What to Prepare Before a Website or Brand Project

Before a project begins, many companies choose one of two extremes: send only "we want a premium corporate website," or package dozens of gigabytes of historical files for the design team. The first cannot define scope; the second buries useful information in obsolete materials. Good preparation helps the project team understand the business, goals, users, content, and constraints quickly.

Incomplete materials do not prevent a project from starting. Divide information into three groups: required before kickoff, needed during phase one, and completed gradually during design and development. This prevents waiting for every piece of copy while also avoiding design without critical decisions.

01 Category One: Project Goals and Success Criteria

"Build a better-looking website" is not actionable. Explain why the project starts now, what should change, and how effectiveness will be judged after launch. Different goals produce very different structures and priorities.

02 Category Two: Company, Business, and Product Materials

• □ Company profile, development stage, primary business, and revenue model;
• □ Core products or services and their priorities;
• □ The problem each product solves, ideal users, and differentiation;
• □ Typical sales or delivery process;
• □ Service regions, languages, industries, and customer sizes;
• □ Verifiable evidence for qualifications, patents, certifications, awards, and partners;
• □ Existing business plans, product materials, sales PPT, and internal training content;
• □ Business, customer, and sensitive information that must remain private.

You do not need to provide every internal file at the start. Share a curated business explanation first and add sensitive materials after confidentiality mechanisms are clear. Designers need business structure and decision rationale more than a large volume of unsorted files.

03 Category Three: Target Users and Real Problems

Personas need not invent a "28-year-old who enjoys travel." For corporate projects, roles, scenarios, tasks, concerns, decision authority, and information needs are more useful.

04 Category Four: Brand Assets and Visual Guidelines

A JPG Logo is enough to begin, but confirm early whether it needs vector reconstruction, color standardization, and font licensing. Never assume images, fonts, or icons found online can be used commercially.

05 Category Five: Website or Product Content

Content is an input to structural design, not decoration added at the end. At minimum, identify a content owner, assess existing copy, specify pages needing new copy, and identify materials requiring photography or translation.

• □ Proposed navigation and page inventory;
• □ Core home-page message, product/service details, and differentiating evidence;
• □ About, team, qualifications, customers, cases, and contact information;
• □ News, articles, reports, downloads, and FAQs;
• □ Form fields, privacy notice, and lead-routing method;
• □ Chinese, English, or other language versions and reviewers;
• □ Content publication dates, authors, and update owners;
• □ Old-site pages, files, and SEO data requiring migration.

06 Category Six: Cases, Customers, and Trust Evidence

"We have served 500 customers" has limited value if it cannot be shown or verified. Curate three to six representative projects and explain customer type, problem, service scope, process, outcomes, and publication permissions.

07 Category Seven: Competitors and Reference Websites

A reference site is most useful when the company explains specifically what it likes and dislikes instead of saying "make it this style." Divide references into business structure, content, interaction, visual design, and technology.

Reference sites should not become copying targets. Explain whether your business, content, and technology support a similar experience; otherwise only the appearance will match while logic and conversion fail.

08 Category Eight: Functional, Technical, and System Constraints

• □ Existing domains, servers, filing, SSL, and admin accounts;
• □ Technology stack, CMS, database, code repository, and deployment method;
• □ Forms, search, membership, payment, languages, and content-publishing functions;
• □ CRM, ERP, support, email, analytics, and marketing tools to integrate;
• □ Browser, device, network, and accessibility requirements;
• □ Security, privacy, data-storage, and permission requirements;
• □ Old URLs, redirects, SEO data, and migration scope;
• □ Internal IT, security, and procurement review processes.

09 Category Nine: Project Scope, Budget, and Timing

Budget and timing need not be exact at the start but must provide constraints. A vendor can recommend a template, phased, or fully custom approach only after understanding the budget tier, mandatory launch date, and adjustable scope.

10 Category Ten: Decision, Communication, and Approval Mechanisms

One common cause of design delays is not slow production but scattered feedback and unclear decisions. Before kickoff, identify one daily owner, one final decision-maker, and when legal, brand, business, and technology participate.

• □ Who owns materials collection and daily communication;
• □ Who has final approval authority for direction;
• □ Whether one channel consolidates feedback;
• □ Feedback time allocated for every phase;
• □ Which content needs brand, legal, technical, or executive review;
• □ How late feedback, direction restarts, and new requirements are handled;
• □ How meetings, email, project tools, and file versions remain consistent.

11 Recommended Folder Structure

12 A Copy-Ready Project Kickoff Checklist

• □ Why the project starts now and the highest-priority problem;
• □ Core users, scenarios, and critical tasks;
• □ Product/service inventory and priorities;
• □ Phase-one pages, functions, and language scope;
• □ Brand Logo, fonts, images, and guidelines;
• □ Existing copy, cases, and trust evidence;
• □ Competitors, references, and explicitly disliked directions;
• □ Domains, technology, accounts, and system integrations;
• □ Budget, launch date, decision-makers, and feedback process;
• □ Confidentiality, copyright, asset licenses, and publication scope.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can design begin before every material is ready?

Requirements definition and information architecture can begin, but goals, core business, users, scope, and decision mechanisms should be confirmed early.

Must the client provide all website copy?

It depends on the contract. The client, design team, or professional copywriter may contribute, but factual inputs, review responsibility, fees, and timing must be clear.

Are reference websites sufficient?

No. References communicate preferences but cannot replace business, user, content, and technical requirements.

Should a brand project provide competitor information?

Provide known competitors while allowing the project team to research independently, avoiding decisions limited to the client's current perspective.

How should sensitive materials be handled?

Sign confidentiality terms first, provide only what is necessary, and control access to accounts, customer data, business information, and personal information.