Establishing the Client's Requirements
beginner20 minLearning objectives
- Interpret a client brief to identify purpose, problem to be solved, key messages
- Identify intended audience and technical requirements from a brief
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A2 — Reading a client brief
A client brief sets out what a website needs to achieve, not necessarily how. Before any design or build work starts, you need to interpret it correctly.
What to extract from a brief
| Element | What you're looking for |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Why does the client want a website? (see the four purposes from Lesson 2) |
| Problem to be solved | What gap or need is the site meant to address? |
| Key messages | What does the client want every visitor to take away? |
| Intended audience | Who does the brief describe as the target user? |
| Technical requirements | Any stated constraints — e.g. must work well on mobile, must include a particular feature |
Worked example — GreenLeaf Organic Foods
A brief for GreenLeaf Organic Foods might state: "We want a website that helps local customers discover our organic produce range and builds trust in our sourcing. Many of our customers shop on their phones."
- Purpose: information (discovering the produce range) and promotion (building trust in sourcing)
- Problem to solve: customers don't yet know what GreenLeaf sources or why it's trustworthy
- Key message: GreenLeaf's produce is genuinely local and organic
- Audience: existing and potential local customers, mobile-first
- Technical requirement: must work well on mobile
A different brief — for GlowFit Gym, say — would produce a completely different set of answers using the exact same checklist. The checklist stays the same; the content of the answers is entirely brief-specific.
Task
Read your own chosen brand's brief — the one you'll build the rest of the unit around — and complete the checklist above for it. This becomes part of your PSAB Task 1 research evidence (A.P1/A.M1).