brief so that this is always up-to-date.
Top Tips
- Format the brief in a way that is easy to read and understand, with clear sections throughout
- Keep the brief succinct
- Make sure everyone that will be working on the project has had visibility of the brief
- Attach any supporting materials that may help, such as brand guidelines, audits and so on
If you would like to discuss how to brief a new project with us, we’d love to hear from you!