Foundations
Part of Web design brief template: how to write one UK agencies use
Web design brief template: how to write one UK agencies use
A web design brief template for UK businesses, covering decision, scope, accessibility, cookies, budget and sign-off before an agency quotes.
What to take away
- A web design brief template records the decision, the evidence behind it and the conditions a supplier must meet. Two pages is enough.
- The template works only when it names the audience, the primary action, the content owner and the launch date.
- UK rules on accessibility, cookies and advertising claims belong in the brief as constraints, not as a later audit.
- A brief is not a specification. It states what must be true at the end, and the agency decides how to build it.
- Sign the brief before contracts, not after. An unsigned brief drifts, and the drift is billed as a change request.
Write the decision before the design
Most website projects stall because the buyer writes a wish list and calls it a brief. A brief records a decision already taken.
State the commercial problem in one sentence. A retailer losing basket value has a different brief from a charity chasing referrals.
Add the evidence you hold: search terms, call notes, complaints, sales data. If the evidence is thin, say so rather than inventing a persona.
Then define the action the site must produce. One primary action, two at most, so design can be judged against something.
Before you write the brief, run the web design agency discovery process so the decision rests on evidence rather than preference.
The seven sections of a web design brief template
- Decision headerone sentence naming the problem, the primary action and the date the site must be live.
- Audience, evidence and content ownershipwho the site serves, what you know, and who writes, approves and publishes each type.
- Scope of workpages, templates, integrations, content migration and tasks your own team keeps.
- Brand and design expectationsguidelines, tone of voice, imagery rights and visual references with a reason for each.
- Technical and compliance constraints: hosting, domain, analytics, CRM, accessibility target, cookie behaviour and advertising claims.
- Measurementthe one metric that decides success, its baseline and the date it will be read.
- Commercials and governancebudget range, payment stages, escalation and who can approve a change.
What to include for UK-specific rules
Accessibility is a legal duty, not a design preference. The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments, so name the standard the site will be tested against.
UK rules to name in the brief
- AccessibilityEquality Act 2010, name the standard
- CookiesICO consent rules, who reviews the record
- Ad claimsCAP code, evidence for every claim
- Domain and hostingname registered entity
- Council sitesservice owner per page
Cookie consent is not a banner colour choice. The ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies sets out what counts as valid consent, and the brief should say who reviews the consent record.
Advertising claims need evidence. The CAP code covers paid and organic claims, including any leading UK line in a hero section.
Domain and hosting belong in the brief too. A .co.uk domain signals a UK audience but does not create a UK company, so name the registered entity and trading name.
A brief for a local council site should name the service owner for each page, the accessibility standard and the plain-English expectations UK audiences bring.
A worked example: a kitchen retailer in Leeds
These figures are illustrative, not from a real client. A Leeds kitchen retailer with two showrooms wants booked consultations to rise from 40 to 70 a month by March, without more ad spend.
The brief names homeowners within 20 miles who requested a brochure last year. Evidence: 300 brochure requests, 12% of them booking a consultation.
The agency builds a consultation booking flow, a finance calculator and a showroom page for each location. The client keeps photography and pricing.
Set the budget on a blank website budget sheet before the brief goes out, so the agency prices the whole commission rather than the build.
The range is £18,000 to £24,000 across three payment stages. The showroom manager owns the booking metric and reads it monthly.
Compliance names WCAG 2.2 AA, consent before analytics loads, and written approval for every finance claim.
Common questions
What is the difference between a web design brief and a website requirements document?
A brief records the commercial decision and the limits a supplier must respect. A requirements document lists functional detail, such as field rules and integration behaviour, and usually follows the brief.
How long should a web design brief be?
Two pages covers most UK small and mid-sized businesses. Longer briefs often repeat one decision in several formats, which slows the agency response.
Should the brief name a platform such as WordPress?
Name the constraints instead, unless your team has already fixed the platform. If it is fixed, state who maintains it and why the choice stands.
Who signs off the brief?
The person who owns the commercial result signs, alongside whoever controls the budget. A brief signed by marketing alone loses authority when priorities shift.
