---
title: "How to Brief a Design Agency: The One-Page Brief"
description: "A one-page design brief template for websites, apps and brands: the ten fields agencies need to quote accurately, with a filled-in example."
category: "UX & Redesign"
question: "How do I write a brief for a design agency?"
datePublished: 2026-10-17
dateModified: 2026-10-17
readingMinutes: 7
status: published
author: "UXPro Design Studio"
authorType: "Organization"
editorialProcess: "Prepared with AI assistance and checked against the listed sources."
authorUrl: https://uxpro.ca/about
canonical: https://uxpro.ca/blog/how-to-brief-a-design-agency
image: https://uxpro.ca/covers/how-to-brief-a-design-agency.webp
license: "Quote freely with a link to the canonical URL."
---

# How to Brief a Design Agency: The One-Page Brief

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Design brief | A one-page summary of the problem, the people, the constraints and the decision, sent to every agency you ask to quote |
| Ten fields | Business, problem, people, success, scope, existing assets, constraints, budget, dates, decision-maker |
| Send it to | Every agency on your shortlist, unchanged, so the quotes describe the same job |
| Leave out | The design solution. Describe the problem and let the agency propose how to solve it |

**A good design brief fits on one page and answers ten questions: who you are, what problem the project solves, who it is for, how you will know it worked, what is in scope, what already exists, what constraints apply, your budget range, your dates, and who decides. Send the same page to every agency so their quotes describe the same job.** UXPro is a design studio in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, for small businesses, practices and startups: websites, apps, brand, pitch decks, SEO and marketing.

The template below is the one we would like to receive, and it works for any studio. Copy it into an email or a document and fill it in.

## What is a design brief, and what is it not?

> **Design brief:** a short document, written by the client, that describes the problem a design project must solve, the people it serves, the constraints and the decision to be made. It describes the problem, not the solution.

A brief is not a specification. "A homepage with a carousel of three images and a blue button" is a solution, and it removes the one thing you are paying an agency for: the judgement about what will work. "Patients cannot tell which of our two clinics offers physiotherapy, so they call the wrong one" is a problem. It gives the agency something to solve.

A brief is also not a statement of work. The brief is your side. The agency's reply, with deliverables, timeline, price and responsibilities, is the scope, and that is what goes into the contract.

## Why does a one-page brief get you better quotes?

Because it makes quotes comparable. When three agencies each get a different phone conversation, they quote three different projects, and the cheapest one is often simply the smallest. A single page sent unchanged to everyone fixes that.

It also starts the work in the right place. The [GOV.UK Service Manual](https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research/start-by-learning-user-needs) says to "always start by learning about the people who will use it", because if you do not understand who they are or what they need, "you cannot build the right thing." A brief that names the people and their task gives the agency that starting point before the first call.

## What goes in the one-page brief? (template)

Copy this and fill in each line. One or two sentences per field is enough.

| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| 1. The business | What you do, where, and for whom, in two sentences |
| 2. The problem | What is going wrong or missing today, in the customer's terms |
| 3. The people | Who uses the site, app or brand, and the one task each needs to complete |
| 4. Success | What will be different if this works: more booked appointments, fewer "where are you?" calls, a deck that gets a second meeting |
| 5. Scope | What is included (pages, flows, brand items) and what is explicitly not |
| 6. What exists | Current site or product, logo files, photos, copy, analytics access, and which pages bring in traffic |
| 7. Constraints | Platform, booking or practice-management system, sector rules (LSO, PHIPA, AODA), accessibility level |
| 8. Budget | A range, plus HST, and whether it includes ongoing care |
| 9. Dates | When you need it live and why: a launch, a funding meeting, a busy season |
| 10. Decision | Who approves the work, and who else must be consulted |

Attach the evidence rather than summarising it: an analytics export, a list of the five questions customers ask most, examples of sites or decks you like and dislike with one line on why.

