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website design brief
[design] Any design company relies on a well written and accurate brief to begin the development process.
Developing a design Brief
The only person who knows more about your business than anyone else is you. Do not expect a web developer to know the “who what why and where” of your business. Many companies have had web sites built for their companies and handed the responsibility for the site over to the developer. This can be a financial waste. To retain control and ensure that the site does what you want it to do you must produce a design brief. This will give the developer the information they need to produce your site. Ideally your brief should provide the following information:
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A profile of your business
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The objectives of the Web site
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The proposed content of the Web site
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Who is your target market
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What is the project scope
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Are there any project constraints
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Who is the point of contact
[profile] A profile of your business: the designer still needs to hear your own view of your business. Include a succinct description of your company, products and services, its history, unique selling points and who its main competitors are. Also include a few words on the company image, brand or personality.
[objectives] of the web site: identify the main reason for having a web site as well as any secondary objectives.
[web site content] list the main elements that you want to see in the site and whether you want to be able to do this in-house.
[target market] briefly describe your traditional market and who the web site will be targeting (if it's not the same thing).
[scope] specify what you are expecting the design company to do (or not do). For example, do you want them to provide you with a domain name email addresses and hosting? How often you want to update the content, will you be providing the content and images? Will you want a database developed? Will you need it to integrate with other software you use?
[scale] Also describe the scale of the project - either estimate roughly how many pages you expect to be in the site or the number of individual products or services it will cover. The figures can be very general since a few pages more or less will rarely alter the cost or timing of the project.
[project constraints] set deadlines for appointing a designer and for the site to go live. A rough idea of the budget.
[point of contact] provide the name, phone number and e-mail address of one person that the designers can approach with any questions ideally this person will be their point of contact throughout the work.
To find out how Business for Business can assist in the development of your web site design brief and the promotion of your site after it is published contact us on 08450 550510 or complete the enquiry form.
