Website design brief template for small businesses

What a design brief is, and why it matters

A design brief is a short written document that sets out what you want from your website before any design work begins. It describes your business, what you want the site to achieve, and the practical details that shape the project. Think of it as the map that both sides agree on at the start, so the studio builds the site you actually need rather than a version it has had to guess at.

For a small business, a brief is worth the hour it takes to write. It cuts down on guesswork, keeps the project moving, and gives you something clear to check the finished work against. You do not need design jargon or a long document. A page or two in plain terms tells us far more than a list of features ever could. The template near the end of this article gives you a structure to fill in, and each section below explains what belongs in it and why that part earns its place.

Start with your business and your customers

Open the brief with who you are and what you actually do. A holiday let near the coast, a trades business covering Truro and the surrounding villages, a cafe just off Boscawen Street, and a maker who sells at the Lemon Quay markets could all ask for the same simple website and each need something quite different. Spell out what you sell, how customers pay or book, and what makes you different from the business down the road. The more concrete you are here, the fewer assumptions anyone has to make later.

Then describe your customers. Are they local residents, second home owners, visitors planning a trip to Cornwall, or trade buyers? Where they come from changes the wording, the photographs and the priorities. Seasonality matters here more than in most places. Many Cornish businesses see demand climb sharply through the summer and fall away in winter, and a site built with that rhythm in mind will serve you better than one that ignores it.

• What you sell, and how customers buy or book
• Who your main customers are and where they come from
• What sets you apart from similar businesses nearby
• Any seasonal peaks or quiet spells that affect your trade

Be clear about what the site is for

Every website should have one main job. A common and costly mistake is asking a site to do everything at once. Decide the single most important action you want a visitor to take: send an enquiry, call you, book a table, request a quote, or buy online. That primary goal shapes almost every later decision, from the layout of the home page to the exact wording on the buttons.

List any secondary goals too, but keep them firmly in second place. It also helps to name how you will tell whether the site is working. Enquiries received, phone calls, bookings taken or online orders are all things you can count. You do not need to set targets in the brief, but naming what you will measure keeps everyone focused on results rather than decoration.

List the pages and content you need

Sketch out the pages you expect to need: a home page, an about page, your services or products, a contact page, and anything specific such as a menu, a gallery or a booking page. This rough list is your sitemap. It does not need to be tidy. It simply shows the shape of the site and flags the pages that will take real work to fill.

Content is where projects usually stall, so settle it early. Decide who will write the words and who will provide the photographs. Honest, well written detail about your own business is one of the few things a studio cannot invent for you, although we can shape and edit whatever you give us. Original photographs of your premises, your work or the Cornish setting almost always outperform stock images. If you already have a logo and brand files, note where they live. If you do not, say so, because these can be created as part of the wider project.

• Text for each page, or a note on who will write it
• Photographs, or a plan for how to arrange them
• Your logo and any existing brand files
• Reviews, accreditations or memberships worth showing
• Opening hours, address and contact details

Describe the look and feel

Design taste is hard to put into words, so use examples instead. Point to two or three websites you like and, just as usefully, one or two you do not, and say why in plain language. Phrases such as clean and uncluttered, warm and welcoming, or feels premium tell a studio far more than a single colour name. Try to avoid vague instructions like make it pop, which mean something different to everyone who reads them.

Note any brand elements that are fixed: an existing logo, colours you must keep, particular fonts, or a style already used on your signage and your vehicles. Consistency between your website, your printed materials and your premises is one of the quiet ways a small business builds trust, so flag anything that needs to match. If the project also includes printed items such as business cards, menus or signage, we can design these alongside the site and have them managed for you and delivered to your door, so everything a customer sees shares one look.

Cover the practical details

The unglamorous parts of a brief prevent most of the delays. Note whether you already own a domain name and who controls it, whether you have hosting and a business email address, and whether you use any tools that need to connect to the site, such as an online booking system, a till, or an email newsletter. If you are not sure about any of it, simply say so, because part of our job is to sort these things out with you.

A handful of technical points are worth naming plainly, because they affect real results. You do not need to solve any of them in the brief. Naming them tells the studio you care, and lets us build them in from the start rather than bolt them on at the end. The main ones are:

• Mobile first: most visitors in Cornwall, tourists especially, will see your site on a phone, so it has to work well on a small screen.
• Speed and stability: Google judges the real visitor experience through Core Web Vitals, which cover how quickly the main content loads, how soon the page responds to a tap, and whether the layout stays still while it loads. A fast, steady site helps both search ranking and the number of enquiries you get.
• Local visibility: a sensible page structure, clear page titles, and a linked, up to date Google Business Profile help you show up when someone nearby searches for what you offer.
• Accessibility: readable text, good colour contrast and properly labelled form fields make the site usable for everyone, and are simply good practice.
• Legal basics: a privacy notice, a cookie approach that fits UK rules, and your business details in the footer.

Budget, timeline and who decides

Two questions save a great deal of back and forth: what you can spend, and when you need the site live. Sharing even a rough budget is not a trap. It lets a studio recommend something realistic instead of guessing, and it steers the conversation towards what matters most to you. Website costs vary widely with the number of pages, whether you sell online, how much content needs creating, and how bespoke the design is. Rather than fixing on a figure too early, describe those drivers and expect a proposal built around them.

Timing deserves the same honesty. If you want the site ready before the summer season, say so, and say why. Cornwall's busiest months arrive quickly, and a launch that lands after the visitors have gone helps no one. Note any fixed dates, such as a new premises opening or a seasonal campaign, so the plan can work back from them.

Finally, name the decision maker. Projects slow down when feedback arrives from several people who do not agree with each other. Decide who has the final say, and who else needs to be consulted, before the work begins. It is the simplest way to keep a project moving and to spare yourself a round of contradictory changes.

A brief template you can copy

Here is a structure you can paste into a document and fill in. Keep your answers short and honest, as a few clear lines under each heading is all it takes. When it is done, you will have a brief that any studio can work from, and a much better idea of the site you want.

• Business: what we do, where we are based, and what makes us different
• Customers: who they are, where they come from, and what they need from us
• Main goal: the one action we most want a visitor to take
• Secondary goals: anything else useful, kept in second place
• Pages: a rough list of the pages we think we need
• Content: who will write the words, who will provide the photos, and what already exists
• Look and feel: two or three sites we like, one or two we do not, and why
• Brand: logo, colours and fonts, and anything that must stay consistent
• Print to match: any cards, menus or signage to design alongside the site
• Practical: domain, hosting, email, and any tools that must connect
• Must haves: mobile, speed, local search, accessibility and a privacy notice
• Budget: a rough range, or the drivers that matter most to us
• Timeline: when we need the site live, and why
• Decision maker: who has the final say