## What does a filled-in brief look like?

**Illustration only, not a real client.** The brief below is invented for this guide. The clinic is imaginary and unnamed, and every detail is made up; it does not describe any real practice.

1. **The business:** physiotherapy clinic with two locations in one Ontario city, serving adults with sports and workplace injuries.
2. **The problem:** patients book at the wrong location and call to ask which clinician does what; the site does not say.
3. **The people:** new patients on a phone, usually after a referral; returning patients rebooking.
4. **Success:** fewer misdirected bookings and fewer phone calls asking basic questions.
5. **Scope:** a new site of around eight pages, with one page per location and per clinician; not in scope: the booking system itself.
6. **What exists:** current site, logo files, staff photos, Google Business Profiles for both locations, analytics access.
7. **Constraints:** booking stays in our existing system; first-contact forms must not ask for health details.
8. **Budget:** a range, plus HST, for the build; ongoing care to be quoted separately.
9. **Dates:** live before January, when new-year bookings rise.
10. **Decision:** the clinic director approves; the front-desk lead reviews content.

Field 7 is the kind of line that saves weeks. Our [Ontario Practice Website Index](/research/ontario-practice-website-index), a convenience sample of Ontario law, clinic and accounting homepages (edition 2, October 2026, n = 187), found 13 of 139 first-contact forms asking for health or case details before anyone had spoken to the client. Writing the rule into the brief means nobody designs that form in the first place. Our [PHIPA forms guide](/blog/phipa-clinic-website-forms) explains why.

## What do agencies wish clients put in the brief?

Three things, more than any others.

**A budget range.** Without one, every quote is a guess about what you can afford. With one, each agency tells you what it would do for that money.

**Your existing pages that bring in traffic.** If the project replaces a website, the agency needs to know which URLs matter before it plans the new structure, so each old URL can be mapped to a new one. Our [redesign guide](/blog/redesign-without-losing-rankings) explains why.

**The person who talks to customers.** The receptionist, the sales lead, the support inbox. They are the first people a good agency will want to interview; put their name in field 10.

## What should you leave out of a brief?

- **The design.** Colours you like belong in the attachments as examples, not as instructions.
- **Every feature you can imagine.** List what the first version must do; mark the rest as later.
- **Confidential customer data.** An agency does not need real patient or client records to quote. Send counts and patterns instead.

## What happens after you send it?

Expect questions. An agency that quotes a one-page brief without asking anything is guessing. After a call, ours replies with a written scope and one fixed quote, agreed before any work starts; for a website, the free Redline comes first, so you see how we read your current site before you see a price. Our guide to [what a UX agency does in week one](/blog/what-a-ux-agency-does-in-week-one) shows what should happen once you say yes.

## FAQ

### How long should a design brief be?

One page is enough for most small business websites, apps and brand projects. If it runs longer, move the detail into attachments such as analytics exports or a list of existing pages, and keep the page itself to the ten fields.

### Should I put my budget in the brief?

Yes, as a range. Without one, agencies guess, and you get quotes for three different projects. A range lets each agency say what it would do for that money, which is far easier to compare.

### What if I do not know what I need yet?

Write down the problem and the people who have it, and say that the scope is open. A good agency will ask questions or propose a small first step, such as an audit, before quoting the whole project.

### Is a brief the same as a statement of work?

No. The brief is yours and describes the problem. The statement of work, or scope, is the agency's written answer: deliverables, timeline, price and responsibilities, which becomes part of the contract.

## Next step

Send your brief through our [start page](/start), or read how we run [website design and build](/services/website-design-build) and see what each tier includes on the [pricing page](/pricing). Teams elsewhere in [Ontario](/locations/ontario) work with us on calls. Before you send it, [questions to ask before hiring a web design agency in Canada](/blog/questions-to-ask-before-hiring-a-web-design-agency) lists what to ask back.

*Reviewed for accuracy against the cited primary sources on 17 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.*

## Sources

- [Learning about users and their needs](https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research/start-by-learning-user-needs) (accessed 2026-10-17)