How to write a web project brief, and why it changes everything

The single most reliable predictor of a web project going over time and over budget is not the agency you chose, the technology used, or the complexity of the design. It is the quality of the brief you started with.

A clear brief produces a clear scope. A clear scope produces an accurate estimate. An accurate estimate produces a project that delivers what was expected, when expected. A vague brief produces the opposite: revisions that accumulate, scope that expands quietly, and a final invoice that surprises everyone.

This is what a good brief looks like, with a template you can copy, fill in, and send to any agency, including us.

What to include in a website brief

1. Business overview

Who are you, what do you do, and what makes you different from your competitors? This is not a marketing exercise - it is context that shapes every design and content decision. An agency that does not understand your business will guess, and the guesses will be wrong in ways that cost time to fix.

Include: company name, what you sell or offer, your main competitors, and one or two things that make you genuinely different from them.

2. Project goals

What does success look like? "A better website" is not a goal. "More inbound leads from the contact form" is a goal. "A faster-loading store that converts more visitors to buyers" is a goal. Goals should be specific enough that six months from now, you can measure whether you achieved them.

This section is also where you say whether this is a new site, a redesign of an existing one, or an expansion of something already built. Our services cover the full range - knowing which applies to you helps us respond with relevant information.

3. Target audience

Who will use this website? Be specific. "Everyone" is not an audience. "Moroccan businesses with 10–50 employees looking for accounting software" is an audience. The more specifically you can describe your users - their situation, their hesitations, what they need to feel confident enough to contact you - the better the site can be designed for them.

4. Key features needed

List the things the website needs to do. Contact form. Product catalogue. Online booking. User accounts. Blog. Payment processing. Multi-language support. Do not assume the agency will infer these from the industry - state them explicitly.

This is also where you flag integrations: "We use HubSpot for CRM and need the contact form to send leads there." Or "We need CMI payment integration." Unstated integrations discovered late are one of the most common sources of scope creep and budget surprises.

5. Design preferences

Find three to five websites you like - not necessarily competitors, just websites where the visual style or the interaction feels right to you. Explain what you like about each one specifically: "I like the way this one uses white space" or "I like that this one feels fast and direct."

Also share what you do not want: "I do not want animations that slow things down" or "I want it to feel professional, not playful." Knowing what to avoid is as useful as knowing what to aim for.

6. Content readiness

Do you have the copy (written text) for the website ready, or does it need to be written? Do you have professional photography, or will stock images need to be used temporarily? Do you have a logo in vector format?

Content gaps are the most common cause of project delays. If your content is not ready when the design is, the project stalls. Be honest in the brief about what you have and what still needs to be produced.

7. Timeline and launch date

Is there a fixed deadline? A product launch, an event, a contract that requires a live website by a specific date? Or is the timeline flexible? A fixed deadline changes the resource allocation and sometimes the scope. State it explicitly so the agency can tell you honestly whether it is achievable.

8. Budget range

This is the section most clients leave blank. It should not be. An agency that knows your budget can propose the right solution within it. An agency that does not know your budget will either under-scope (and produce something inadequate) or over-scope (and produce something you cannot afford to proceed with).

You do not need to give an exact number. A range is sufficient: "We have between 20,000 and 40,000 MAD available for this project." If you are unsure what range is realistic, our breakdown of website costs in Morocco covers every tier honestly with real numbers.

9. Decision-maker

Who is the final decision-maker on this project? Who needs to approve the design, the content, and the final result? Is there a committee involved? Knowing this upfront prevents the situation where work approved by one contact is then rejected by a senior stakeholder who was not part of the process.

How we work at Sentinel Studio

At Sentinel Studio, we start every project with a discovery conversation. The brief is the starting point - the conversation is where we ask the questions the brief did not answer. A brief that covers these nine points gives us everything we need to respond with a real proposal, not a generic estimate.

If you are evaluating agencies, choosing the right agency is worth reading before you send your brief anywhere.

If you have read this far, you are probably close to starting something. Send us your brief - even a rough version of the nine points above. Send us your brief → We respond within 24 hours.