Most clients assume the hard part of a design project is knowing what they want before it starts. But often once the project is underway, they realize that the hard part is actually articulating actionable feedback to their designer once a draft is in front of them..
Reacting to a design and giving useful feedback isn’t always the same thing. A reaction, “I love this,” “I don’t like this,” “can we try something different”, tells your designer how something landed with you. Explaining why you do or don’t like something gives them much more insight, and helps them fix it. Without the “why”, they’re making educated guesses. Sometimes those guesses are right. Often enough, they’re not, and you end up in revision cycles that are inefficient and aren’t in your budget.
The underlying goal of your design feedback should be to convey the information the designer needs to meet your needs and aligns with your vision of success.. There are four opportunities to give your designer actionable information: when you share inspiration, when your team has feedback, when something isn’t working, and when something is.
When you share inspiration, say why you like it
Sharing references early is one of the most useful things you can do. It gives the designer a glimpse into your taste, what your audience expects from you, and what type of design will work best. But a reference without context means they’re guessing at what actually caught your eye.
Consider an annual report you love. On any given spread there might be a bold headline in a heavy serif font, hand-drawn icons, a quarter-page photo, a highlighted quote in a contrasting color, or a data table. What you liked could be any of those things, or just one of them. Maybe it was the white space. Maybe it was that the charts felt manageable for once. Don’t be afraid to say what you like AND what you didn’t like in any design.
Good Feedback: “I really liked pages 14 and 22. The way the data is laid out doesn’t feel overwhelming, and the icons feel approachable rather than corporate.”
Better Feedback: “I loved how pages 14 and 22 handled the data, but I didn’t want the squiggly decorative borders from page 8, we don’t need that much personality.”
Knowing what you’d leave behind cuts the guesswork in half.
When your team sends feedback, consolidate it
Before any feedback reaches your designer, feedback should be clear, actionable, and decisive. This could be one document or one point of contact. Either way, any points of contention are resolved before it makes it to the designer.
When that doesn’t happen—when annotated PDFs arrive from three different people or there are four different opinions on the same heading—your designer is forced to make calls that aren’t theirs to make, and this may result in unnecessary additional revisions. Every unresolved disagreement that lands in their inbox is time spent sorting out the direction instead of improving the work. That’s how projects slowly sneak over budget.
Generic Feedback: “Here’s our team feedback. I don’t like the headline font, but the fundraising team does. Can you revise? “
Better Feedback: “Here’s our consolidated feedback. We had some debate about the headline font, and ultimately we’ve decided it feels too formal for our tone. We’re looking for something with a bit more warmth.”
The second version saves your designer from being a mediator to office politics, which means you’ll save budget.
When something isn’t working, say why
“I don’t like this font” is a reasonable place to start. On its own, though, it doesn’t give your designer much to work with.
Without a why, they’re left guessing at the actual problem. They make a change, you review it, and if they guessed wrong, you’re looking at another round of revisions and the cost that comes with it.
Generic Feedback: “I don’t like this font. I’ve always hated Calibri..”
Better Feedback: “I don’t like this font because it feels too casual for our audience. We need something that reads as credible without tipping into stiff or corporate.”
Try to remember: not every piece of feedback will result in the exact change you had in mind. Your “why” gives them direction. What designers do with your feedback is why you hired them.
It’s also worth separating personal preference from what the design needs to do. Both are useful to share, but they’re not the same kind of feedback. “I don’t love this shade of green” is a personal reaction worth mentioning. “This shade of green doesn’t read as trustworthy for a brand in our line of work” is good feedback. If you’re having trouble, a good designer will also help you separate your personal feelings from organizational and strategic goals.
When something is working, say why
Good, positive feedback can be some of the hardest to deliver, mainly because it’s rare. “I love it” feels like enough, but it only tells your designer generally that the design is successful. It doesn’t tell them what part you love or why.
Every time you tell your designer what was right and why, you’re adding to a picture they carry forward. Then, when you start a new project— a homepage after a brochure, a campaign after an annual report— they’re not starting from scratch. They already know what worked for your audience, what felt true to your brand, what you were proud to put out into the world. The why of positive feedback is what lets them incorporate those “I love it” moments into a new project before it starts.
Generic Feedback: “OMG! I love it! You nailed it!.”
Better Feedback: “I love the color palette and the typography. The dark teal reads as serious without feeling cold, and the serif headline gives it a weight that feels right for our audience. You nailed it!”
You don’t have to have impeccable taste to be a dream client for a designer.. Clients who know what they like, know what they don’t, and can tell a designer why make a project go smoothly.
Your designer’s goal is the same as yours: creative excellence without headaches or unnecessary expense. The more specific your feedback, the more efficiently they can get you there and the more of your budget goes toward making the work better instead of making it again.
This article was written by Sage Eubanks with the help of claude.ai. As a small business, we thoughtfully engage artificial intelligence to improve our efficiency, while also using human experts and reviewers to ensure quality and mitigate bias. Photo by AI25.Studio