The Mistake That Makes Web Design Briefs Take Twice as Long

Transforming your web design brief process with AI can slash time spent on admin, freeing you to focus on creativity and client satisfaction.

Streamlining Web Design Briefs with AI: Elwyn Davies' Game-Changing Strategy

Streamlining Web Design Briefs with AI: Elwyn Davies' Game-Changing Strategy

There’s an odd kind of irony to being a web designer. We’re meant to visualize the future: sleek interfaces, frictionless journeys, digital efficiency. Yet, when it comes to our own work, we can often get stuck in the past. Nowhere does that irony bite harder than in the traditional task of writing web design briefs. Take it from me: when you’ve spent as many years wrangling briefs as I have, you develop a sixth sense for wasted motion and lost hours.

Truth is, most of us still approach this foundation stage like it’s 2004. Pages of scribbles, endless emails, a million tabs open, headphones on for that “quick” client chat that somehow turns into a transcript the length of Anna Karenina. All this, before the real designing has even begun. I spent a decade and a half martyring myself to this process. Quite recently, AI finally gave me a better route.

Today I want to show you how I’ve transformed the way I build project briefs using AI (specifically ChatGPT), why that approach truly changes the game, and what it means for the creative freedom and professional polish of your own projects. I’ll break down the approach, illustrate the pitfalls, show you exactly how to implement it, and share the subtle lessons that really sharpen your results.

Why This Matters

Let’s be brutally honest: bad briefs haunt even the most talented web designers. Skim over the fine print, and you risk confused communication, missed requirements, and projects that drag on as you patch up mistakes. Spend ages perfecting the document, and suddenly you’re out of steam before you’ve placed a single pixel. In either scenario, time bleeds away, costs mount, and both you and your client get a weaker result.

Every hour spent wrangling a brief is an hour you’re not conceptualising layouts, developing prototypes, or exploring creative avenues. Multiply that by a steady stream of clients, and you rapidly see why so many freelance designers feel perpetually behind.

There’s also a cost tied to your client’s patience. Clients expect work to progress quickly. Nobody wants to schedule yet another “catch-up” or sift through a wordy document that simply rehashes what they already said. Streamlining this stage isn’t about cutting corners. The goal is to cut the unnecessary friction that stops you and your client from getting the website you both want out into the world.

These days, competition is fierce. Margins are tight and patience is thinner. If you want to stand out, you need to deliver clarity, speed, and accuracy right from the first conversation.

Common Pitfalls

Most designers I know (and an embarrassing number of my own past selves) fall into one or more of these traps when assembling briefs:

  • Over-Documenting Every Detail: You end up trying to capture every stray comment from the client, ballooning the brief into a novella nobody reads.
  • Treating Briefs as Tick-Box Exercises: It's tempting to think, "As long as I've got my standard questions answered, I'm sorted." The snag is that projects rarely follow a template.
  • Running Endless Meetings: If your initial conversation is longer than your local pub’s closing hours, you’re doing something wrong.
  • Delaying the Creative Start: By obsessing over the brief’s wording and format, you wind up putting designing on hold.
  • Forgetting the Client’s Perspective: Remember, most clients aren’t technical. Overly detailed briefs can confuse rather than clarify.

Many people hold a widespread (but totally understandable) belief that good documentation requires toil and tedium. I used to think so, too. That’s why my earliest briefs felt like university dissertations: accurate, but totally uninspiring and twice as slow.

The real oversight here is treating the brief as your deliverable. Instead, the brief serves as your springboard. It needs to be sharp, digestible, and accurate, but it shouldn’t be a roadblock. The value lies in clear communication and understanding between you and the client, not in the time spent formatting bullet points.

Step-by-Step Fix

I promised you a practical system that saves time without slashing quality. Here’s how I streamlined my briefing process using AI, step by step, including the lessons I learned through experience.

Step 1: Keep the Initial Conversation Tightly Focused

Let’s start at the beginning: the client chat. Resist the urge to turn this into a therapy session. You won’t solve all of their business problems in one call, nor should you. Aim for a punchy, focused ten minutes.

What you need to cover:

  • The client’s absolute priorities (“What MUST this website achieve from day one?”)
  • Key audiences and users
  • Core features, functions, or integrations
  • Reference sites: likes, dislikes, design cues
  • Budget expectations (yes, get this now, avoid pain later)
  • Timescales that matter (product launches, events, or that classic “as soon as possible”)

I like to have a simple prompt sheet on my desk and tick things off as I go. This sounds so basic, but it’s the only way you’ll consistently collect what matters, instead of drifting off on tangents about fonts or the CEO’s dog.

Pixelhaze Tip:
Before the meeting, send your client 3-4 short questions they'll easily understand. This trims dead air during your chat and prevents both of you from going off-piste.
💡

Step 2: Turn Your Notes Into Clear Input

The quality of your AI results depends on the material you provide. After the call, I quickly jot down everything meaningful. This isn’t the time for full sentences—just tight notes per point from the call. Here’s an example (straight from a real project):

  • Site must showcase new subscription box
  • Audience: sustainable shoppers, ages 25-45
  • Main competitors: EcoBox, GreenCrate
  • Needs simple checkout, PayPal/Square integration
  • Strong product photography, fun colour palette
  • Budget: “not more than £2,500”
  • Go live before Earth Day, press campaign planned

Nothing fancy. I don’t stress over grammar, just get the nuggets down. If you’ve recorded your call (with permission), running it through an AI transcript tool can help immensely (just make sure to fact-check afterwards).

