How To Write A Creative Brief For Web Design

People who are involved in the web design industry, either as designers themselves or as clients, will commonly be asked to write or read over a creative brief. But what exactly is this document and why is it such a vital part of the initial design process? Essentially, a creative brief for a web design project is only about one or two pages long, and it is highly important to the design process, as it outlines all the elements of the website (such as target audiences, objectives, and so on).

If you have never written or read a creative brief for web design before, there is a very basic formula that you can follow to ensure that you have included all the necessary features:

Summary

After the title of the brief (generally the project name followed by ‘creative brief’), you will need to provide a brief summary of the entire design project.

Current Situation

This section is pretty self-explanatory – explain what the current situation of the project is. What isn’t working? What needs to be improved? Why does the client need the web design project? What do you hope to achieve with the finished product (website)?

Proposal

This is where you can describe the web design project in more detail, looking more specifically at what exactly needs to be done for the aims and goals to be achieved.

Target Audience/s

Outline who the project is targeted at (for example, teenage girls) and describe any characteristics that research suggests these audiences have.

Goals

In this section, you will need to outline the main goals of the project.

Requirements

Does the client have any special requirements that must be met or incorporated into the web design project?

Promotion or Communication Plan

You will need to outline how the finished project is going to be promoted and communicated to the target audience you have outlined above. Is there any timing involved for each stage of the promotion? You will need to address this in this section, too.

Timing

This is where you can outline the timeline for the duration of the web design project, taking into account any milestones that must be reached by certain dates or stages of the project itself.

Project Sponsor

Describe who the main sponsor of the website is, as well as outlining who the responsible party is for signing off on the finished project.

Stakeholders

In this section, you will need to outline who is involved in the project, both from an oversight and a team position.

There is no single way to write a creative brief for a web design project – you will need to adapt and adjust the above formula to make it relevant to each individual project. The brief itself will undergo a range of drafts before it has been finalised, so you can be sure you get everything right.