How to Write a Design Brief for a Website or Logo

What a brief must contain

A design brief is a short document that pins down the task before work starts. It is not paperwork for the designer. It protects you: without it, every round of feedback turns into an argument about taste.

A good brief answers six questions:

1. Goal — which business problem the design solves.
2. Audience — who will use the site or see the logo.
3. Competitors — who you will be compared against.
4. References — what you like and dislike, and above all, why.
5. Deliverables — which files and layouts you get at the end.
6. Constraints — deadlines, budget, technical and legal limits.

If any question is left blank, the designer will have to guess the answer.

How to answer each question

Goal. Describe an outcome, not a look. "We need a modern website" is a look. "We want visitors to book a consultation instead of calling to ask about prices" is a goal you can design for.

Audience. Describe one to three typical users: who they are, which device they use, what they want to do and what stops them. Context matters more than age or gender: "a procurement manager comparing three suppliers on a laptop during work hours."

Competitors. Share three to five links and note how you differ. For a logo this is critical: your mark should not look like the marks of your market neighbours.

References. A link without a comment is almost useless. Write "we like the large type and generous white space, we dislike dark backgrounds." References can come from any industry.

Deliverables. List concrete outputs: number of pages or screens, mobile version, UI kit, Figma source files; for a logo, the primary and simplified versions, vector files and a usage guide.

Constraints. Deadline, budget range, existing colours or fonts that must stay, CMS requirements, site languages and legal points such as trademarks and licences for fonts and photos.

Brief template

Copy it and fill it in. If you do not know an answer, write "not sure" — that is useful information too.

## About the project
- Company and product (2-3 sentences):
- What we need: website / logo / both
- Why now (what changed):

## Goal
- Main action we want from the user:
- How we will know the design works:

## Audience
- User 1 (task, context, device):
- User 2:
- What stops or worries them:

## Competitors
- Link — how we differ:
- Link — how we differ:

## References
- Like (link — why):
- Dislike (link — why):
- Three words the brand should feel like:

## Deliverables
- Pages / screens:
- Mobile version: yes / no
- File formats and source files:

## Constraints
- Deadline:
- Budget range:
- What cannot change (colours, fonts, name):
- Technical requirements (CMS, languages, integrations):

## Contacts
- Who makes the final decision:
- Who gives feedback:

Common mistakes

• A ten-page brief. The longer the document, the less carefully it gets read. One or two pages is enough.
• "Make it like Apple." Without saying what exactly you like, this tells the designer nothing.
• No single decision-maker. When feedback comes from five people with different opinions, the project slows down more than from any other cause.
• A hidden budget. A range helps the designer propose a realistic scope instead of an ideal but unreachable one.
• A brief that never changes. If the goal shifts mid-project, write the change down.