Pixelhaze Tip:
Bullet points beat full paragraphs. They help the AI tool distinguish key ideas, and you can double-check them in seconds, not minutes.
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Step 3: Feed Your Notes to ChatGPT (or Similar) With a Laser-Focused Prompt

Now, the next important step. Open ChatGPT and paste your bullet-pointed notes. Then, be specific with your prompt, such as:

"Turn these notes into a detailed, professional project brief suitable for developers and designers. Ensure all client requirements are clearly summarised in plain English. Format with headings for: Overview, Objectives, Features, Visual Style, Budget, Key Dates."

AI likes direction. The better your prompt, the less editing you’ll need. Within 10 to 20 seconds, you’ll get a structured brief that’s more coherent than most drafts written from scratch. Expect something like:

Project Overview

Client requires a website for a new sustainable subscription box, targeting eco-conscious shoppers aged 25–45. Site to support strong brand visuals and e-commerce functionality.

Objectives

  • Launch before Earth Day
  • Support press campaign
  • Create a fun, engaging brand presence

Features

  • Simple checkout with PayPal and Square
  • Product photography gallery
  • Easy navigation

…and so on.

Pixelhaze Tip:
Don’t hesitate to ask the AI to rephrase, expand, or clarify particular sections. If the first draft isn’t quite right, you can iterate with simple follow-up prompts like, “Please clarify the checkout process” or “Suggest three tagline ideas in the brand’s tone.”
💡

Step 4: Review, Personalise, and Sense-Check the AI Output

AI can save you a truckload of typing, but it doesn’t replace your professional judgment. Carefully read through the draft, then:

  • Check that every unique client requirement actually appears
  • Reword anything that sounds off—your clients want to hear your voice, not a bland bot
  • Remove any sections that drift from the intent (“fluff” often sneaks in)
  • Double-check technical asks: AI sometimes bluffs confidently if it doesn’t understand, so sanity-check feature suggestions.

This phase usually takes me a breezy 10 to 15 minutes. Compare that to the hour or more I used to spend formatting, editing, cross-referencing, and fiddling with template language.

Pixelhaze Tip:
Read the brief aloud, imagining you’re the client. If any part would confuse you if you were paying the bill, rework or clarify immediately.
💡

Step 5: Share the Brief and Get Client Confirmation Fast

Send your new brief to your client in clear, accessible format—email or PDF works fine—with a short note:

“Here’s the project brief summarising our call. Give it a look and let me know if there’s anything we’ve missed, or anything that needs updating. Once you confirm, I’ll get cracking on designs!”

This direct feedback loop achieves two things: it reassures the client you’ve captured their needs (building trust), and it creates an early chance for course correction.

Pixelhaze Tip:
Ask one specific question, such as “Is there any part of this brief that doesn’t match your expectations so far?” It invites focused feedback and avoids endless back-and-forth.
💡

What Most People Miss

Most resources skip over the key insight here. Streamlining via AI involves a mindset shift. See your process as a living, iterative tool instead of a fixed artifact.

The main reason people struggle with AI-driven briefs is the expectation of perfection on the first pass, or the tendency to blindly trust AI-generated content. AI can enhance your strengths, but it will also highlight any unclear or incomplete input. To benefit most from this method, you should:

  • Cultivate curiosity: What’s missing? What would make this clearer, faster, better?
  • Stay hands-on: Treat the AI output as scaffolding, not gospel.
  • Always aim for the client’s moment of clear understanding. If your brief makes them feel heard and understood, you’re already well on your way to project success.

It’s important to commit to clarity. The simpler your raw notes, the sharper the output. Many designers get tripped up by trying to outsmart the AI with complicated instructions; keeping it clear and straightforward works best.

The Bigger Picture

Improving your briefing process creates lasting benefits for you and your clients:

  • More Creative Freedom: When you’re not spending all your time on admin, your energy goes where the project demands.
  • Faster Turnaround: Projects move sooner, which delights clients and fills your pipeline with less stress.
  • Consistency at Scale: As your workload grows, the AI-powered method keeps briefs sharp across any number of projects, reducing risk of burnout or missed steps.
  • Professional Polish: A clear, well-written brief demonstrates that you have things under control. Clients notice.
  • Better Project Outcomes: With clearer requirements and less ambiguity, you get fewer nasty surprises later in the project, fewer urgent calls, and fewer last-minute changes in the middle of the night.

Making this change helps you build habits that encourage adaptability. As AI and automation become standard tools, you are preparing your practice and your team (if you have one) to handle whatever comes next.

Even more importantly, you regain headspace. Designers and developers are valued for how well they think and create, not for the time spent transcribing calls or reformatting requirements. The sooner you connect client input to creative action, the better it is for everyone involved.

Wrap-Up

Bringing AI into the briefing workflow has been one of the best improvements I’ve made in my career as a designer and project manager. I’ve traded late nights and unwieldy Word documents for a pace that’s quick, reliable, and surprisingly enjoyable. The client experience improves, projects start smoothly, and I spend much more of my day actually designing.

In short, you can achieve both quality and efficiency. Adopting the right system lets your business (and sanity) thrive. Try these steps on your next project, and you’ll see the difference.

Want more helpful systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.

About Elwyn Davies
Elwyn has worn most hats in the business: designer, front-end developer, project manager, small business owner, and (let’s be honest) part-time therapist for clients in distress. He’s helped companies large and small build websites and software they’re proud of for longer than he cares to admit. In another life, he’d have become a teacher, so founding the Pixelhaze Academy lets him (finally) pass on hard-won knowledge to the next wave of digital creators.

Join the conversation. What systems have helped streamline your creative workflow? Drop a comment or swing by the Pixelhaze Academy community. See you there.

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