What is a Brief?
Brief is a document-guideline for clearer definition of goals and tasks, facing the development of the future site.
Filling in the brief will help to quickly determine prices and terms of the future project and eliminate misunderstanding between the customer and the contractor.
Briefs are not ToR (Terms of Reference for the site development)
In the Brief (form) presents a number of questions from the performer, which should reply to the customer to get accurate and detailed information about the future project.
What is a Brief for?
A brief is necessary to minimize potential mistakes and disagreements between the contractor and the customer.
All people have different ideas about many things. Therefore, it is important to fill out the brief as much as possible to clarify all the details and wishes of the customer before starting to create the future site.
Many people think that you can discuss everything in a telephone conversation or in person. But this is undesirable, since there is a risk of misinterpretation by both sides on many issues.
And the Brief is a written document approved between the customer and the contractor. Filling in the Brief is the first step for developing the Terms of Reference. In case of disagreement, the Brief is provided to the parties to clarify and further discuss the details of the project.
A plus for the customer is that there is time to think through all his ideas and desires, to paint in more detail the important points that need to be reflected on the site.
Plus for the performer is that it saves time to determine the amount and complexity of work, timing and cost for the development of the site.
Also filling out the Brief – an indicator of responsible approach as a customer, and the performer for further trust between them.
The brief contains the following information:
- Contact information of the parties and methods of communication (for example: Skype, Viber), as well as convenient time periods for communication.
- information about the company, individual entrepreneur or freelancer:
-company name;
-address;
-positioning (for example, it is a hairdresser or an online store);
-slogan;
-the sphere of activity;
-main products or services provided;
-target audience that the site is aimed at;
-the benefits and uniqueness of the services or products provided.
- Determines the type of site:
-landing page;
-corporate site;
-internet store;
-business card site;
-catalogue;
-individual, etc.
- Determine the main actions on the site, that is, what action a visitor must perform (buy, order, subscribe, etc.).
- Determines the design of the future site, corporate identity (fonts, graphics, colors).Describes the ideas of the customer, his preferences.
- Customer indicates examples of competitors’ sites (their addresses), where he describes what he likes the style and functionality, and what he does not like.
- Necessary pages of the site are defined:
-information;
-catalog pages or online store.
-additional and other pages.
- Necessary functionality of the entire future site is defined.
- Language versions are specified.
- Determines if the customer has ready content (unique text, optimized images, videos, logos, etc.).
11. Discusses the development and advertising of the site in the future.
- Budget and timing of development of the site.
- Further wishes and questions of the customer.
Conclusion.
Detailed completion of the Brief gives a complete picture of the project to several experts at once: marketer, designer, copywriter, developer, and as a result – saves time to assess the timing of website development and its cost.
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You may also be interested in the following related articles:
“How to improve website performance”
“What determines the cost of the site”
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By ordering a website in our EnergyStars web studio
you have the opportunity from the first to the last day not only to observe how your site is being formed, but also to take an active part, making edits and wishes.
