How to Write a Web Design Brief (Template and Example)

A web design brief is the document that tells an agency or designer what you need, why you need it, and what limits they're working within. A good one gets you accurate quotes, a faster start and fewer rounds of "that's not what we meant." A weak one gets you a proposal full of assumptions and a project that drifts.

Below are the ten sections a useful brief covers, a template you can copy, and a filled-in example for a B2B SaaS startup. It's written for founders and marketing leads who are about to hire someone to design or redesign their website.

What a web design brief is (and what it isn't)

A brief is written by the client, usually a founder or the marketing lead, before or during the agency search. It describes the business problem the website has to solve. It doesn't describe the solution in detail. That's the designer's job, and a brief that dictates every layout leaves you paying for execution without getting the thinking.

Two other documents get confused with the brief:

If you write a solid brief, the questionnaire becomes short, because most answers are already there. And the SOW becomes easier to check, because you can hold every deliverable against what the brief asked for.

What to include in a web design brief

1. Company and product context

Two or three paragraphs on what you do, for whom, and where the company is right now. Stage matters more than people think. A pre-seed startup that needs a credible site for its first investor meetings needs a different project from a Series A company whose sales team depends on the site for pipeline.

Include your one-line positioning if you have one, and say if it's still changing. An agency can work with "we're not sure yet," but only if you say so up front.

2. The problem and measurable goals

Why now? Something triggered this project: a rebrand, a new product line, a funding round, a site that doesn't convert, a CMS your team can't edit. Name it plainly.

Then turn it into two or three goals you can measure. "More leads" is a wish. "Increase demo requests from the website from about 40 to 80 a month within six months of launch" is a goal the designer can design toward and you can check later. If you don't have baseline numbers, say that too, and make setting up tracking part of the scope.

3. Target audience

Describe the people who need to make a decision on your site, not demographics. For a B2B product that usually means two or three roles: the person who finds you (often a manager or individual contributor), the person who signs off (a head of department or founder), and sometimes the person who checks security or compliance.

For each, write what they need to know before they'll take the next step, and what makes them hesitate. If you have sales call notes or customer interviews, pull the actual phrases people use. They're worth more than any persona template.

4. Current site and data

If this is a redesign, share what works and what doesn't, with numbers where possible: top pages by traffic, conversion rates on key pages, organic search traffic and the queries that bring it. Give the agency read access to analytics and Search Console if you can.

This section protects you. A page your team considers outdated might bring in a large share of your organic signups. If the agency doesn't know, it might cut that page, and that traffic goes with it. The website redesign process guide covers how to protect rankings in more detail.

5. Competitors and references

List three to five competitors your buyers also look at, with a sentence on what each does well or badly. Then add three to five reference sites you like, from any industry, and say specifically what you like about each: the way pricing is laid out, the tone of the copy, how the product is shown.

"I like Linear's site" tells the designer very little. "I like how Linear shows the product in motion right in the hero, instead of a stock illustration" tells them a lot.

6. Scope: pages, templates, features

List the pages you expect, grouped by type: homepage, product or feature pages, use case or industry pages, pricing, case studies, blog, about, careers, legal. Mark which ones are new and which exist already.

Then list features beyond static pages: demo booking, a pricing calculator, gated content, a changelog, multi-language support, integrations with your CRM or marketing tools. Each feature affects the quote, so missing ones lead to change requests later.

Be explicit about what's out of scope. "Blog redesign is phase two" saves a long conversation in week five.

7. Content: what exists, who writes

Content is the most common reason website projects run late. The brief should answer three questions: what content already exists and can be reused, who writes new copy (your team, the agency, a freelance copywriter), and who supplies images, product screenshots and video.

If the agency is writing copy, say so here, because it changes both price and timeline. If your team is writing it, set a realistic date for drafts and plan for it to slip.

8. Brand assets and design direction

Share your logo files, brand guidelines, fonts and color palette, and say how fixed they are. "The logo stays, everything else can change" is useful. So is "we're open to a full rebrand if the agency thinks it's needed."

Describe the impression you want the site to leave in three to five words, and add a few words you want to avoid. "Precise, calm, technical, not corporate" gives a designer more to work with than a list of colors.

9. Technical requirements

This section is often skipped and then causes the most expensive surprises. Cover:

> * Platform. Do you have a preferred CMS (Webflow, WordPress, Framer, a headless CMS), or should the agency recommend one? Who will edit the site after launch?

> * Integrations. CRM, marketing automation, analytics, chat, scheduling, product sign-up.

> * Hosting and domain. Who owns them, who has access.

> * SEO and migration. If URLs will change, the agency needs to plan redirects. Say whether you expect them to handle it.

> * Accessibility. If you sell to enterprise, public sector or EU customers, you'll likely need to meet WCAG 2.2 AA. Put it in the brief so it's designed in, not patched later.

> * Security and compliance. Cookie consent, data processing, any requirements your customers' security teams check.

10. Budget, timeline, decision makers

Share a budget range. Many clients hold it back to see what agencies propose, but without it you get proposals that are hard to compare: one agency quotes a template site, another a full research project. A range lets every agency propose the best thing they can do for that money. Our guide to web design agency pricing can help you set a realistic number.

