Last week, I started a series on how I work with clients. The first thing I do is ask a lot of questions. Then, I’ll go back to my computer and write a creative brief. Essentially, the creative brief is a document that tells the client, “This is what I hear you saying…”

The purpose is to make sure that we’re both on the same page. So what exactly do I include?

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Overview

In the first section, I define the site’s goals and how we’ll measure the success of the site. It’s important that these two line up. For example, I can’t say that the goal of the site is to increase product sales while success is determined in page views. Yes, we want page views, but unless those page views are converted into sales, what good does that do me? A bunch of window shoppers won’t pay the mortgage!

Goals don’t have to be tied purely to sales, though. They can relate to how people interact with your site: comments, RSS subscribers, Twitter followers, number of unique visitors, returning visitors, etc.

Regardless, the important thing is simply to define success. How will you know what success is if you haven’t even defined it?

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Typical Tasks a User Might Perform

You know:

• Gather information about the company
• Buy a product
• Sign up for the mailing list

This list helps me in the design process, because it tells me what I need to focus on. Then, I can try and funnel users through a specific pathway. Let me explain.:

A user goes to the site and gathers information about the company. What do I want them to do with that information? There needs to be an action point. Contact me? Hire me? or Follow me on Twitter? Yes, they go to the page to gather information, but I drive them to connect with us.

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Project Roles

This section determines what everybody’s role in the project is. Who makes decisions? Who provides content? Where do the assets come from?

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Phases in Site Development

I like to use this section to explain the process to the client. Clients need to understand how things work and what to expect. As I mentioned before, creative briefs are all about communication and setting expectations up front.

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Technical Details

Content Management System or CMS

This allows the client to update the site themself, on the fly. A CMS will cost more money on the front end, but will save money in the back end because they’re not calling the firm to update the site everytime something changes. Currenly, WordPress is the most popular CMS.

Domain Registration and Hosting

The metaphor that I use to explain this concept to clients is real estate. When you buy a house, you need a two things: (1) a piece of land to put your house on and (2) and an address so people can find it. Websites are no different. You need somewhere to put it (hosting) and an address so people can find it (a domain name).

This section of the creative brief clarifies whether the client has a domain name registered already and if not, who will register it, and how much it will cost. Same with hosting.

Functionality

This is a list of everything the site DOES and DOES NOT include. Ecommerce? Email newsletter? Search?

Scope creep is a firm’s worst nightmare. It’s when the client slowly adds features. “It’s just a quick change. It’s not that big of a deal.” Maybe, but those add up quickly over time. Plus, I never want my clients to say, “I thought that was included.”

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Information Architecture

This is a sitemap of all the pages that the site will include. It also illustrates the site’s navigation structure. A couple rules I try to abide by:

1. The main navigation should never include more than 8 items. Any more and the user has trouble making a decision.
2. The user should be able to reach everything on the site within 2 clicks.

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Content Overview

I outline the global elements of the site. I try not to lock myself into anything visually, but rather offer recommendations. Social networking icons in the footer? Hero image in the header?

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Content Breakdown

I list every page that’s included on the site and the content that I’ll need for each section. This serves as a great checklist for the client when they’re providing me with content, videos, photos, etc.

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Technical and Functional Considerations

In this area, I describe any technology I’ll be supporting. IE6? iPads? Mobile devices? What screen resolutions will I take into consideration? HTML5? CSS3? jQuery? PHP? (Alphabet soup, yes please).

I also describe any analytics that I’ll be running. Google Analytics and Mint are two great options.

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Social Networking Tools

What social networking tools will I implement on the site? AddThis or ShareThis? How will Facebook, Twitter, Gowalla, FourSquare, Google+ be integrated?

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Proposed Schedule

I list out all dates, both mine and the clients. This includes everything from turning payments in, to delivering content, to when feedback is needed. I also include a disclaimer that explains if a client is late responding, then due dates will be pushed back proportionately.

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Funding

This is one of most important sections to the client. Sometimes, it’s make or break. When I explain funding in the brief, I try to break down cost that way it doesn’t look like one large sum. I want clients to understand where their money goes and how it’s distributed throughout the project. I want them to understand the value of each phase.

Here, I also explain the payment schedule I use. Depending on how long / large the project is, I’ll break it down into 2 or 3 payments: one third up front, one third at the completion of the design phase, and one third upon completion of the project.

I’ll also list any additional funding: fonts, stock photography, hosting, domain name registration, etc.

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Miscellaneous

• Communication – In this section, I explain how I’ll communicate with the client throughout the project. Email? Face to face? phone? Basecamp?
• Deliverables – This contains information about what the client will receive once the project’s complete. All PSD files? HTML files? CSS files? It also includes information on how the files will be delivered. CD / DVD? Dropbox? FTP? email?
• Maintenance and Emergencies – I explain my level of availability, especially if there’s an emergency. Again, set expectations now, rather than later.
• Timestamp – I timestamp all my briefs. This is a little trick I picked up. The briefs I write, are only good for a month. Rates change, as well as, scheduling and our availability. Believe it or not, one time, I wrote a brief while I was in college. Obviously, as a student my rates were much lower. The client sat on the project for 2 years! Fortunately, it didn’t end up being a big deal, but if I had included this line back then, it never would have even been an issue.
• Next Steps – Here, I tell the client what the next step is. They’ve read the brief, now what? I want to make sure there’s no room for confusion and they know exactly what to do next if they want to continue moving forward.
• Signature – I make sure the client signs off on the creative brief, in effect, agreeing to everything I’ve outlined.

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It’s a lot, yes, but the work up front has saved me so much hassle on the back end. In fact, I’ve won bids because I’ve been thorough.

Did I miss anything? Do you include items in your creative briefs that I forgot?