Create a website design brief, the launch guide

You’re going to create or redesign a website.

But you, you are the type of person who is are pretty thorough and organized. And you’re right!

There is no way you launch your website creation without looking before you leap, without knowing exactly where you’re going. To do so, writing your website design brief, will be the perfect way, and maybe the only way, to make things clear, and to effectively light the path, before getting started.

Here are the essential steps, to draw up a design brief for the web. Let’s go!

Writing a brief for a website design or redesign

If you decide to write a design brief, before creating (or redesigning) a website, you will certainly not regret it

Because it’s a really useful tool, almost a prerequisite, to make sure all your goals are met, and to develop a website which fits all your requirements.

Writing down your expectations, your issues, and the outline of your web project in a written document, is a perfect way to avoid errors, and hedge against disappointments.

It also allows you to have a better and more accurate understanding, of what you really want.

So, a website brief design, how do we do it?

What does a website design brief look like?

A website design brief is usually a written document, of variable length, depending on the size of the project, which can also provide visual elements, such as logos, mockups, schemes, inspiring website examples, etc.

That’s a comprehensive, clear and concise document.

And we can add any specification to it, according to your needs, such as, for instance, legal terms, in case of a dispute with your provider, the follow up methodology, or any useful document.

Create a website

What does a web design brief include?

The design brief of your website will usually include:

• An overall presentation of your company and your digital project.
• A description of your graphic identity.
• Some information about your contents, the structure and usability of your website.
• A list of the technical and functional requirements you need to reach your goals.
• What you expect from your provider.
• Any other relevant information.

You have already waited long enough! Let’s start writing your digital design brief…

Design brief to create a website: The first steps

It’s time to define the outline of your website design brief: it will be a presentation of your business, your issues and needs.

First and foremost, present yourself!

Logically, we start by introducing ourselves: after all, that’s how the things go! Your design brief will contain, since the beginning of the document, in the presentation section:

• Some words about your company: sales revenue, business type, competitors, etc.
• A description of your products or services
• A profile of your target audience: age, sex, behavior...

But this part of your design brief will, also and above all, give details about your expectations with this web project: Why do you want to create (or redesign) a website?

Define your website goals and issues

We’re now moving to the preliminary reflection stage, before leaving for a new adventure, in the exciting field of web design.

Your current matter? Finding out for what reasons you have to create a website.

Your issues will be your web goals, because we always develop a website for accurate reasons. Determining them will allow you to be more effective.

Thus, you would perhaps like:

• To increase awareness of your company or organization: visibility is certainly one of the first benefits of a web presence.
• To improve your sales performance: if you’re more visible and your site is compelling, that will inevitably impact on your sales revenue
• To enhance your brand reputation: Your website is a full part of your corporate communication.
• To build a community: the internet clearly has a unifying nature, it’s an ideal place to bring people of all backgrounds together, around shared interests.
• To create an exchange platform about a specific topic: It can be your main goal, if you manage a social or charitable organization. In this case, your website will perhaps have a forum, for instance, allowing people to discuss one or more specific topics.

...Or even, a mix of several of these elements! Because, after all, there’s nothing wrong with wanting more!

Based on these issues, you will be able to determine your goals, qualitative and quantitative (amount of traffic, sales,... ).
And, as a result, you will also know what type of website to build: online shop, presentation website, corporate website…

You have clarified and written down your motivations? Well!

We’re going now to address the aesthetic question, … because, on the web, taking care about your appearance, is absolutely not superficial!

Define your graphic identity

Your web design brief will have to include your graphic charter.

Indeed, your website is a full part of your communication strategy, and should be relevant with all the communication materials of your company or organization.

Thus, it is really important to specify your colors, to add all the variations of your logo, the pictures or visual elements you want to associate with your brand, and the fonts you usually use, etc.

Your pages will be drop dead gorgeous, and graphically relevant. Perfect.

But what will you fill them with? Quid of the content of your new website?

What contents for your new website?

