The Language of (Productive +) Constructive Feedback
Copywriters and graphic designers learn how to give and receive feedback on creative work organically. It’s such a large part of their jobs that interacting with colleagues in this manner becomes second nature.
But not every role allots as many opportunities for giving constructive feedback on creative work. That said, I thought it would be helpful to share a few tricks for queueing up feedback so your thoughts are delivered in a way that is both constructive and encouraging to the creator.
I. Love something? Tell them why.
Head over heels for the imagery your designer colleague created for an upcoming marketing campaign? State why you believe the design is delivering upon the campaign’s goals, not just that you adore their work. Justifying your reaction with an objective statement tied to the end goal sets the stage for greater learnings.
Instead of: “I love it!”
Try: “I love it! The color scheme you chose complements our summer collection perfectly, and I can see how the location of the CTA button will inspire our customers to click through to the shop page.”
II. Give objective, as opposed to subjective, feedback.
So much of our experiences as consumers is driven by emotion. We are drawn to a particular brand of body wash because the packaging reminds us of a recent Maui vacation or a painting just because.
But when it comes to giving feedback to creative colleagues — whose goals are to market a product — it’s best to give objective versus subjective feedback.
Subjective feedback is drawn from personal experiences and can be illogically opinionated.
Objective feedback attempts to eliminate bias, is solution-oriented, and ties directly to the project’s end goals.
If you have strong personal feelings about a piece of work that may be skewing your ability to provide objective feedback, consider why you may be feeling a certain way and explain it as such.
Instead of: “The purple banner ad is definitely the winner.”
Try: “Something is drawing me to the purple banner ad over the green version. Perhaps my preference has to do with the strong contrast between the purple background and yellow text of that ad.”
You can even take it a step further and ask the following: “Do we have any A/B testing data showing how our customers have responded to these color choices in the past?”
III. Mind your tone, and keep it constructive.
Being direct is crucial when giving feedback on creative work, but there is a fine line between being direct and curt. There are ways to communicate your feedback emphatically, respectfully, and constructively all at once — with the shared end goal of building the best product possible in mind.
Tone is, however, easier to detect in verbal communication than text. Text can invariably carry its own loaded undercurrents. A study by The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found that wink faces used in e-communications are perceived as sarcastic 85 percent of the time. So note how your emojis, ellipses, and other punctuation can give your words unintended meaning.
Instead of: “I don’t get why this is here…”
Try: “I’m having a tough time understanding how this sentence supports the thesis in the intro of this blog post. Perhaps we could either lose it or layer in some more connective tissue to help the reader navigate the idea.”
IV. Suggest ways to strengthen the piece of work.
Providing constructive feedback on what to change and why is great, but the real fun of collaboration is when multiple minds layer in new knowledge to strengthen a project or idea. This is the beauty of the “value add.” So, instead of just providing commentary on what to adjust, jump right in and offer up a new suggestion.
Instead of: “The subject line for this email campaign doesn’t quite catch my attention.”
Try: “This email campaign looks fantastic but I’m wondering how we can strengthen the subject line so it’s just as strong. Might we consider using a pun about music in the subject line to give our subscribers an engaging preview of the campaign theme?”
Most creative types are happy to consider tangible suggestions and build upon those suggestions to make them even stronger.
Balancing critique with the right level of positive reinforcement and objective, goal-driven opinion is all about finding a balance and takes practice. For more tips on how creative teams can work together harmoniously, read “What Designers Want Copywriters to Know.”
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 318,583+ people.
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