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How to write a brief
Writing a brief for a digital project is something many people, even experienced clients, feel some resistance to. But it doesn't have to be difficult. Here we've gathered our best tips on what a good brief should contain to give the project the right conditions from the start.
Good communication between you as the client and us as the agency not only makes the project more enjoyable, it also saves time and money. Working in a structured way toward a stated shared goal is much more effective than "sketching and guessing".
Where do I start
You've been tasked with reworking your current website or developing a new digital service or product. Coming into this work you bring both ideas and sources of irritation — your own and things you may have heard from colleagues and customers.
- "It would be great if we could..."
- "I think this website is great because..."
- "Can we connect our internal system to the website..."
- "It's so annoying that you can't..."
- "Users don't understand how to..."
How should you handle this? Can you just make a list of everything and bring it to the first meeting? Yes, why not - it's a good start!
However, a serious agency and partner won't be satisfied with a to-do list. We'll want to turn things over, ask questions and examine most aspects. If you've already had time to think the project through beforehand, both we and you will get much more out of this meeting.
A digital brief
An important tool for collecting your thoughts and expectations about a project in a structured way is a brief. A brief is, quite simply, a description of what you want us as an agency to help you carry out and achieve. It should answer the following questions:
- Who are we? What do we do? - Background
- Why do we want to do this? - Purpose
- What do we want to achieve? - Measurable and clearly defined
- Who are we doing it for? - Target groups and their needs
- What are the prerequisites? - Timeline and budget framework
- What should we do and what should we not do? - Scope and limitations
We have prepared a brief template that you can use. It includes the questions we list above plus examples to help you fill it in. You will likely have things that don't fit under any of the headings. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be included. The template is meant to serve as a support - not a limitation.
How the brief is used
The aim of the brief is to capture as many thoughts, wishes, needs and expectations as possible. Otherwise we risk that there are things you consider important that for various reasons are never discussed or included in the project. If we choose to leave something out, it should be done with justification and awareness - not because it was simply forgotten.
We as an agency also need the brief as support for the decisions we will need to make during the course of the project. In an average digital project thousands of small and large decisions are made by everyone involved; from the choice of technical platform to how a button should look when you hover the mouse over it. If we have a brief to refer to we are better able to make the right decisions because we can constantly relate back to the goals - why are we doing this and for whom. And above all - what is the problem we are to solve. And how does the new website/service/product meet your business goals?
Some tips along the way
It's hard to get down on paper exactly what you want and how you think. How should we prioritise? Is this really important? If I write that we want to do a certain thing, can we change our minds later? Is this really the goal, or is it actually something completely different? Should I write about my needs or the users' needs? Both? I have no idea what our users think!
If you find it difficult or get stuck, write down what you got stuck on and move on. Not knowing is also an important insight. It's much better to simply state that than to sit and make things up or guess. A large part of our job is to help you get clarity on these kinds of questions - to find out how things actually stand. So: if there's something you can't answer using the brief template, bring it with you to the meeting with us and we'll sort out any questions or uncertainties together.
