How to Provide Feedback to Your Designer

Quick tips and strategic questions to make the refinement stage of your design projects more efficient and less stressful.

---

It is important to have an objective and structured process when critiquing creative work. Use the advice below to review proofs and communicate your feedback to your designer. Before starting, remember to review any project specifications such as a creative brief or questionnaire.

Tips for gathering feedback:

• Good design is a collaboration.
  Ask questions. You need to fully understand the process and feel confident in your and your designer’s decisions. And remember you aren’t required to provide solutions. It’s best to describe your concerns rather than send a list of specific changes. This way you and your designer can come up with the perfect solution together.
  

• View everything through the eyes of your audience.
  Evaluate each step of the project from your audience’s perspective. It’s important to remember that you and your designer are designing for your audience, not yourselves, and to not get caught up in personal preferences.
  

• The more specific you can be, the better.
  Try to point out exactly what is working or not working and why. If you are struggling to put your thoughts into words, check out the targeted questions below.  
  

• Be careful getting outside opinions.
  If you want to show what you’ve been working on to others, tell them about the entire process. It’s important they understand the strategy behind the decisions and not base their opinion on looks. 
  

• No feedback is okay too.
  Did your designer nail it on the first try? That’s great! Don’t feel the need to provide feedback just for the sake of making changes or thinking it’s a necessary step in the process.

Questions to ask yourself when reviewing:

• Does the design meet the project objectives?
  
• What will and will not connect with your audience and why?
  
• Is anything unclear or confusing?
  
• What do you like and dislike about the design and why?
  
• Are there any aspects you’d like to see explored further?
  
• Is there a clear call to action?
  
• Are there any unintentional innuendos or negative interpretations? 
  
• Are there any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors?
  
• Do you feel confident sharing this with your audience?
  
• Are you ready to move on to the next step of the project or would you like to continue refining?

Now that you’re a pro at giving design feedback, let’s tackle your next project!