How to brief a Web Designer

Why Copying and Pasting What ChatGPT Told You Into a Designer’s Brief Is Actually Holding You Back

Let me start by saying, I love that AI tools exist. I use them myself. They’re brilliant for sparking ideas, unblocking writer’s brain, and getting a quick answer at 11pm when you really should be in bed. But there’s something I’ve been seeing more and more as a web and brand designer, and I need to talk about it.

Clients arriving in my inbox with a brief that’s essentially a printed-out AI conversation.

I get it. You Googled “what do I need to tell my web designer” and ChatGPT gave you a very neat, very confident, very generic list of things. And now you’ve sent that list to me. The problem? None of it is actually about you or your business.

AI doesn’t know your business. You do.

When you ask an AI what you need for a website, it draws on millions of general examples. It’ll tell you things like “include a clear call to action” and “make sure your homepage communicates your value proposition.” All technically correct. Also completely useless as a brief.

What AI can’t tell me is why your clients keep coming back to you. It doesn’t know that your tone is a bit no-nonsense but genuinely warm, or that your ideal customer is a woman in her 40s who’s finally investing in herself. It has no idea that you’ve been running your business from your kitchen table for five years and you’re ready for it to look like the professional operation it actually is.

That stuff? That’s the gold. And it has to come from you.

A brief built on AI output skips the thinking you actually need to do

Briefing a designer well requires you to sit with some uncomfortable questions. What do you actually want this website to do? Not in a vague “get more clients” way, but specifically. Do you want people to book a call? Buy a product? Understand immediately that you’re premium and not the cheapest option? Feel reassured that you know what you’re talking about?

When you outsource that thinking to an AI, you skip the process of getting clear on what success actually looks like for you. And then six weeks later, when the design is done and something feels “off”, you won’t be able to articulate what it is, because you never really defined what “right” was in the first place.

That’s frustrating for everyone, and it often leads to revision after revision that costs both of us time and energy.

Your designer is not a mind reader, but they’re also not Google

Here’s what happens when I receive a generic AI-generated brief: I have to spend the early stages of a project essentially interviewing you to find the actual brief underneath the AI one. I’m asking what you really meant by “modern and professional.” I’m trying to figure out whether “clean and minimal” means you like white space, or you just copied that phrase from somewhere.

That’s time we could be spending moving your project forward. Your designer’s job is to take your vision, your voice, and your goals and translate them into something visual that works. But we can only do that if we actually know what those things are.

What to do instead

I’m not saying don’t use AI at all in your prep process. Use it to help you think. Ask it questions that prompt your own reflection: “What questions should I be able to answer before briefing a web designer?” and then actually answer those questions yourself, in your own words.

Think about who you’re trying to reach and what you want them to feel when they land on your site. Think about the websites you love (and the ones that make you click away immediately). Think about your business in a year’s time, what does it look like, and does your current branding reflect that future version of you?

Those answers, written in your own words, even if they’re messy, that’s the brief I can actually work with.

The bottom line

AI is a tool, not a substitute for self-knowledge. Your website and your brand should be a genuine reflection of your business and only you can provide that insight. When you hand that responsibility to a bot, you get a website that could belong to anyone.

You deserve better than that. So does your brand.

One last thing and this one really matters.

When you come to me as your designer, I need to know the practical stuff too. Are we building a full website or a single landing page? Do you need an online booking system, a shop, or email marketing integration and if so, do you want me to set that up, or is that something you’re handling yourself? Are there forms, automations, or third-party tools that need connecting?

Every single one of these details changes the scope of the project, the timeline, and the cost. An AI bot can generate a five-page website in seconds, I can’t, and honestly, you wouldn’t want me to. What I can do is build you something that’s been thought through properly, that works for your actual customers, and that you can grow into.

But I can only do that when I understand the full picture. So before you hit send on that brief, AI-generated or otherwise take five minutes to think about what you actually need your website to do. That conversation is where the good work starts.

If you’re not sure where to start with putting together a proper brief, drop me a message, I’m always happy to walk new clients through the process before we even get to a proposal. That conversation usually makes everything that follows a whole lot smoother.

Ready to get started on a website that actually sounds, looks, and feels like you? Then why not book a call, click the link here

Yvette