You certainly have already a fair volume of content to insert into your webpages: visual ou textual elements, videos, diagrams, schemes, etc

Itemizing and assessing your content will allow you to have an idea of the size of your website project (number of pages). If you have a lot of information to convey, plan a multi-page structure. On the contrary, if your content volume is low, a one page structure will be enough. Even if we always advise you to consider a multi-page website in order to improve your SEO!

Create my site

Define your website structure

Now that you have defined your contents, it’s time to organize them and to design the tree structure of your website. Spread the information on your different pages, and set up some sections, parts and categories…

Also, define your website navigation, ensuring it to be as pleasant and intuitive as possible, and leading your visitors to where you want them to go. You can build a mockup, to have a concrete idea of your page aspect.

That’s it. You can visualize your website. Now, a question arises: How to proceed, technically speaking?

The technical requirements of your new website

You can also add some technical details to your web design brief: for instance, you can specify if you want a secured site, or with a customizable mobile version, or you can also indicate if you want your provider to take charge of the domain and / or hosting, or of the technical updates of your website….

Let’s stay on the technical matter of your website, and take a look at the tools and materials you need to build your website: What features do you need for your web project?

Focus on your goals: Build your web strategy

Your digital strategy, in short, should match the means employed to reach the marketing goals, that you have defined earlier!
Thus let's start the functional description of your website.
You can already think about the kind of tools you will need:

• SEO features, for ranking,
• A blog for virality and visibility
• Forms, to engage your prospects, with an online quotation request, for instance
• Links to your social media accounts, to unite your community
• Comments to display customer reviews and increase the trust of your target audience
• An online store, to sell your products on the web
• A limited access section, to share some information in a secure mode, or to sell virtual products (picture or music download...)
• A newsletter block, to retain your users,
• etc.

Writing your website design brief will let you check if your provider is able to supply all the tools you’ll need, to reach your marketing goals. And thus, to avoid nasty surprises (and some stress).

When we’re speaking about website creation, as for a lot of projects, the keyword remains anticipation. Let’s stay cool and go on!

Create a design brief to launch a website

You covered all the issues around your website design, and you’re ready to get into the topic substance, the real preparation of your website: provider choice, budget and allocated resources for the web creation process… Let’s go!

Choose a provider: the best one for you!

There are a lot of options to set up your website design.

Obviously, you can choose to hire a web agency or a web designer. The design brief of your website will be the document given to the provider, to establish a quotation, as a first step, and then for the project execution.

But you also have to know that it’s no longer required to hire an expensive expert. Online design softwares allow you to design and manage your website on your own, even if you have no technical knowledge.

With this kind of tool, you only need a mouse and an internet connection, to access your website dashboard, at every time and from everywhere.

Website design brief: Determine the price

If you complete the process of reflection we just talked about, you should have all the necessary information to estimate the budget of your website design.

The cost of your project will be determined depending on two essential factors:

• Your needs (that you have just accurately defined)
• The resources (time, staff, money…) you want to allocate to the creation (or redesign) of your website

Carefully consider the existing services, in order to, obviously, choose the right provider, according to your needs and resources.

Another important aspect to consider, when choosing a website design solution, is the management of your future website.

Also think about the management system of your new website

Your website, like every internet page, has to be frequently updated. Product launch, company news, information updates, new activities….You’ll have thousands of opportunities to refresh your content.

Thus, it’s time now to ask yourself which provider will let you easily and quickly manage your webpages. And, above all, it's time to choose the one who will perfectly fit the way you function professionally. The management system of your website is an essential factor which is sometimes neglected.

The choice of the management system will depend on your strategic priorities, but also, one more time, on the resources you want to use for your website design. As we just saw, the website builders allow instant access to your website editing page, wherever you are.

You can, very easily, update your website pages on your own: at any time, from everywhere. So, you won’t have to rely on anyone else, if you have a picture to insert, or a piece of news to send… Quite convenient, isn't it? And it should interest you, if you like autonomy and freedom

Create a website

Here it is! We reviewed all parts of the design brief you can set, in order to create or redesign your website. As we discussed, it’s strongly recommended to carefully go through these steps, without forgetting anything, to have a global overview and to launch your website with a full background knowledge…

And thus to head straight towards success, without making mistakes!