Write the site before you design it

Every project I’m proud of started with a document, not a mood board. Before I open Figma I write the whole site as plain text: one sentence per page, in the client’s own voice, with the one thing a visitor should do next.

Why words come first

Layouts are cheap to change and sentences are not. If the headline on the room page can’t be written in one line, no grid will fix it. Writing first forces the hard conversations early, while they cost an email instead of a redesign.

It also makes the design faster. When I know a page carries one sentence and three photographs, I’m designing for that, not for a generic hero with a placeholder.

The one-page brief

The brief has four parts: who the visitor is, what they already believe, what we want them to believe, and the single action on each page. Clients sign it off before any visuals exist, and we come back to it whenever a decision feels subjective.

Halden House’s brief was 212 words. The site that came out of it doubled their direct bookings.