What to send a web design studio before the first call

A web design project starts faster when the studio hears five things before the first call: what the site must do, who it is for, what exists today, the date it is needed by, and the three sites the business admires and why. None of it needs to be polished. A paragraph each is enough, and a brief this short lets the first call end with a written scope instead of a second call.

What does a web design studio need to quote a project?

A studio can quote a project from very little, provided the little is the right little. What we cannot quote from is a list of pages, because the page count follows from the site's job, not the other way round. What we can quote from is a plain statement of what the site has to achieve, for whom, by when, starting from what exists. That is the brief, and it is week one of every project we run.

What are the five things to send?

The five things, each a paragraph: what the site must do (win a first call, take a booking, sell the work, explain a practice to a first-time visitor); who it is for (the person who decides, and the person who searches, which are not always the same); what exists today (the current site, the logo files, any brand rules, the photographs, the copy that is right and the copy that is wrong); the date it is needed by, and why that date; and three sites the business admires, with one line each on what is admired. The last one is the most useful sentence a client writes, because it tells us the register before we ask.

Two things help beyond the five. A budget floor, which lets us say on the call whether the scope and the money meet, and the name of the one person who decides, because a site reviewed by a committee is a site launched a month late. Neither needs a document. A line in the email does it.

What if there is a brand already?

If there is a brand already, it comes first: the logo as a vector file, the colours as values, the faces by name, and any rule written down about how they are used. A brand book, where one exists, is the most valuable file a client can send, because the site reads it directly. Where the brand is a logo on a PNG and nothing else, that is also worth saying plainly, because it means the identity is part of the scope, and it is better to know that in week one than in week three.

What happens after the brief?

After the brief comes the scope: one written document with what is delivered, when, and the fixed price, agreed before design starts. Structure and high-fidelity screens follow in weeks two and three, reviewed against the brief, and the build, motion and launch fill the rest of four to six weeks. The brief is short so that the scope can be exact, and the scope is exact so that the project is quoted once.

Questions

Do I need a budget before the first call?

A range helps and a floor helps more. We tell you on the call whether the scope and the range meet, so nobody designs a project that cannot be bought.

Do I need my content written first?

No. The brief needs the facts, not the copy. Content and images arrive during week one, and a site is structured around what the business has to say before a word is polished.

What if I do not know what the site must do?

Say so, and say what the business must do this year. The site's job follows from the business's job, and that is the first thing the call settles.