UK Website Project Brief Template

Most website projects that go badly did not go wrong during the build. They went wrong at the brief, where nobody wrote down what the site was actually for, who it was for, or what counted as finished. Everything after that is two parties politely discovering they imagined different things.

This template is the brief we ask clients to fill in before we quote. It is two pages, it takes about half an hour, and its main job is to surface disagreements early, while they are still cheap.

Why a written brief saves you money

A vague brief gets a defensive quote. When a designer cannot tell whether you need five pages or twenty-five, whether you need online payments, or whether someone is supplying copy, they price for the worst case or they price low and raise it later. Neither is good for you. A specific brief gets a specific number, and makes competing quotes genuinely comparable for the first time.

The sections that matter most

Sitemap. Listing every page is the fastest way to discover the project is twice the size you assumed. It is also the number most quotes hinge on.

Audience and purpose. A site built to generate phone calls from homeowners looks nothing like one built to reassure commercial procurement teams. Say which, in one sentence.

Integrations. Payments, booking, CRM, accounting, stock. Each one is real work, and each one discovered late is a change request rather than part of the quote.

Content ownership. Who writes the words and sources the photos. This is the most common cause of a project stalling for months after the design is signed off, and it is almost never discussed up front.

The brief template

Fill in each section before commissioning a UK designer. Saves revision rounds.

1. Business context

  • Business name & trading style:
  • What you sell (1 sentence):
  • Years trading:
  • Annual revenue band (£0-50k / 50-250k / 250k-1M / 1M+):
  • Team size:

2. Audience

  • Primary customer (1 sentence):
  • Customer journey from awareness → purchase:
  • Top 3 customer objections:
  • Top 3 buying motivations:

3. Site requirements

  • Pages needed (list each):
  • Existing content vs new copy needed:
  • Imagery: own photography / stock / new commission:
  • Integrations required: contact form / booking / payments / email / CRM / other
  • Platform preference: WordPress / Shopify / custom / no preference

4. Goals

  • Primary action you want visitors to take:
  • Realistic enquiries/sales target per month:
  • SEO ambitions: critical / nice-to-have / minimal
  • Speed/performance: must be fast / standard

5. Practical constraints

  • Launch deadline:
  • Budget range:
  • Brand assets available: yes / partial / need new branding
  • UK GDPR compliance needs:

6. References

  • 3-5 UK websites you admire (and why):
  • 1-2 UK websites you don’t want to look like (and why):
  • Brand tone in 3 words:

What to expect back from a good quote

A proper response to a filled-in brief should tell you the page count it assumes, what is and is not included, who provides content, how many rounds of revision are covered, what happens if scope changes, and who owns the site and its files at the end. If a quote does not address ownership and hosting, ask before signing.

Be wary of a quote that arrives within minutes without any questions. A brief this specific should still prompt one or two clarifications from anyone who has read it properly.

Common questions

I do not know what I need. Can I still fill this in? Yes, and it is more useful than you expect. Marking sections as unknown is itself information, and it tells whoever quotes where they need to advise rather than assume.

How detailed should the sitemap be? Page titles are enough. You do not need to plan the content, only the structure. If you are unsure whether something is one page or several, note it as a question.

Should I set a budget in the brief? Yes. Withholding it does not get you a better price, it gets you a proposal aimed at the wrong tier. Our prices are published openly, which makes that conversation shorter in both directions.

What if I already have a site? Note what stays, what goes, and what must keep its URL. Redirect planning is the single most-skipped step in a rebuild and the most common cause of losing rankings afterwards. The SEO audit checklist covers what to record before you migrate.