How to Write a Web Design Brief (Free Template Included)

So, everyone’s agreed - the time has come for a new website. But, before you dive in headfirst and email a bunch of website design agencies about your project, (hello there!), you need a brief.

A BRIEF, you say? Do I really need a website design brief?

The answer is yes, yes, you do. Unless, of course, you revel in complete chaos, have unlimited budget and time at your disposal, and love headaches? We like none of these things.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to the world of possibilities a well-crafted website design brief unlocks, and help write yours. We’ve even made a template you can use (for free!) so you can get stuck in, and get your project off to a good start.

What is a website design brief?

Call it a roadmap, call it a blueprint - a website design brief is a document that outlines your project in as much detail as possible, including everything from your objectives and target audience to technical integrations and content management requirements.

The key aim of your brief isn’t to list every last requirement, or have all the answers; it’s to get everyone, that’s your marketing team, your stakeholders, and your agency partner, on the same page. 

We believe the best design briefs are crafted from a collaborative approach, where everyone involved in the project has the opportunity to input their expertise, ask questions, assess needs and wants, and even gain fresh perspectives on potential proposals.

Strong digital design comes from strong working relationships, and a well-conceived brief offers designers that all-important call for collaboration. It’s an invitation to work with you, to create a digital experience of your brand that outshines your competitors

Why do you need a web design brief?

Nothing good comes out of a brief-less project, certainly not a powerful website. A quick list of bullet points isn’t going to cut it. Here are the quick-fire reasons that time spent on your brief is time saved in the website design and build:

• Clarity from the start – No guessing games or scope-related miscommunications, just clear expectations.
• Smoother process – Fewer revisions, less back and forth, more satisfaction and optimism.
• Stronger collaboration – When designers understand your goals, they can develop solutions specifically with your audience and your business in mind. And so, by nature of bespoke design solutions, the result will lean into what makes you different.
• Content realism - Your website’s content matters. Get the ball rolling on your content requirements now, so these don’t stall your project later down the line.
• Tech spec - From operations to marketing, your most valuable digital asset should boost every aspect of your business. Task automations, integrations; list all your requirements here.
• Better results – A well-crafted brief leads to a site that meets all your objectives, and then some. If you're looking nail your website redesign project, start with nailing the brief.

Your complete guide to writing the best website design brief

Whether this is the first brief you’ve ever written (and you want to get it right!) or you’ve been here before, the easiest way to get started is by focusing on the big picture and working down into the nittier, grittier detail as you go. 

Here’s our 10-point guide to writing your brief:

1. Your business, and your target audience

This is our chance to get to know you, so introduce yourself. Who are you and what do you do? What gets your team out of bed in the morning, and what makes you, you? 

A concise summary of your story-to-date sets the context and offers a clear idea of the kind of business you are from the get-go. Use this opportunity to introduce the team responsible for the project management, any stakeholders, and include key contact details to establish clear communication channels from the start.

Your audience(s) are fundamental to your business, so provide a clear picture of who they are, what their needs are, and how your business or brand serves them.

2. Your competitors

We always do our own research. But it goes without saying that you know your space better than anyone, and certainly us. 

Think about the sites you come up against when pitching, or those prospects mention before choosing you. Are they playing it safe and conventional, or trying to stand out? Understanding where you sit in that landscape helps us design something that feels intentional rather than accidental.

Take a look at a few competitor sites and note what stands out to you, whether good or bad. It might be something visual, like typography or layout, or something functional, like how they structure services, case studies, or calls to action. These observations give us useful signals about what you want to emulate, avoid, or improve.

3. Your current website, and your challenges

Before thinking about what your new website could or should be, it’s important to understand what your current one is actually doing for you.

Start with the basics. Share a few key metrics that give a sense of performance: traffic levels, conversions, lead quality, search visibility, or anything else you use to judge success. Numbers alone don’t tell the full story, but they help us base everything in data and evidence.

From there, reflect on how the site supports (or doesn’t support) your wider business and marketing goals. Are you struggling to explain what you do? Is the site attracting the wrong audience? Does it look credible but fail to convert? Or is it simply difficult to update and slowing your team down?

Be honest about what isn’t working. The friction points are often the most useful part of the brief. They help identify whether the problem is messaging, structure, user experience, technology, or something more fundamental about how the business is positioned.

4. Your priorities and key user journeys

You’ve introduced your audience, now it’s time to focus on what they actually need to do.

Not all users are equal, and not all journeys deserve the same weight. A clear website brief should identify who the site is primarily for, and what actions matter most.

Outline your priority audiences and the key journeys the website must support. This helps your design partner make informed decisions about structure, navigation, and content hierarchy, instead of trying to give everything equal prominence.

Things to consider:

• Who is the primary audience this website is designed for?
• Are there secondary audiences with different needs?
• What are the top three actions users should be able to complete easily?
• What decision are users trying to make when they arrive?

Clarity here ensures the website is designed around real behaviour, not assumptions.

5. Defining success and how it will be measured

You’ve set your goals - now define what success actually looks like.