For timeline, give the launch date and say whether it's fixed (a conference, a funding announcement) or a preference. Then name who approves design decisions, and who else needs to be consulted. One clear decision maker per stage speeds up a project more than any tool.

Web design brief template

Copy this into a doc and fill in each row. Short answers are fine. If you don't know something, write "not sure" rather than leaving it blank, so the agency knows to ask.

Web design brief example: B2B SaaS startup

Here's what a filled-in brief can look like. The company is fictional, but the situation is typical of the startups we work with.

Company. Northwind AP is a Series A startup building accounts payable automation for mid-market companies, 50 to 500 employees. Positioning: "Close the books without chasing invoices." Team of 35, sales-led with a free trial.

Why now. The site was built at seed stage on a template and still describes a single product. We've since launched approvals and vendor payments, and the site doesn't explain them. Sales reps send PDFs because the site doesn't answer basic questions.

Goals. Raise demo requests from the site from about 60 to 100 a month within six months. Cut the share of first sales calls spent explaining what the product does. Let marketing publish landing pages without developer help.

Audience. Finance managers and AP leads find us through search and peer recommendations. They need to see that the product handles their volume and plugs into their ERP. CFOs approve the purchase. They care about control, audit trails and time saved at month end. Their security team checks SOC 2 status.

Current site. About 2,000 organic visits a month, mostly to five blog posts and the homepage. The integrations page converts best. Pricing page has high exits. Analytics and Search Console access available.

Competitors and references. Three direct competitors listed with notes. References: Ramp for clear product visuals, Mercury for calm tone, Linear for page speed and restraint.

Scope. Homepage, three product pages, integrations hub (CMS collection, about 40 items), pricing, four industry pages, customers page with case study template, about, careers, security page. Blog keeps its current design in this phase.

Content. We have case study drafts and product screenshots. We need help with homepage and product page copy. Product marketing will write industry pages from the agency's templates.

Brand. Logo and primary color stay. Typography and illustration style can change. Desired impression: precise, calm, trustworthy, modern. Avoid: playful, crypto-looking, generic fintech blue gradients.

Technical. Open to Webflow or Framer, marketing must be able to edit. HubSpot forms and Chili Piper booking. Some blog URLs may change, so we need a redirect plan. WCAG 2.2 AA required by two enterprise prospects.

Budget and timeline. Range shared with shortlisted agencies. Launch before the annual finance conference in early March, fixed date.

People. Head of marketing approves design. CEO consulted on homepage and positioning. Product marketing manager is the day-to-day contact.

This example fits on two pages. An agency can quote it, spot risks (the fixed conference date, the copy workload) and come back with focused questions instead of a 50-item questionnaire.

Questions a web design agency will ask you

Even with a strong brief, expect a discovery call or a short questionnaire. These are the questions that come up most often, so it's worth preparing answers:

> * What happens if the site works perfectly? What changes for the business?

> * Which page on your current site would you keep exactly as it is, and why?

> * Who has to say yes to the design, and who can block it?

> * What did you not like about previous agencies or freelancers?

> * Is the launch date fixed, and what happens if it moves?

> * Who will maintain the site after launch, and how technical are they?

> * What content is ready today, not "nearly ready"?

> * Are there any upcoming changes (pricing, product, funding, rebrand) the site needs to absorb?

The answers to the last two often change the project plan more than anything else in the brief.

Common web design brief mistakes

Describing the solution instead of the problem. "We need a video hero and a mega menu" closes off options. "Visitors don't understand what the product does in the first ten seconds" lets the designer find the best answer.

Listing every stakeholder's wish. A brief assembled from ten people's notes reads like ten projects. Someone has to prioritize before it goes out.

Hiding the budget. You'll get proposals that can't be compared, and you'll spend weeks narrowing scope that could have been set on day one.

Ignoring the existing site's data. Without it, the agency redesigns based on opinion, and pages that bring traffic or leads can disappear.

Forgetting who edits the site later. A beautiful site that only a developer can change becomes outdated within a few months.

What happens after you send the brief

At Glow, the brief is the starting point for discovery, not a fixed spec. In the first week we interview your team, look at your data and competitors, and turn the brief into a positioning brief and a sitemap that you sign off before any design starts. Typical website projects run 6 to 10 weeks from there, and landing pages 2 to 3 weeks. You can see what's included on our web design services page, and how the first days of a project work in our client onboarding process.

FAQ

How long should a website brief be?

Two to five pages is enough for most startup and SaaS sites. Long enough to cover goals, audience, scope, technical needs, budget and timeline, short enough that every stakeholder actually reads it. If yours runs past ten pages, it probably includes design decisions that belong in the project itself.

What are the 7 main specifications of a design brief?

Most frameworks list company background, project objectives, target audience, scope and deliverables, design preferences, budget and timeline. For a website, add technical requirements and the state of your current content, because those two cause the most delays and cost surprises.

What is an example of a design brief?

A design brief for a website might say: a Series A fintech startup needs a new marketing site to explain three products, double demo requests within six months, integrate with HubSpot, meet WCAG 2.2 AA, and launch before a fixed conference date, within a stated budget range. The full example above shows each section in detail.

Who should write the web design brief?

The client writes it, usually the founder at early stage or the marketing lead later. The person writing it should be the person who will approve the final design, or work closely with them, so the brief reflects real priorities and not a committee's wish list.