A website design brief gives your designer the information needed to plan the right site, define the work and prepare a meaningful quote. It should explain who your customers are, what the website needs to achieve, which pages and features you need, and the budget and timing available.

You do not need to know how to build a website to write a useful brief. You need a clear picture of your business and the decisions the project must support.

This guide explains what to include, shows a practical Sydney business example and provides a website design brief template you can copy into your own document. Use it for a new website or adapt it for a redesign.

What is a website design brief?

A website design brief is a working document that describes the purpose, audience and requirements of a website project. It helps you and your agency agree on priorities before design and development begin.

A strong brief also identifies unanswered questions. If you are unsure which platform to use or how a booking system should work, explain the outcome you need and ask the agency to recommend an approach.

The brief becomes an input to the proposal and agreed scope. Check that the final proposal captures your requirements, including exclusions, responsibilities and recurring costs.

How to write a website design brief

1. Start with your business and the problem to solve

Describe what you sell, who you serve and why you are investing in a website now. Be specific about the current problem: customers cannot find a service, the business has changed, enquiries are unsuitable, or staff struggle to update the site.

The Australian Government’s guide to setting up a business website starts with website goals and how they support your wider business plans. Use that connection to set a primary goal and decide how you will review progress.

For example, “make it easier for commercial property managers to request a maintenance quote” gives the designer more direction than “make the website modern”. Record your current enquiry volume and quality if you have reliable data. Otherwise, ask for measurement to be included so you can establish a baseline after launch.

2. Describe your customers and their decisions

Explain the customer’s situation, the questions they ask before contacting you and the information that helps them choose. Useful details include the service they need, their buying concerns and whether they are usually researching on a phone or at a desk.

For a Sydney service business, specify the suburbs or regions you actually serve. An emergency electrician covering the Inner West needs a different customer journey from a consultancy working with clients across Australia.

List the main actions visitors should be able to complete. These might be checking service coverage, comparing options, viewing relevant projects or requesting a quote. Rank them so the design has a clear priority.

3. List pages, content and brand assets

Write a provisional page list. For each page, identify its purpose, the content available and the person responsible for supplying or approving it. Your agency can refine the structure, but a page list makes the initial scope much clearer.

• Home: introduce the business and direct visitors to its main services.

• Service pages: explain each offering, suitability, process and next step.

• Projects or case studies: show relevant work using approved photography and factual descriptions.

• About and contact: provide the team information and contact options customers need.

Include estimated quantities. “Six service pages and eight existing projects to migrate” is easier to price than “services and a portfolio”. Ask whether repeated pages use a shared layout and how much content entry is included.

Share your logo files, brand guidelines, photography and existing copy. Specify whether new copywriting, photography or brand development belongs in the project. Creato’s guide to incorporating branding into web design explains how those visual choices work together.

4. Explain features as complete customer journeys

A feature name rarely describes all the work involved. “Online bookings” could mean a link to an existing scheduling tool or a system with availability, payments, reminders and cancellations.

For each feature, explain what the visitor does, what happens next and who receives the information. Name any existing tools that must connect to the website.

For an enquiry form, specify the fields, destination inbox or customer relationship management system, confirmation message and any file-upload requirement. For an online shop, include product quantities, variations, payment methods, delivery regions and fulfilment processes.

Separate launch essentials from later improvements. Ask for optional features to be priced separately so you can make trade-offs without losing sight of the core project.

5. Define design direction and quality expectations

Share a few reference websites and explain what you like about each: the clarity of navigation, photography, typography or way projects are presented. Include anything you want to avoid. References are a conversation starter; the finished design should reflect your own business.

Describe how the site must work on mobile and which tasks need testing. Include accessibility from the start. W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provide testable success criteria at defined levels. Ask the agency to specify the standard and level being targeted, such as WCAG 2.2 AA, the testing included and how issues will be resolved.

Agree how page performance will be assessed, including the pages and devices tested. A vague promise of a “fast website” is difficult to evaluate. Third-party tools, video and large images should be considered when agreeing the approach.

6. Set out redesign, search and measurement requirements

If you already have a website, identify important pages, content that must stay and problems you want fixed. Include access to relevant analytics and search reports through appropriate account permissions, rather than putting passwords in the brief.

If page addresses will change, request a migration plan. Google’s site-move guidance covers mapping old URLs to new destinations, implementing redirects, updating links and monitoring the move. Make responsibility for that work explicit in the scope.

Ask the proposal to define its search-related deliverables, such as page titles, metadata, a sitemap and checks that intended public pages can be indexed. Clarify whether keyword research and ongoing content work are included. Avoid treating “SEO included” as a complete specification.

