The Web Site brief is quite different from the other three creative briefs we have looked at.

Some call it a Site Architecture brief, others a Web Development brief. Irrespective of the name, the purpose of this creative brief is to guide you in your thinking as you approach the structural design of your website. In general, this brief will help you define your site’s:

• Architecture (the structure or page tree)
• Primary content areas
• Page content
• Action steps you want your visitor to take

The Web Site (Architecture / Development) brief is probably the most straightforward of the basic creative briefs. It’s a great guide to use as you think about what your web site needs to accomplish.

I usually keep a blank brief by my side as I am working with a client or web development team to help guide our thoughts and lines of questioning.

The Bracco HPF Web Site (Architecture / Developmemt) brief

Company description

• [ Personality and Values ]  Personality in terms of how we work internally and how that translates to how we relate to outside customers and firms.

Market context

• [ What is the competitive environment online, in general terms ]  What are the competitive websites and how do they rank? What are they doing well and where do competitive opportunities exist? Where are we relative to others in a social media context?

The role this web site serves

• [ What is the objective of the web site?“ Primary and Secondary ]  What is this website supposed to do? Is it to act as a brochure, to sell, to capture data, etc?

The metrics we will capture

• [ What quantifiable data do we need to help us identify whether or not we have succeeded? ] What metrics are of most importance to us? Visitors/month, page views, blog comments, etc.

Primary audience

• [ A demographic, psychographic, interest, behavioral and social media description of the individual ]
  1. Demographic and psychographic description of an individual who is most representative of our target.
  2. What are they looking for?
  3. What do we want them to do?
  4. What info do they need in order to do it?
  5. How engaged are they with social media and what do they use?

Secondary audience

• [ for the Secondary Audience, we answer the same set of questions as we addressed for the Primary Audience. ]

The products and / or services to be featured

• [ This is generally the core content of this web site and how we structure it relative to the audience needs is what will make it compelling. ]  In order of importance, what do we want to highlight?

Other aspects of the company that we will highlight

• [ This is generally the secondary content of this web site but in many cases the role of this category and the one above are reversed. ]  In order of importance, what other company aspects do we want to promote (and are any of them of greater importance than those listed above).

What elements or functionality must be present?

• [ Items and features we have not covered above that we must include ]  Items that are frequently included here are items such as the ability to search the site, a password protected section, schedules of government contracting vehicles, etc.

Assets that we can use in the web site

• [ What documents, videos, programs, etc. are available, or can be created for this website? ]  How much is at our disposal, or how limited are we in terms of the assets and content that we can put on this web site?

Technical details

• [ The top technical items that we should keep in mind at all times ]  Describe any technical constraints or needs (such as asp vs php or the type of content management system to be used). This is not a comprehensive technical document - the technical briefing is generally a separate and detailed discussion.

Key Dates

• [ Review and deliverable dates ]  List internal review dates, client review dates, final deliverable dates. Be sure to agree them with everyone internally before committing to them with the client.

Additional Information

• [ Any other information that may be helpful or requirements not yet covered ]  Because web sites are so incredibly varied in the role they play, there is usually additional information that needs to be captured here or in attachment.

The Web Site Brief (or web architecture brief) is the last of a four part series on developing creative briefs . The briefs are designed to work in concert with the Bracco HPF brand development tools, yet are straightforward enough to be used as stand alone guides.

• You can download and use the word.doc version.
• If you have trouble with this brief, or if you would like it customized to the way you work, contact us.

 

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Tags: brand tools, creative brief, web architecture