Decide what the visitor needs to understand, believe and do. This Web Design Studio skill produces the story brief that directs the page. Strategy first, then design, then motion. Do not begin a layout or animation merely to discover what to say.
When this fires
- A launch, landing, product or waitlist page needs a clear argument.
- The user wants to improve a headline, call to action or pricing page copy.
- A conversion review finds competing actions, unanswered objections or weak proof.
- The user asks what the page should say before asking how it should look.
A visual repair with settled copy does not need a new strategy brief. Keep supplied content and the requested scope intact.
Establish the inputs
Read the project brief, existing page, supplied copy and available proof. Identify one audience, one offer and one primary action. Competing actions above the fold are a defect: choose the intended next step and explain where secondary navigation belongs without removing necessary access or legal information.
Ask only for missing information, in one batch. Prioritise the intended action, traffic source, offer details and evidence that would change the message. Continue with clearly stated, reversible assumptions where possible. Do not stall the build for preferences already established by the project. Never turn an assumption into a customer fact or a promise.
Separate known facts, proposed wording and unresolved inputs in the brief. If a material fact is missing, leave it explicitly unresolved and complete the parts that do not depend on it.
Preserve truth and identity
Never invent claims, numbers, customer names, logos, testimonials, guarantees or prices. Use only proof whose source and permission to use are established by the project. Keep supplied copy verbatim unless rewriting is requested, including capitalisation, product names and legal lines. Put proposed alternatives beside the original when a rewrite is in scope.
The brand decides voice, casing and the visual system. This skill sets no font, colour, spacing or motion values. Do not turn a page shape into a universal style.
Use a verified number, timeframe or named outcome instead of a vague benefit when the evidence supports it. Specificity is a reason to ask for a source, not to make up a persuasive figure. Without a supported metric, describe the observable task or result plainly.
Build the argument
Match the arrival promise
Record the traffic source and what the visitor already believes. The headline or promise they clicked must be the promise they find on arrival. Keep the offer and conditions consistent across that handoff. Flag a mismatch rather than compensating for it with stronger unsupported copy.
Choose the action and offer
State the offer in one sentence and the action as a verb plus its outcome. Clarify what happens after the click and any supplied commitment, eligibility or cost. A pricing page may compare options while keeping one primary decision clear. Do not invent plan features or terms to make the options look complete.
Put proof beside its claim
Pair each factual claim with its supporting demonstration, source, specification, result or approved quotation. Place that pair in the same reading beat. Do not collect unrelated proof at the bottom and expect it to justify earlier assertions. Name evidence gaps and remove unsupported claims from proposed publishable copy.
Answer objections in order
Identify the top three objections, or mark an unknown rather than fabricating one. Give each objection a section that answers it with available evidence. Order those sections by the questions visitors encounter: understanding the offer, believing it can help, and deciding whether the next step is acceptable may require different orders for different traffic. Do not bury a decisive condition in an FAQ.
State the actual risk reversal
Use an existing trial, cancellation term, guarantee or other documented commitment only when supplied. Preserve its conditions. If none exists, record "none supplied" and clarify what the next step entails. Do not manufacture a guarantee.
Choose the page shape
Read page shapes. Select proof-first, education-first, single-action or comparison and give a reason tied to the visitor. Keep only sections that advance the decision. Set an observable acceptance check for the brief and identify any later outcome measurement separately. A sensible outline is not evidence that conversion will improve.
Decide search intent
Choose noindex for time-bound offers or ad-only pages. Choose index for evergreen offers that answer a lasting search intent, with a title, description and a plain-language FAQ using supported answers. Record the decision and reason in the brief. Mark the indexing directive as an implementation requirement; hiding a link does not establish that a page is excluded from indexing.
Output and handoff
Write story-brief.md using the
story brief template. Include the audience,
primary action, offer, traffic context, objections, adjacent proof, risk reversal,
page shape, indexing decision, hero message and reading-order beats. Record exact
copy and brand constraints that the builder must preserve.
Return the brief's location, the chosen page shape and any unresolved facts.
The deliverable is the story brief, handed to cinematic-scroll for design and
motion if that skill is installed and implementation is requested. Otherwise,
leave a complete brief that another builder can use. Strategy first, then design,
then motion. The brief does not authorise publication, invented proof or a claim
of improved conversion.