List the actions you want measured, such as completed quote forms or bookings, and agree how they will be tested. A form submission is not automatically a qualified lead, so plan to review enquiry quality as well as activity.

7. Be clear about budget, timing and approvals

State your budget range in Australian dollars and ask whether proposed figures include GST. Separate the initial build from ongoing hosting, platform subscriptions, paid tools and support. If the budget is still being set, request options with clear inclusions.

For more detail on the factors that affect scope, see our guide to website design costs in Australia.

Explain why a launch date matters and whether it is fixed or preferred. Identify dependencies such as a rebrand, photography session or product launch. Allow time for content, feedback, testing and corrections.

Name one person to consolidate feedback and confirm who can approve the design, content and launch. Ask how revision rounds and changes to the agreed scope will be handled.

8. Plan website ownership and life after launch

Describe what your team needs to update independently, such as service copy, staff profiles or projects. Request an editing demonstration, suitable training and handover documentation as part of the proposal.

Ask who will control the domain registration, website account and analytics. Clarify which files and access you receive, what can be exported, and whether any designs, fonts, images or software depend on ongoing licences.

Agree who handles maintenance, backups or recovery, software updates where applicable, and support requests. Ask what the post-launch support period covers and how additional work is charged. Assign someone in your business to check that enquiries continue reaching the right place.

A website brief example for a Sydney service business

The following is an illustrative example, not a Creato client project.

Business and goal: A landscape design business serving homeowners on Sydney’s Northern Beaches wants visitors to understand its design process and enquire about suitable projects. The current site has attractive photos but little information about project fit.

Launch scope: Home, about, two service pages, a project collection with six initial entries, process and contact. The business supplies approved photography and project facts; the agency quotes for copywriting and content entry.

Enquiry journey: Visitors review a relevant project, read the process and submit their suburb, project type, indicative budget and contact details. Enquiries reach the business inbox, and the visitor sees a confirmation message explaining the next step.

Priorities and constraints: Mobile usability, clear service coverage and straightforward project editing are essential. Online payments and a client portal are outside the launch scope. The proposal must include migration of existing project URLs where needed, testing, training and separate recurring costs.

This gives an agency enough context to ask useful follow-up questions and explain its proposed approach.

Copy this website design brief template

Copy the prompts below into a document and replace the bracketed text. Write “recommend an approach” where you need advice, and mark undecided items clearly.

1. Business overview: [Business name, current website, services or products, and actual service areas.]

2. Reason for the project: [What needs to change and why now?]

3. Primary goal: [The customer action or business outcome that matters most, and how we will review it.]

4. Audience: [Main customer groups, their questions, concerns and buying process.]

5. Pages and content: [Proposed pages, quantities to create or migrate, available materials, content owners and due dates.]

6. Brand and references: [Brand files, photography, example websites and the specific qualities we like.]

7. Required functionality: [Visitor journeys, integrations, form destinations and launch essentials.]

8. Quality and search requirements: [Mobile tasks, accessibility target and testing, performance checks, migration, search setup and measurement.]

9. Budget and timing: [AUD budget, GST clarification, recurring-cost allowance, preferred launch date and dependencies.]

10. Approvals: [Project contact, final decision-maker and feedback process.]

11. Handover and support: [Editing needs, account control, deliverables, training and ongoing responsibilities.]

12. Optional work and open questions: [Later features, exclusions and recommendations requested.]

Use the brief to compare website proposals

Send the same version to each agency so they are responding to the same requirements. When an answer changes the scope, update the brief and share the clarification with the agencies you are still considering.

Compare page quantities, content responsibilities, integrations, testing, migration, revision rounds and handover. Check recurring charges and exclusions alongside the initial price. A lower quote may cover less work; ask about differences before choosing.

Keep a short list of unresolved assumptions and settle them before work begins. Our guide to choosing a web design agency in Sydney covers the wider questions to consider when selecting a partner.

Website design brief FAQs

How long should a website brief be?

Use enough detail to explain the work without burying the priorities. A straightforward business website may only need a few pages, with content inventories or integration details attached separately. Clear requirements matter more than document length.

Do I need to choose a website platform first?

No. Explain your editing needs, required integrations and ongoing budget. Ask the agency to recommend a platform and explain its limitations, maintenance needs and costs. If you must keep an existing platform, say why.

Can an agency help write the brief?

Yes. Bring your goals, customer knowledge, available content and constraints to the first discussion. Ask whether discovery and detailed scoping are included in the proposal or quoted separately.

Turn your brief into a clear website plan

A useful brief gives your project a clear starting point and makes important decisions easier to discuss. Planning a new site or redesign? Explore Creato’s web design sydney services, then send through your project details to discuss the scope.