We've received hundreds of website briefs over the years. The vast majority of them look something like this: "We need a website with a homepage, about page, services page, portfolio, and contact form. We want it to look modern and professional. Budget is KES 80,000. Timeline is 3 weeks."
This is not a brief. It's a shopping list. And building a website from a shopping list is one of the most reliable ways to end up with a website that looks fine but doesn't actually work — one that doesn't generate enquiries, doesn't rank on Google, and doesn't convert visitors into customers.
A real website brief is a strategic document. It answers the questions that determine whether the website will succeed — before a single pixel is designed.
What a Good Brief Actually Contains
1. The Business Context
- →What does your business do, specifically?
- →Who are your customers — not demographics, but real people with real problems?
- →What problem do you solve for them?
- →What makes you different from your competitors?
- →What stage is the business at, and where is it going?
A designer who doesn't understand your business cannot design a website that serves it. This section is the foundation everything else is built on.
2. The Goal of the Website
- →What is the single most important thing you want visitors to do on this website?
- →What does success look like in 6 months?
- →How will you measure whether the website is working?
Most businesses have multiple goals for their website. That's fine — but there should be one primary goal that everything else supports. "Get enquiries" is a goal. "Look professional" is not.
3. The Audience
- →Who is your primary audience?
- →What do they know about your industry when they arrive?
- →What are their biggest concerns or objections?
- →What would make them trust you enough to get in touch?
- →How do they currently find businesses like yours?
The website is not for you — it's for your customers. The more specifically you can describe who they are and what they need, the better the design will serve them.
4. The Competitive Landscape
- →Who are your main competitors?
- →What do their websites do well?
- →What do they do poorly?
- →What do you want to do differently?
You don't need to reinvent the wheel — but you do need to understand the context your website will exist in. Knowing what your competitors are doing helps you differentiate.
5. The Content
- →Who is responsible for writing the copy?
- →Do you have existing brand guidelines, photography, or assets?
- →What tone of voice do you want — formal, conversational, authoritative?
- →Are there any messages or claims that must be included?
Content is the most underestimated part of a website project. Many projects stall because the client hasn't thought about who will write the copy. Decide this upfront.
The Sections You Can Leave Out
A good brief doesn't need to specify the exact pages you want, the colour scheme, or the layout. Those are design decisions — and they should be made by the designer, informed by the strategic context you've provided.
When clients specify design decisions in the brief, they often constrain the designer unnecessarily. "I want a dark theme with a hero video and a three-column services grid" might be exactly right — or it might be completely wrong for your audience and goals. Let the strategy drive the design, not the other way around.
Why This Matters More in Africa
In East African markets, trust is built differently than in Western markets. The signals that make a Nairobi customer trust a business enough to make contact are not the same as the signals that work in London or New York. A brief that doesn't account for this cultural context will produce a website that looks good but doesn't convert.
Local context matters: the platforms your customers use, the language they respond to, the trust signals they look for, the objections they have. A good brief captures this. A shopping list doesn't.
The One-Page Brief Template
You don't need a 20-page document. A one-page brief that answers these questions clearly is worth more than a detailed specification that misses the strategic point:
- 01What does your business do and who does it serve?
- 02What is the single most important goal of this website?
- 03Who is your ideal customer and what do they need to see to trust you?
- 04Who are your main competitors and how are you different?
- 05What does success look like in 6 months?
- 06Who is responsible for content, and what assets do you already have?
Answer these six questions honestly and completely, and you'll have a better brief than 90% of the projects we see. The website that comes out the other end will be better for it.
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