Design Brief Example Your Name Here This is similar to what we use on the Cisco.com team.

Revision History Version 1.4: Corrected Category types (page 6), added SMEs, minor updates from Stephanie Smith Version 1.3: Added Editorial SMEs Version 1.1: Minor revisions with examples

Intake Submission Info [internal only] Project Name Mission of the project (one-liner) Primary business objective Approximate budget available Key sponsors [Note: Use a form like this internally to get the project started quickly]

Overview {Our organization} needs to improve measured customer engagement on {x, y} and as part of this effort is redesigning and streamlining {z} The primary goal is to help customers [ …] A secondary important goal is to [ … ] There will be two tracks of related work, which could happen in parallel: – Track 1: Quick fixes to [ … ] – Track 2: A more thorough design based on existing research [ … ] – These two tracks should be estimated together but as separate line items.

Key Issues/Challenges Design not aligned with business objectives (see section) Inconsistent Treatments: Page titling / naming (causes SEO issues) Inconsistent top box treatment – sometimes the grey box is associated with the image – sometimes not Inconsistent presentation and layout of video treatments within pages Not enough specification information readily available Unclear content and visual hierarchy Not ready for coming features such as [ … ]

Audiences Primary audiences: – Audience 1 Secondary audiences: – Media and bloggers – Procurement managers Tip: Here think about: – Who are the users you are targeting? – Think about specific personas -- what motivates the specific targets? What are their buying patterns?

Business Objectives/Desired Outcomes From a business standpoint, these pages need to to […] – The new experience should : (edit or add) – Specific project objectives: (edit or add to these – pick a few focused objectives) – Educate and excite customers about [product] – Disseminate knowledge and information – Raise public awareness of a new initiative. – Generate purchases – Other: (specify) Measurement: – How are you measuring success? –

Customer Needs Top tasks: [These] pages[experiences] need to address the basic needs of our visitors: – Help customers to [ … ] They pages should also: – [ … ] – Provide a path to [ … ] Note that wording will be different for mobile or tablet initiatives, but the principle is the same.

Calls to Action List any specific known calls to action for this area

Existing Research List any known existing metrics, usability, audience research, or competitive research

Usage Data/Metrics List any existing relevant metrics you have on this area or product List measurement plans you have in mind post launch (what would you like to measure, key conversions, etc)

Content Audit and Status List any known content audit information that may be available to the vendor or design team

Design Deliverables We require a new set of designs that (1) restructure the [...] of the site and (2) visually redesign the [ … ]. Deliverables include: – Content audit – Wireframes – Usage flow diagrams – Prototype for discussion and testing – Visual comps and specification (leveraging existing components) – Xx More

Out of Scope The product does not address the [ … ]. This may be a future project.

Contacts & Stakeholders Stephanie Smith: Product Lead/SME Vinny Paris: Global Lead Christine Farnham: Visual Design Jane Walrus: User Experience Lead/Engagement Manager Cat Robbin: Usability contact Gita Ratcliffe: Editorial Technical lead: Keith Grapefruit Mitch Jones: Site Producer Gina Jackson: Maketing Manager

Timeline Initial wireframes delivered by January 15, Usability test results January 27, 2014 Final wireframes delivered February 10, 2014 Visual designs delivered by February 28,, 2014 or earlier Documentation for new components March 5, 2014

Coordination Points Hero spotlight explorations (Chris Farnham), a separate mini-project Video treatment (Vendor W) Task-based navigation and product hierarchy navigation on new Cisco.com Support area

Details on the Tracks (Use this slide if there are multiple tracks) Track 1: Quick fix approach for deployment this quarter [ … ] Track 2: [ … ]

Technical Constraints [ … ] Consult with your IT team or Rick Roses team for any potential issues. Mail: [team mail] This is a good section to include so that you and vendors dont waste time on designs that cant be implemented easily.

Applications Are there any special features you would like to include on the website [e.g. shopping cart, database applications, rich media etc] Should this web page or section be optimized for mobile devices?

Global Considerations Countries this solution will support: [ … ] Languages this solution will support [ … ] Localization considerations beyond language include [ … ] Timing

Current Page (include pages as illustrations) Call out things that work and dont about the existing designs.

Model Pages from Other Sites Here are some best practices from other sites. Not all of these features make sense for [our site area], but are worth factoring into our design thinking. [ Add pictures of good practices from other sites, with callouts about what you like and dont ]