You’ve talked to your designer about the same project for weeks. You’ve apparently told them what you need, but they don’t seem to understand. You are not pleased with the design. Things have started to get complicated, and the task has taken longer than planned.

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How many times have you felt frustrated by having too many feedback rounds with your designer? Well, it doesn’t have to be that way!

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Forget about the countless meetings, the tense conversations, and the inaccurate outcomes —There are many ways to build a better understanding between you and your designer. 

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So, today we share our best tips for giving good and helpful feedback (and obtaining great designs!): 

1. Address the design, not the designer

Feedback shouldn’t feel like a personal attack. Always be careful about the language you use to avoid defensive interactions. Comment on your designer’s work, not their abilities. 

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Cultivating a positive relationship with your designer is always important to keep them motivated and boost their performance. 

2. Share accurate examples

To avoid repetitive meetings, be clear about what you want (and need) from the start. Sharing examples of campaigns, designs, color palettes, and typographies is always helpful to guide your designer in the right direction. Be consistent: don’t share designs with too many differences to prevent confusion. 

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But you can show examples of what you don’t want to help your designer better understand your vision. 

3. Avoid ambiguous comments

“Let’s try a more creative approach.”

“Let’s use a more attractive font.”

“Could we go for a modern look?

“Could we try more engaging colors?”

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As common as they are, these types of comments are too broad. They can have different interpretations, but good feedback requires specificity to attain accurate details. Describe your target audience and specify your preferences in colors, fonts, sizes, and images.

4. Leave space for creative freedom 

It’s all about balance! You do need to communicate specific requests but don’t be too rigid. If comments are too prescriptive, they can limit creativity. 

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Allow your designer to develop authentic solutions that can bring differentiation to your company. This is one of the best ways to obtain effective outputs. 

5. Point out problems, not solutions

Of course, you have to be clear about your expectations and needs regarding a project, but your designer has to be the one to come up with the solutions. Trust your designer. Trust their expertise. 

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Designers can address your audience’s pain points and your company’s needs through their work while creating distinct solutions. You can give suggestions (especially if you don’t like something) but be open to different approaches.

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6. Create a solid revision process

If you follow a persistent method in your company for design and feedback, employees can adapt their work to it and produce better results. 

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Establish a manager and stakeholders responsible for decision-making and supplying a design brief, so your designer(s) have some to reach regarding work issues or inquiries. Define a consistent process for providing feedback with a specific set of rounds or meetings. For example:

• First round: Identify problems or needed modifications
• Second round: Review applied changes
• Third round: Approve the design

7. Talk about the good things too!

Feedback is not all about pointing out corrections but successes as well. Communicate what you love about your designer’s work and let them know when they’ve done well. 

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This builds encouragement and growth while helping designers know what you like so they can propose future ideas that align with your company’s tone. 

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Excellent communication is always key to giving excellent feedback (and retaining the best talents)!

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If you need help finding rockstar designers at competitive rates, we can help you! We source and vet top talents throughout LatAm —who are English-fluent speakers— according to your needs. Contact us here:

hello@gofasti.com

+1(214) 817-1200