A calm brief: what to prepare before a website project

Website projects stall on content and decisions, not on colour. If you can answer a short set of questions before kickoff, design time is spent on judgement instead of archaeology.

Start with the offer: what you sell, who it is for, and what a good enquiry looks like. Then list the pages that must exist on day one, the integrations that are non-negotiable, and the people who will approve copy.

Gather the operational facts search engines and customers both need: legal name, service area, hours, phone, email, and whether you can accept work outside your city. Inaccurate NAP (name, address, phone) information creates more support load than an imperfect hero image.

Finally, decide who owns the site after launch. If the answer is “we will see,” budget for a maintenance retainer. Websites that nobody owns begin to look unowned within a year.

process discovery content