The website implementation process starts with some form of briefing, but not necessarily in a meeting. In fact, we've never met some of our clients face-to-face!
We've had everything from hardly a brief at all to being asked to go through long 'specifications' coupled with 100-page contracts. Ideally we get something in between.
In some ways this can be a sensible option. Our prospective client is making no claims to know about things web. We evaluate their existing literature, assess the flavour and the essence of their business, and devise what we think might work - and usually it does.
This brief need not be long! It is helpful to know of course what the practical requirements of a website are, where the business is going and whether it is the frontrunner in the design of the company livery or following existing material. We also look at the potential audience and other factors.
It's not so easy to pin down a fixed specification that works - a website is there to meet a (business) need and therefore has a number of functional requirements (as opposed to specifications) to fulfil. Above which, it is not cast in stone and can be allowed to evolve with the business, changing times or the whims of the owners!
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