Innovation does not happen in a vacuum. Good design does not evolve without feedback. And if designers want to innovate and improve their work, they need to internalize these truths. They need to understand that it’s all a part of the process. It’s all necessary to become a better designer.
These are things repeated like clockwork in the design world — and yet — so many of us still struggle with being vulnerable and sharing our work. There’s a little voice in our heads saying, “Feedback hurts. Feedback means you failed. Let’s just resist and ignore it. We’ll feel better that way.”
The mistake we’ve made as a design community is to let that voice define us. We assume that feedback, critiques and suggestions imply failure. We think that just because there’s something we haven’t already thought of, that we’re a lesser designer for it. It is complete self-sabotage. In no career field, especially creative ones, has anyone been able to accomplish great things without feedback.
The most successful designers you can think of always had an army of people there to help them. They elicited feedback with excitement. They welcomed any opportunity to be better.
So how can we as design managers and peers adjust the way we think about feedback? How can we create a space where it is welcomed? And how can we provide our colleagues with the tools to be more vulnerable and courageous about their work?
It starts with a commitment. Behavioral change doesn’t happen overnight, so the way people feel about feedback will take time. We need to find ways in our everyday interactions to create a safe space and a comfortable place where designers feel better about sharing.
Here are just a few ways you can get started in your next critique session:
Gather context and stay on course.
Having the context behind the design is the only way you can be productive in your feedback. If you’re not aware of the goal or the audience, it can be easy to slip into assumptions. And when you’re not on the same page as the designer, tension will arise and you’ll start to negotiate things that don’t actually matter. This is the situation that scares people away from feedback. They feel the real issue is that they’re being misunderstood.
Because of that, critiques can often go off-course and spiral into a battle of heated opinions. To avoid turning the “war room” into an actual war room, focus on the goal from the beginning. Go back to the design brief and have them articulate the goal. In most cases, if there is something off, just by articulating the goal aloud will allow the designer to see it right away, on their terms. Julie Zhuo, Product Design VP @ Facebook, said in her post titled What Designers Can Learn from Product Managers:
“It’s tempting for designers to jump into solutions and start showing off what they’ve designed. But if you don’t start with why you’re even bothering to work on this in the first place, you may well be barking up the wrong tree.”
If a designer is having a difficult time focusing on the “why,” go back to the design brief and identify why this problem is being solved. Focus on the things you know and the resources that support it — whether it’s customer feedback, data research, etc.
Ask, “What kind of feedback are you looking for?”
Even when you have the context, it is so tempting to jump right into all your thoughts and ideas when a designer presents work. But before you bombard them with every critique under the sun, start with what they are looking for. Put the control back in their hands. They’re feeling exposed and vulnerable, so let them control the discussion and it will restore a bit of confidence.
Ask them what type of feedback they want and stay within those boundaries. If they’ve just begun and looking for strategic direction, create an open dialogue and provide more ideas. If they’re stressed out, dealing with a deadline of yesterday, keep the feedback concise and specific.
When they tell you what kind of feedback they’re looking for, don’t rely on just what they’re saying, but also figure out how they’re feeling about it. Non-verbal communication, like body language, can be very telling. Be sensitive to it and allow that to guide your delivery.
Don’t make it personal.
You’ve seen this happen so many times. A designer shares something and everyone fidgets in their chair, antsy to blurt out what they don’t like about it. As tempting as it is to shout out that you don’t like the style or color or whatever, avoid including your personal preferences into feedback.
It’s slightly unavoidable because so much of design is subjective, but if you want to provide your team with the freedom to define their style and create great work independently, you need to avoid getting too personal. Personal opinions are fickle and inconsistent. If you want designers to improve, consistency will be key.
Getting designers to welcome critiques will take practice. If it’s too hard to implement these tips on a large scale, start with a small group of designers and test them out. And if you’re currently working with a team that’s closed off, don’t shock them with a dramatically new way of doing things. Take it one step at a time and test different methods.
You can even start by sharing your own work today. An easy way to persuade them is to also take part in the action. Show them the value of sharing by being more vulnerable and asking for feedback on the work you do — even if it isn’t design. Volunteer to go first and showcase the behavior you want to see in them.
What other ways are you improving your design feedback? Do you have any tips for product managers and designers who are looking to get more out of critique? Share with us below or reach out to us on Twitter!
If you’re looking for a solution that makes it easier to share design work and bring your team’s visual consciousness to life, give Wake a try! It was designed to fit seamlessly into a designer’s workflow to encourage fast and frequent sharing throughout the entire design process.
