How do I give a designer feedback to get what I want?
My top two tips on how to give a designer feedback that will save you both time, money, and frustration.
Over the years I’ve worked with a wide range of clients and partners on an even wider range of projects. And when a project partner is feeling a bit more challenging to collaborate with, I’ve found, they have not had a lot of practice working with creatives, and even less practice working with highly experienced creatives. So from their perspective, they often think they need to tell the designer what to do to solve the issue, which most often leads to unnecessary additional revisions and hinders the project's overall outcome. (As well as frustrating the person they are working with).
So, to address this I’ve provided two crucial tips to keep in mind when working with creative people on a project. I promise, if you follow these, you’ll find that together you produce better work, limit frustration, even reduce the rounds of revisions—and ultimately have a better overall output.
My top two tips to follow when providing feedback to a designer:
TIP #1: Discuss the problem, don’t dictate how to solve it.
Too often, a collaborator will come at a review with “do this, do that, do this, do that”. Providing directive notes that do not always take into account how those changes may impact the project overall.
Instead of trying to dictate changes that you think will “fix” whatever the issue is that you see, discuss the problem instead. Often, in this discussion, other things will come to light around the prioritization of information and brand representation.
The other issue, when only dictating changes, you can also cause more issues, as there are many elements that are interacting with each other in a design which to the untrained eye is not always apparent.
For example, instead of:
“Make this (insert item) bigger”.
Try this:
“Since this information or element is super important, it should stand out more.”
or
“I like how you made X stand out in the previous version, can we do something like that in this one as well?”
Because “bigger” is not always going to be the right solution. So when feedback is directive e.g. “make it bigger”, you may also inadvertently cause an imbalance somewhere else which then causes new issues (and more revisions) down the road. By discussing the goal and potential impact, you can often solve these issues together which will limit further changes.
If you ask if they can make it stand out more (and even better if you can elaborate on that “I’d like it to be the most prominent thing on the page”, or, “ I’d like it to be a little more prominent so it stands out as important, but not take over”, then the designer can work to find the best solution to achieve the desired outcome, and even possibly give you some options on how to approach it.
TIP #2: Think about what you're saying and how you’re saying it.
The phrases “I don’t like” and “this isn’t doing it for me, “ do not belong in a feedback session. In business communication, your personal preferences do not always matter. I’m sorry, but they just don’t.
What does matter:
- If the brand is being represented accurately and in the best way.
- If the content being communicated is done so effectively, and if all of the information is accurate.
- If the piece you’re creating together is going to resonate with your audience and achieve the goals you’ve set.
You can certainly express your preferences, for example, if you’re given a choice between 2 images that both work effectively but one is more appealing than the other., then that is when your preferences come into play.
Now, I will caveat that this statement isn’t 100% true if you’re working with a designer to create your personal brand, as you need to love what you’ll be working with and building off in the future. So if you’re having a brand created and they present purple and the color purple brings up bad feelings from your childhood, then share that you personally do not care for the color purple and would like to see something else. However, this should really have come out in your discovery sessions, and if it hasn’t, read my post on How to set every project up for success from the start.
Remember, you’re hiring this designer or studio for their expertise in design and communication and they want to collaborate with you so that your project is a success!
p.s. If you’re a designer or creative and finding yourself in this frustrating feedback loop, it could be that you need to teach them how to give feedback appropriately, and that’s ok — we are all learning :)
