For small and medium-sized businesses in South Africa, embarking on a new website project – whether a standard business site or a full-fledged ecommerce store – starts with a clear plan. A well-written web design brief is that plan. It’s your roadmap for designers and developers, outlining exactly what you need. Why go through the effort? Because a detailed brief leads to faster, more accurate quotes, and often a more affordable and smooth web design process.
A well-written web design brief is vital to ensure a quick, easy process and that your designer is able to give you the perfect website.
While it may seem like extra work upfront, the more clarity you provide, the fewer surprises (and extra costs) later on. In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a winning web design brief that will help you get spot-on quotes from web designers. We’ll break down each section you should include – from your company overview and goals to specific functionality and design preferences. We’ll also highlight special considerations for ecommerce websites versus standard business websites, so you include all the right details for your type of project. Plus, we’ve included a handy template that you can use to draft your own brief.
By the end, you’ll not only understand what to include in your web design brief, but why it matters. A comprehensive brief can save you time, prevent costly misunderstandings, and empower you to get your website off the ground faster. Let’s dive in!
Why a detailed web design brief matters for accurate quotes
Crafting a thorough brief might feel like an extra step, but it’s a step that pays off. Here’s why spending time on your brief actually speeds up the quote process and saves you money:
- Faster, More Precise Quotes: When you provide detailed requirements upfront, web agencies don’t have to play guessing games. They can quickly assess the scope and complexity and return an accurate quote. In contrast, a vague brief leads to lots of back-and-forth questions and broad estimates that might balloon later. Knowing the requirements early on saves a lot of time and prevents scope creep, which keeps costs under control.
- Better Project Outcomes: A good brief doesn’t just get you a quote – it sets the foundation for a successful project. It ensures you and the web designer are on the same page from the start, acting as a roadmap that details the problems to solve and aligns everyone on the project goals.
- Avoiding Delays and Miscommunication: Many web projects get delayed because of unclear instructions or missing information. By hashing out details like required features, content responsibilities, and deadlines in the brief, you reduce misunderstandings and ensure nothing important slips through the cracks.
- Getting the Right Solution for Your Budget: A frank discussion of budget in your brief helps designers propose solutions you can afford. Honest budget info will result in more accurate quotes and give a clearer picture of what is possible. If your budget is modest, a designer can suggest more cost-effective approaches. If you have a larger budget, they might include more custom features.
Bottom line: A detailed web design brief is the key to getting website quotes that are fast, accurate, and aligned with your needs. It sets the stage for a successful collaboration.
Once you have your brief ready, platforms like Procompare can simplify the next step by connecting you with vetted local web designers, making the process of gathering and comparing quotes even easier. Now, let’s break down what to include in your brief and how to articulate each element clearly.
Key sections to include in your web design brief
When writing your web design brief, you’ll want to cover several critical sections. We’ll go through each one and explain what to write. We’ll also point out differences to consider for a business website versus an ecommerce website. By covering all these sections, you’ll give potential designers a 360° view of your project.
1. Business overview
Start your brief with an overview of your business. Remember, the web designer may not know anything about your company. This section sets the context and helps the designer understand your brand, which will influence the design and functionality.
In the Business Overview, include key facts such as:
- What your business does: Describe your products or services, and your industry.
- Company size and history: How long have you been around and how big is your company?
- Your brand identity: What is your company’s mission or vision? How do you want to be perceived?
- Target market (at a glance): Who are your primary customers or clients?
- Competitive landscape: Name your main competitors and link to their websites for reference.
Your web designer is essentially representing your brand online, so give them the information to do it right.
🛒 E-commerce Tip: If you’re an ecommerce business, also mention what you sell and roughly how many products you have. Are you an online fashion boutique with 200 products? A local artisan selling handmade soaps? This will matter for the site’s structure and features. For instance: “XYZ Store is a Johannesburg-based online boutique selling women’s apparel. We have around 150 products in 5 main categories. We operate entirely online.”
2. Project goals and objectives
Clearly outline your goals for the website. Ask yourself: Why do I need a new website, or a redesign of an existing one? What am I hoping to achieve? Defining success criteria will help the designer understand what outcomes you value and guide them on features that support those goals.
Common website goals include increasing brand awareness, generating leads, selling products online, or improving user experience. Be as specific as possible. If you have quantifiable targets, mention them. Also mention any problems with your current website that the new site should solve. For example: “Our current site is outdated and not mobile-friendly, which has hurt our Google rankings. The new site should provide a seamless mobile experience.”
Aside from looking great, what is the end game for your new site? Do you want to increase engagement, promote services, or generate sales?
🛒 E-commerce Tip: For an ecommerce site, your goals might be revenue-based or related to expanding your customer base. Include any specific metrics you care about, like reducing cart abandonment rate. Also, if you plan to scale your product range or add new features in the future, it’s good to mention this now – it helps the developer build a scalable solution.
3. Target audience
Describe who your website is for. Your target audience influences design style, content tone, and functionality. The more your designer knows about your intended users, the better they can craft a site that appeals to them.
