So you’ve decided you need a website, you’ve looked around and found a design studio you like the look of, the next thing you know you’re looking at writing a project brief. Even better the studio will have their own brief questionnaire and before you know it you may be thinking –‘Whats with all the Questions?’ Well, when designing a website the possibilities are endless. Every website is one part art, one part code and one part science (yes thats right, one part science – you do have a designer that understands about online user interaction don’t you?) - its important your designer establishes what you really want as soon as possible.
In fact many clients don’t realise they hadn’t considered options before they’re brought up in the brief. By completing an initial briefing form it can not only provide your designer with a clear vision of your vision, but also help to firmly cement your own priorities and reasons for wanting the website.
Some Common but important Questions to consider
One of the most important questions for your website is ‘what is its main purpose?’ Now at first glance this may sound like a simple question, often the first response is to make more money, but what is it really? Ultimately, down the line the answer is to “make more money”, but you need to focus on how it will achieve this – will it increase enquiries and leads, promote brand awareness, accept online orders, create a loyal customer community or build a contact database? Each of these responses could lead to a different website, so its important to have a clear business model in your head before work begins.
It’s a good idea to tell the designer everything you can think of (even better if it relates to the website!). Details about your competitors will give us a good feel for the market. Why are you different from your competitors? That answer could give a whole new direction for the website, logo or design.
Who are you targeting? Describe the average site visitor and the message they will take away from your site. Do you have a slogan or tagline? What age are they, male or female, from the local area or national?
Turnaround – what deadline or time scale do you have in mind? You’ll find that we designers like to deliver on what we promise, but an all-singing, all-dancing many paged e-commerce site doesn’t get created and finished to perfection in a week – there needs to be a realistic timescale… and even then, lots of caffeine is sometimes necessary!
Its important to let your designer know if you have any preconceived ideas for the site, a sitemap or outline or any visual elements you want to take from existing marketing materials, we may sometimes be able to offer up something even better, but at the very least it acts as a great place to start from.
Also, have a think about the functionality of the site – will you need photo galleries, portfolios or email newsletter sign-ups? They may only end up on the site if you tell the designer you want them. Equally, if you are on a tight budget galleries, extra contact forms, sign up emails all add to the cost of your project so its a good idea to refer to the question ‘what is the sites main purpose?’ This will help you decide if you really need all these functions and which one you should consider cutting if a quote comes in higher than your budget.
The Budget Question
Another question that clients can often be a little cagey about is ‘what is your budget for the project?’ Don’t be put off by this question, the designer isn’t trying to size up how much you may potentially be worth. Indicating a budget range allows the designer alternative solutions to problems. This can particularly be the case with E-commerce websites, not all ecommerce platforms are created equal, but as with most things in life, budget dictates the ultimate solution.
With your budget set your designer should be able to put together and recommend a solution that fits within your budget. In some circumstances if you are working to a very low budget a designer may actually suggest you rework your current website instead of developing a mediocre new website. It’s all about fitting the right solution to the problem within the budget available.
In Conclusion
Now if you consider these are just a few of 20 or 30 key questions you need to be considering you will soon see the significance of a good written brief. It’s the document your designer will refer to time and time again throughout the development of your site when considering a design approach or layout and the single most important resource to receiving a website that works for you and your organisation. So often clients and even web designers can get caught up in the “can we fit in some more cool sliding image effects” trap, but the ultimate sign of a good website is a website that fulfills its function; a good brief helps both the client and the designer stay true to this.
Always remember any additional thoughts or ideas are always welcome – the relationship between yourself and your web designer should always be considered one of partnership. The designer brings technical and online marketing skills to the table, you bring your market sector expertise and passion for your business; in this way you can forge a successful website and hopefully a long term relationship that will continue the growth and development of a successful site and business.
Download one of our briefing forms to start figuring out what you really need and what you should be telling your designer.
