The quality of the website you get is directly connected to the quality of the brief you give. A vague brief produces a generic result. A specific, well-thought-out brief gives a designer everything they need to build something that actually works for your business.
Most business owners have never written a design brief before, and the ones that exist online are either too corporate or too shallow to be useful. Here's a practical guide to briefing a designer in a way that gets you a better website.
What a Design Brief Actually Is
A design brief is a document — it doesn't have to be formal — that communicates everything a designer needs to understand before they start work. It covers your business, your audience, your goals, your preferences, and the scope of the project.
It's not a creative prescription. You're not telling the designer exactly what the website should look like. You're giving them the context they need to make good design decisions. The distinction matters: a brief that tries to dictate every design choice removes the designer's ability to solve the actual problem.
Start With Your Business
The brief should open with a clear description of your business. Not your formal company description — a plain, honest explanation of what you do, who your clients are, and what makes you different from other people who do similar work.
Include: how long you've been in business, what services you offer (and which are most important), who your ideal client is (specifically — industry, business size, role, what they're trying to achieve), and what you want clients to feel when they visit your website.
This section sounds simple but most people write it too generally. "We're a marketing agency that helps businesses grow online" tells a designer almost nothing. "We work with solo consultants and two-to-five person professional service firms who are trying to charge higher rates and attract better clients" tells them a great deal.
Be Specific About Your Goals
What do you want this redesigned website to do? Name the outcomes, not just the features.
Bad goal: "I want a modern website with good UX." Good goal: "I want the homepage to immediately communicate who I help and what I do, so that the right visitors know within five seconds that this is relevant to them. I want to increase the number of contact form submissions from our current rate to at least three per week."
Specific goals give the designer a target. They can make design decisions around that target instead of making aesthetic decisions in a vacuum.
Describe Your Audience in Detail
The designer needs to understand who they're designing for. Not you — your visitor. Write a paragraph or two describing your typical ideal client. What's their situation? What are they searching for when they find your website? What concerns do they have about hiring someone like you? What would make them feel confident enough to reach out?
The more specific and human this description is, the better the designer can build a user experience that speaks directly to that person.
Share Pages and Scope
List every page you need on the redesigned website. This is the scope — and being clear about it upfront prevents scope creep and unexpected cost increases.
A typical service business site includes: homepage, about, services overview, individual service pages, case studies or portfolio, testimonials, blog, and contact. If you need anything beyond this — booking systems, client portals, e-commerce — include it here.
For each page, write a sentence about its primary purpose. "The services page should help visitors understand which of my three offerings is right for them and move them toward booking a call." This level of intentionality makes for a much better brief.
Provide Visual Direction — Not Prescriptions
Share five to ten websites you find well-designed, with a note about what specifically you like about each. This gives the designer a concrete sense of your aesthetic taste without constraining their creative problem-solving.
Then note what you want to avoid. If you have a strong reaction against certain design styles — overly playful, too corporate, heavy use of stock photography — say so.
Also share your existing brand assets: logo, colors, fonts. If your brand is flexible or you're open to a refresh, say that too. Knowing the parameters of the brand gives the designer clarity on what they can and can't change.
Be Clear About Constraints
Timeline: when do you need this site live, and why?
Budget: what's your range? This is not the moment to be cagey. A designer who knows your budget can tell you honestly what's achievable within it. A designer who doesn't know your budget can't do that.
Decision-making: who has final say on the design? If it's you, say so. If you have a business partner who will also be reviewing work, the designer needs to know that upfront.
Content: will you be providing final copy, or does the designer need to account for copywriting in the project?
What a Good Brief Produces
A designer who receives a thorough brief can write a proposal that's specific to your situation. They can accurately scope the work, price it correctly, set a realistic timeline, and — most importantly — start the design process with a clear direction rather than spending the first week asking questions that should have been answered upfront.
The brief also protects you. It creates a shared record of what was agreed. If the project drifts in a direction that doesn't match the brief, you have a clear reference point to bring it back.
A Note on Collaboration
The brief is a starting point, not a contract carved in stone. A good designer will read your brief, ask clarifying questions, and push back on anything that seems underdeveloped or contradictory. That pushback is a sign of expertise, not friction. The best results come from a brief that evolves through conversation into a shared understanding.
Writing a strong brief and then being open to refining it through dialogue is how you get a website that you couldn't have imagined on your own — which is exactly what good design collaboration produces.
If you're preparing to start a redesign and want help thinking through your brief, or if you're ready to work with a designer who takes the briefing process seriously, reach out at hello@mohymenul.com. The brief is where good websites begin.