In this section, paint a picture of your ideal visitor or customer. Include details like:
- Demographics: Age range, gender, location. Are they local to South Africa, or international? Any language considerations (e.g., English and Afrikaans)?
- Interests & Behavior: What are they looking for when they come to your site?
- Pain Points or Needs: Why do they need your service or product?
- Technical profile: What devices they use. In South Africa, mobile internet usage is high, so a mobile-friendly design is important.
If you have existing analytics data about your users’ demographics or behavior, you can summarize that here. And if you intend to target new audience segments with the new site, mention those as well.
4. Website pages and structure (sitemap)
Next, outline the scope of the site in terms of pages or sections needed. Essentially, this is your initial sitemap. Listing the pages you think you’ll need helps designers estimate the work and also ensures you haven’t missed anything essential.
Typical pages for a business website might include: Home, About Us, Services, Testimonials, Blog, Contact Us, and FAQs. For an ecommerce website, you’ll also need product-related pages like: Shop, Category pages, Individual Product pages, Cart page, Checkout page, and User account pages. Make a simple list of the pages. The designer can help refine the sitemap later, but your input is crucial.
This section of the brief defines the size of the website, which is a major factor in the quote.
🛠 Pro Tip: If a certain page has unique functionality (like a booking calendar page or an interactive calculator tool), call that out here or in the functionality section. That way the designer knows that page will require extra work beyond a text-and-images layout.
5. Design style and branding preferences
Here’s your chance to describe the look and feel you want for the website. This section is critical for ensuring the designer’s vision aligns with yours. It can be a challenge to articulate design preferences if you’re not a designer, but use simple terms and examples. Consider including:
- Branding guidelines: If you have an existing brand guide, logo, or defined color scheme and fonts, mention that.
- Adjectives for style: How would you describe the site’s desired style in a few words? For example, modern and minimalist, bold and edgy, clean and corporate, friendly and fun, or traditional vs contemporary.
- Examples of websites you like: Provide 2-5 examples of websites that you love the design of. Specify what you like about them. You can also mention sites you do NOT like and why.
- Visual elements: If you have any specific requests for imagery or graphics, note them.
- Logo and branding assets: Let them know if you already have a logo. If not, do you need logo design as part of this project?
🛒 E-commerce Tip: For online stores, usability is a big part of design. So you might emphasize “simple and intuitive navigation, easy-to-read product listings, and a smooth checkout design”. Also, ensure the design preference covers trust elements – the site needs to look secure and professional.
6. E-commerce specific requirements (if applicable)
If your project includes an e-commerce component, dedicate a section of your brief to e-commerce details. An e-commerce site has different requirements. The brief should include product categories, payment methods, discount codes, shipping costs, and so on. Here’s what to cover:
- Product catalog details: How many products will you be selling at launch? How are they categorized?
- Inventory management: Do you need the site to manage inventory stock levels?
- Pricing and variants: Do your products have variants (size, color, etc.) or complex pricing rules?
- Payment methods: Which payment options do you want to offer? For South Africa, consider credit/debit cards, Instant EFT, and services like PayFast or PayGate.
- Shipping requirements: Will you ship nationally only, or internationally? Do you need integration with courier services?
- E-commerce platform preference: If you have a specific platform in mind (like WooCommerce or Shopify), mention it.
- User accounts and memberships: Should users be able to create an account on your site?
- Special features: This could include coupon codes, gift cards, wishlist functionality, or product reviews.
- Store management features: Do you require any back-end integrations, like syncing orders with your accounting software?
- Legal and compliance: Note if you have policies ready (Terms, Returns, Privacy for POPIA) or if you’ll need help.
If you are NOT building an e-commerce site, you can omit this section. However, if a non-ecommerce site needs to accept payments (e.g., for donations), mention it here as a required functionality.
7. Functionality and features
Beyond basic pages and e-commerce, list any special features or functionality you need on the website. This is a catch-all section for interactive or technical elements that aren’t just static content. Some features to consider:
- Contact forms or Quote request forms: If you need a custom form with specific fields, mention it.
- Booking or reservation system: If you offer appointments, do you need an online booking calendar integrated?
- Blog or News section: Confirm you need a blog capability where you can post and categorize content.
- Photo gallery or portfolio: Do you need a gallery feature for projects or events?
- Interactive map: If location is important, you may need Google Maps integration.
- Multilingual support: Do you need the site in more than one language?
- SEO and analytics: State if you need basic SEO setup and connection to Google Analytics.
- Integrations: Do you need the site to talk to any third-party systems like a newsletter service (MailChimp) or a CRM?
- Security and membership: If the site requires user logins or a members-only section, detail it.
8. Content: text, images and media
A website isn’t just about design and features – it’s also about content. In your brief, clarify how content will be handled:
- Who will provide the text content? Do you have copy already written or will you need copywriting help?
- Images and graphics: Do you have images ready to use, or do you need help sourcing them?
- Logos and branding files: Ensure you’ll provide your logo file in a high-quality format.
- Videos or media: Will the site include videos, audio, or downloads? If yes, are those ready?
- Future content management: Indicate if you need a CMS that allows you to easily update text and images yourself.
