Why a Brief Matters - and Who It Protects More
Without a brief, you get a price without a scope. The studio names a number and you have no idea what's included. It's like shopping in a store with no price tags - you only find out the cost at checkout.
A brief locks in what was agreed before work begins. If two months in it turns out the shopping cart wasn't included in the scope, you're heading into a dispute. A solid brief prevents that.
There's another benefit: when you write the task down, you sometimes realize you need something other than a website. That's fine - better to figure that out now than after you've paid.
How to Write a Website Brief: Five Essential Blocks
A good brief isn't a thick document full of formal sections. It's answers to five specific questions.
Before you send it to the studio, check that every block has at least two or three sentences. If any section is empty, that's exactly where a dispute will come from.
- Goal: what the site is for - generating leads, selling products, presenting the company.
- Target audience: who will visit the site and what you want them to do when they get there.
- Page list: home, about, services, contact - plus anything else you need.
- Functionality: contact form, product catalog with filters, user account, online payments - specifically what needs to work.
- Examples: three to five websites you like, with a note about what specifically you liked.
Pages and Sections: Where Money Gets Lost
A page list isn't just a tab menu. For each page, write what it should contain and what a visitor should do after reading it.
"Services page" means nothing. "Services page: a description of each service, a price range, a Get a Quote button that leads to the form" - that's something you can estimate and build.
Ask for a quote broken down by page. If the studio gives you one line with no breakdown, that's not a quote - it's a number they made up.
What Not to Write
Don't specify technologies - PHP, React, PostgreSQL. Unless you have a specific reason to require a certain stack (for example, integration with your existing CRM), let the developer choose the tools.
Don't describe the design in the brief. 'Blue button, Arial font, 20-pixel margin' - that's a mockup, not a brief. Describe the style in words: formal, friendly, minimal - and show examples.
Don't copy templates from the internet. A hundred-page document with sections like 'terms and definitions' makes the approval process longer without adding any clarity. A normal website brief is two to four pages.
A Template: Where to Start Right Now
Open any text editor and answer these questions in a single document. Don't write an essay - one or two paragraphs per item is enough.
- What's wrong now: no site, the old one isn't working, no leads coming in - be specific.
- What should change after launch: phone calls, form submissions, online sales.
- Who your customers are and how they'll find the site - search, ads, social media.
- What pages you need - a list with one sentence about what each page contains.
- What needs to work technically - form, cart, filters, payments, user account.
- Three example sites you like - with a note about what specifically you liked.
What to Do With the Finished Document
Send the brief to the studio and expect follow-up questions. A good developer will ask - that's a good sign, not an annoyance. It means they read the document and are thinking about your task.
After the discussion, ask for a quote broken down by section. Compare not just the total, but the scope of work: one line that says 'website development' tells you nothing about what you're actually paying for.
If you'd like to discuss your project and get a cost estimate, EFIMOV DEV starts with a brief. Approximate prices for each project type are listed at efimovdev.ru; an exact figure comes after a conversation about your specific task.
A good website brief is not a formal standards document or a dissertation. It's answers to five questions: why you need the site, who it's for, what pages, what needs to work, and examples. Two hours on the document saves weeks of disputes during the project.
Frequently asked
Is a brief necessary for a small project?
For a simple landing page, a one-page questionnaire is enough. But even then it's worth writing down: how many sections, whether there's a form, whether it needs to connect to a CRM. The smaller the project, the easier it is to nail down upfront - and the more painful it is to sort out disagreements later.
What if I don't know what pages I need?
Start with the goal. If the goal is to generate leads, the minimum set is: home, services, contact with a form. An online store needs a catalog, product pages, and a cart. Everything else gets added based on the task, not to pad the scope.
Can I ask the studio to write the brief for me?
You can. But then you either pay for that stage separately, or you get a document written around what the studio can do rather than what you need. The better option: you describe the business problem, the studio asks questions and formalizes it. That's what a normal brief looks like.