How to write a brief your web studio will love

A good brief does not need to be long. One page is enough, as long as it answers the questions every studio asks first. It gets you a more accurate quote, a faster start and fewer surprises along the way.

This guide shows how to write a website brief on a single page: what to include, why the budget belongs in it, what you can safely leave out, and an example you can copy.

What to put on the page

How to write a website brief, line by line

Who you are

Two or three sentences a stranger would understand: what you sell, to whom, and what makes you different. If you have a company profile, attach it, but still write these sentences yourself.

The goal

Pick one, and make it measurable if you can: “twice as many enquiries from Jakarta”, “sell online to customers outside Java”, “look credible to export buyers”. A site can do several things, but one goal decides what comes first.

The audience

Describe the people you want to reach, and the one or two things they must find quickly, such as prices, a portfolio, a location or a way to order.

Pages and features

List what you know you need, such as a catalogue, a booking form, two languages or a blog. Mark which ones are must-haves for launch and which could come later.

References

Three sites you like, with one line each on what you like. “Clean” is less helpful than “I can see the prices without scrolling”.

Date and budget

Your ideal launch date and the reason for it, such as a product launch or an exhibition, and a budget range. The next section explains why the range matters.

Why the budget belongs in the brief

Many people leave the budget out, hoping for a better price. In practice it slows everything down: the studio has to guess the scope and you get a quote that may not fit. A range lets the studio suggest what is possible for that money, and what could wait for a second phase.

A clear goal is worth more than a long list of features.

What you can leave out

You don’t need a sitemap, wireframes or technical terms. Describe the problem in your own words; turning it into pages and features is the studio’s job.

A website brief example

Here is what a finished brief can look like for a small company. Yours can be just as short.

• Who we are: a family coffee roaster in Bandung, selling beans to cafés and to home brewers.
• Goal: sell to home brewers online, and get more café enquiries from outside Bandung.
• Audience: home brewers who want to know the taste, the roast date and the price; café owners who want a wholesale price list.
• Must-haves: shop with local payments, a wholesale enquiry form, Indonesian and English.
• Later: subscriptions and a brewing guide.
• References: three roasters’ sites, with one line each on what we like.
• Launch: before the coffee festival in March.
• Budget: a range, with a note that subscriptions can wait.

Questions people ask

Should we send the same brief to several studios?

Yes. The same brief makes the quotes easier to compare, because every studio is answering the same question. Look at what each one asks back: good questions are a good sign.

What if we don’t know our budget?

Give the range you would be comfortable with, even if it is wide. Our website packages list what each level includes, which can help you set it.

What happens after we send it?

We reply with questions or a proposal, then plan a kickoff call. Our note on what to prepare before your website project starts lists what to gather next, and how we run a project shows what follows.

Ready to write your website brief? Send it to us through the contact page. A rough one is fine: we will ask about anything that’s missing.