- Language/content localization: If the site is multi-lingual, clarify who provides translations.
Delays in content preparation often slow down web projects.
Content Tip: If writing web content isn’t your forte, consider that many web design agencies offer copywriting. It might be worth including in your brief, e.g., “We have basic content drafted, but would like the agency to review and improve it for web readability and SEO.”
9. Timeline and deadlines
Outline your timeline for the project. When do you need the website to be live? Being clear about time constraints will help the agency determine if the timeline is feasible. A typical business website might take 4-8 weeks, while a custom ecommerce site can take 8-12 weeks or more. If you request a very short turnaround, expect higher costs. Also mention if any external dependencies could affect the timeline, such as waiting for content from a supplier.
10. Budget constraints and range
Discussing budget is often tricky, but it’s extremely important. Including at least a budget range in your brief can save time and ensure that the quotes you receive are realistic. If an agency knows roughly what you plan to invest, they can propose the best solution within those limits.
Being upfront about budget will result in more accurate quotes and a clearer picture of what's possible.
State a range or maximum, for example, “We have budgeted between R30,000 and R50,000 for this project.” One strategy is to ask for quotes in tiers: “Ideally we want to stay around R30k. What would that include? And what might we get by increasing to R50k?” Remember to be honest. If your budget is very limited, it’s better to let the designer know so they can adjust the scope accordingly.
11. Additional notes and preferences
Wrap up your brief with any other information that didn’t fit in the sections above. This could include existing assets like a domain name, technical constraints, or who the point of contact will be on your side. If you know you will need ongoing help after the site is live (maintenance, updates, SEO), you can mention interest in those services.
Now that we’ve covered all the sections, let’s look at a quick good vs bad example:
As you craft your brief, aim for that level of clarity. Now, to make things even easier, here’s a structured template you can use.
Web design brief template
You can use the following template as a starting point. Copy and paste it into a document and fill it in step by step. Feel free to remove any sections that don’t apply to your project.
1. Business Overview:
- Business Name: [Your Company Name]
- Industry: [Your industry sector]
- Location: [Where you operate, e.g., South Africa-wide, Cape Town, online-only]
- What We Do: [Brief description of products/services and mission]
- Competitors: [Main competitors’ names or websites]
2. Project Goals and Objectives:
- [List your primary goals for the new website. Example: Increase online sales by X%, get more quote requests.]
- Current Challenges: [Optional – What issues with your current website are you trying to fix?]
3. Target Audience:
- Primary Audience: [Describe your main audience(s)]
- Key Characteristics: [e.g., “Mostly mobile users,” or “need a bilingual site.”]
4. Pages & Sitemap:
- [List the pages/sections you need on the site: Home, About, Services, Shop, Blog, Contact, etc.]
5. Design Style & Branding:
- Brand Colors: [List your brand colors]
- Logo: [Yes/No – do you have a logo?]
- Look & Feel: [Describe the desired style in adjectives: “modern, minimalist, friendly”]
- Websites You Like: [List 2-3 example websites and what you like about each]
6. E-commerce Requirements: (Only if building an online store)
- Number of Products: [Approximate number]
- Payment Methods: [e.g., Visa/Mastercard, EFT, PayFast]
- Shipping: [Describe shipping methods and regions]
- Other Features: [Wishlist, product reviews, etc.?]
7. Functionality & Features:
- [List other required features: Contact Forms, Booking System, Blog, Social Media Integration, etc.]
8. Content Provision:
- Text Content: [Who will write the content?]
- Images: [Who will provide images?]
9. Timeline:
- Desired Start Date: [When can you kick off?]
- Desired Launch Date: [Target go-live date]
10. Budget:
- [State your budget range or maximum. E.g., “Our budget is R20,000-R30,000.”]
11. Additional Information:
- [Add any other notes. E.g., “We have an existing site and want to move to WordPress.”]
- Point of Contact: [Who will liaise with the web designer?]
Having everything in writing not only helps you clarify your own vision, but also signals to the web designer that you’re organized and serious.
Conclusion: Leverage your brief to get the best quotes
A comprehensive web design brief is your secret weapon to get fast, accurate, and competitive quotes for your new website. By providing clear details on your needs – from business background and goals to specific functionalities and design tastes – you empower web designers to tailor their proposals precisely to your project. This means you’ll be comparing quotes on an “apples to apples” basis, and you’re less likely to get hit with unexpected costs later.
For South African businesses especially, a solid brief helps local designers understand your market and audience. It shows that you’ve done your homework and makes the entire process smoother for everyone involved.
A great brief invites designers to ask smart questions and perhaps suggest improvements or cost-saving alternatives.
Ready to get started? You’ve got the knowledge and a template to craft your own winning web design brief. Now it’s time to put it into action. With your detailed brief in hand, you can submit your request through Procompare and receive competitive quotes from top-rated, local web designers in just a few clicks. It’s the fastest way to turn your brief into a reality.
Don’t let your dream website wait any longer. Use your new brief to get accurate quotes through Procompare and kick off the project with confidence. The website your South African business deserves is within reach – and it all starts with that well-crafted brief.