A website project doesn’t end at launch. Without agreed success measures, feedback can quickly become subjective and progress difficult to evaluate.

Use your brief to outline how you’ll judge the effectiveness of the new website in the months following launch. This doesn’t need to be overly technical, but it should be intentional.

You might include:

• The outcomes that matter most to your business (e.g. enquiries, engagement, clarity, usability)
• Any existing benchmarks you want to improve on
• What success looks like 3–6 months post-launch

This shared definition helps align expectations and gives the project a clear sense of purpose beyond aesthetics.

6. The brand and your design thinking

This section helps us understand how fixed - or how flexible - your brand currently is. Are we talking about a full rebrand or a quick refresh? 

If you already have established brand guidelines, share them here. That might include logo usage, colour palettes, typography, imagery styles, tone of voice, or layout principles. If a rebrand is underway, include whatever work-in-progress assets exist so we can design with the direction of travel in mind.

Just as useful is understanding how you feel about your brand. Does it still reflect where the business is today, or is it starting to feel dated?

It’s also helpful to share any design references you’ve collected; sites you admire, visual styles you’re drawn to, or approaches you know aren't right. These don’t need to be in your sector. Often, the most useful references come from completely different industries but capture the clarity, tone, or confidence you want your site to convey.

7. Content, Resources, Sitemap & Scope

Before moving into technical detail, it’s helpful to establish the overall shape of the website. Being clear about what exists, what’s missing, and who’s responsible for producing it makes a huge difference to timelines and outcomes.

Start by outlining the types of content your site needs to include. This might be service pages, case studies, insights, team profiles, resources, or something more specialist. If you already have a sitemap or rough structure, share it. If not, even a simple list of expected content types helps shape design decisions early.

This doesn’t need to be final or exhaustive. A simple outline is often enough, such as:

• Core pages
• Key sections
• Any anticipated templates or content types

Is there copy that can be reused or refined? Do you have photography, video, or brand assets ready to go? Or will everything need to be created from scratch? Knowing this upfront helps avoid the common situation where the design is ready, but the content isn’t.

It’s also important to clarify ownership. Who will write the copy? Who will source imagery? Will your internal team handle this, or do you want your web partner to collaborate with copywriters, photographers, or SEO specialists? 

8. Technical specifications and your requirements

Outline any technical decisions that have already been made, as well as anything that’s still up for discussion. This might include your preferred CMS - whether that’s Craft or WordPress - along with hosting requirements, security considerations, or performance expectations.

It’s also important to flag any integrations the site will need to support. Things like CRM systems, marketing automation tools, analytics platforms, booking systems, payment providers, or third-party data sources. Even if you’re unsure how they’ll connect, knowing they exist helps the design and development teams plan for them from the outset.

Don’t forget your operational needs, either. Who will manage the site day to day? Does the team need flexible editing tools, workflow approvals, or multilingual support? Are there accessibility, compliance, or reporting requirements that need to be baked in?

9. The maintenance and your site’s health

A website is never finished. Planning for what happens after go-live helps protect the investment you’ve just made and keeps the site working as it should.

Use this part of the brief to think about hosting, updates, monitoring, and ongoing improvements. Who’s responsible for security patches, CMS updates, performance checks, and backups? How will issues be spotted and resolved? And how often will the site be reviewed to make sure it’s still supporting your goals?

It’s also worth considering optimisation, not just maintenance. A healthy site evolves: content gets refined, pages get added, performance gets tuned, and insights from analytics feed into ongoing improvements.

Many organisations choose to partner with their web team for ongoing support so they have continuity, faster response times, and a team that already understands how the site is put together. If that’s something you’re considering, this is the place in the brief to note it.

10. The next steps, and your budget

Give all the design agencies you reach out to the chance to put their best foot forward, and outline the budget, project timeline, and tender requirements at the end of your brief. 

Include details of dates for both the bidding process and the project as a whole, with any additional details surrounding the launch deadline. A clear idea of your budget allows design agencies to pitch solutions that meet it.

The result will be next-level quality proposals from your chosen agencies, and confidence in your final choice of agency partner.

The Mud team’s tips for your website brief

We've read a few briefs in our time as website designers and developers. Some good, some average, and some not-so-good. 

Here are a few top tips from our studio to help make yours the good kind:

• Keep it factual and to the point (bullet points, in fact)
• Keep an open mind; collaboration always produces the best outcomes
• Don’t fly solo on this one. Get as much input as possible from across disciplines and departments, to make sure nothing gets overlooked or forgotten.
• Bring your expectations and your goals, but trust your design partner to bring their creative solutions to you.

Get started with our free website design brief template

Download our free, easy-to-use, brief template, and get your project underway. You’ll save time and have a clear format to provide all the necessary information required to brief potential design partners on your project (hello!). 

We've been around this block, well, many, many times, and all we can say is be completely assured that the work you put into your website design brief now will save you time, budget, and sanity later. 

Got your brief ready to go? Drop us a line. We’re pretty great at turning well-crafted briefs into websites that sing!