How to Write a Web Design Brief in Dubai (So You Don’t Pay Twice)

The most expensive sentence in a Dubai web project is “we’ll know it when we see it.” It sounds open-minded. It is how you pay twice: once for a design that guessed, and again for the real one after the partners finally agree. A brief is not a corporate ritual. It is a one- or two-page note that names the goal, the pages, the examples, the WhatsApp number, who owns the copy, a budget range in AED, and whose name is on the domain.

I ask for this because I am the person who otherwise has to invent it on a call, then watch the invention get rejected in week five. You can send it as a WhatsApp voice note. You can fill a document. You cannot skip the decisions. If you want the visual version of the same discipline, read wireframes and sitemaps. If you want to see how missing scope shows up as a “cheap” quote, read hidden costs of cheap websites.

Goals you can check later

Write one primary job for the site. Examples that work: “Get villa fit-out enquiries on WhatsApp,” “Take admissions tour bookings,” “Let procurement download a capability pack.” Examples that do not: “Raise the brand,” “Be number one on Google,” “Look international.” Those may be hopes. They are not a brief. If SEO matters, say which phrases are honest for your trade and city. If ads are already running, say so — the landing path is then part of the site, not a later surprise.

Add how you will know it worked in ordinary language: we want people to message, call, or apply. You do not need a fake KPI. You need a next step we can put on the first screen. That is enough for me to design against.

Pages, examples, and the number people will tap

List the pages you think you need, then we will cut. Home, About, services, Contact is a start. Extra pages need a reason. Paste three URLs you respect, and one sentence each on why: “clear prices,” “photos look like the real shop,” “Arabic works.” Do not paste a luxury hotel if you run a garage in Al Quoz unless you can say which part you mean (space, type, not the chandelier).

Give me the WhatsApp number and the voice number that should go live, in international format. If sales and accounts are different, say which one the site uses. If the number is a personal mobile you do not want public, say that before we print it on fifty pages. This is boring. It is also how we avoid launching with a dead Etisalat SIM from a staff member who left.

Who writes, who signs off, who is on leave

Name a content owner. One person. Committees can comment. One person supplies text and photos by a date. When the owner is on leave and nobody else may approve Arabic, the project waits while the calendar burns. I will put that dependency on the timeline. I will not magically invent your fee table.

Photos: what we may use, what is client-confidential, what is stock we should not use. If you have no photos, say so. We plan a phone shoot or we delay the pretty page, not the whole site. Copy: if you want me involved in the words, that is a line in the brief, not an assumption. I write like this article. I will not invent testimonials.

Languages

English only, Arabic later, or both at launch. That choice changes the build. Put it in the brief so a quote for English-only is not later treated as a bilingual project for the same fee. RTL is not a plugin you tick on Friday.

Budget range is a kindness

A range in AED lets me propose a site you can actually buy. “Competitive” and “best quality” are how you collect quotes that are not for the same product. You do not need to show your ceiling to every bidder. You do need to know whether we are in simple-brochure territory or custom-app territory. My public ranges live in the cost guide; the brief just locates you on the map. If the range is tight, we cut pages, not quality of the remaining ones. That is how you avoid paying twice for a half-finished theme.

Domain ownership belongs in writing

Say who registers the domain, whose ICANN / .ae contact email is used, and who holds hosting. If a previous freelancer still owns the name, that is the first job, not the tenth. I will not build on an account I cannot hand to you. Get it in the brief and then in the contract. After launch, use a checklist so HTTPS, Search Console, and backups are not folklore — website launch checklist for the UAE is the operational twin of this document.

You can send this to me, to an agency, or to both. A good brief makes quotes comparable. It also makes me faster, which is the whole point of hiring a freelancer for web design. If writing documents is not your favourite task, use WhatsApp or contact: six voice notes covering the headings above. I will turn them into a page list and confirm. That still counts. Silence does not.

Pay twice is what happens when the brief is a logo PNG and a sentence about looking premium. Pay once is what happens when we both know the pages, the number, the owner, the range, and the logins. Send what you have. I will tell you what is missing. Then we can design.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a web design brief be?

One to two pages is enough for most SME sites. Goals, pages, examples, contacts, budget range, and ownership. A 30-page RFP is for a different kind of project.

Do I have to name a budget?

A range in AED helps. “Competitive” is not a number. Without a range you will compare a template to a custom build and feel cheated by both.

What if we do not have copy yet?

“We will send content later” is the usual reason a Dubai website slips. Name who writes it and by when, or budget for copy as part of the job.