Can you make it “pop”? A quick guide to give effective design feedback.
“I feel like it’s missing something… Can you make it “pop”? ✨
We can all agree that design is the art of finding creative and appealing solutions to everyday challenges. In an ideal world, the design process would run smoothly, the first draft would be the perfect one, meeting both user goals and business goals, and therefore, grant us the best product that the market absolutely loves.
Sounds dreamy, right?
Unfortunately, the real world kicks in and we are sometimes put in the spot of facing challenges. For an effective design process, the team involved must have good collaboration and provide effective and clear feedback.
This article aims to provide tips and tricks for non-creatives on how to give effective feedback for smooth sailing in the product journey.
“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve”
— Bill Gates
Giving feedback can sometimes be a challenge itself. Whether you do not understand certain parts of the flow, and why the designer decided to act so, or simply you see the piece and something just doesn’t feel right, articulating your feedback is a mastery.
I would like to provide you with a few dos and don’ts.
How to give effective feedback
🏆 The winning tips that made it into our list are:
Avoid vague terms
Sometimes the presented work doesn’t align with our vision of the product. That’s perfectly fine, and you can always point out to the team your business goals or visual preference. What is not recommended is giving vague feedback.
“Can you make it pop?”✨
“Make it cha-cha”
“I will like it when I see it”
This kind of feedback does not only provoke an inner panic within the designer but provides little to no value towards where the product should be going!
The best way to approach the problem is systematical. Try and understand what parts of the visual piece throws you off. Is it the color palette, the button shadow? Could it use some white space? When in doubt, find examples of work you like, and let the designer know you would like to follow a similar direction. Clearly state your personal preferences, but also be mindful of your target audience!
Being straightforward and specific will also save you a lot of time (and money), speed-up the process to have your wished design and you will also avoid any misunderstanding.
When in doubt, ask questions
It’s always a good practice to ask the designer or the team why did they choose that certain solution.
You can always point out an alternative solution that can be taken into account. Remember, the best solutions come from collaboration and people that are aligned in that vision.
What is not recommended, is focusing too much on our perspective, while ignoring data and best practices! What we always need to keep in mind are our end users!
A business-oriented decision should never outweigh a user-centric one, but rather find a middle ground. Long term this will benefit the product-customer relationship.
Be open and respectful
A calm and strategical approach is guaranteed to put the team on the same page. Try taking into account that the process is a human to human one. Empathize and respectfully present feedback, so that it doesn’t sound like a personal critique rather than a design one.
Always be mindful of the cultural differences and try to stay positive and trust your team.
At the end of the day, the main goal for both parties is the success of the product and great collaboration and trust. 🙌
Final thoughts
In conclusion, we can agree that giving and receiving effective and valuable feedback helps both from a business perspective and the creative’s side, easing both parties of frustrations, saving money, and optimizing the processes so we don’t find ourselves stuck in bad feedback loops.
What do you think? Are there any constructive feedback tips that you feel you could implement today? Maybe you can share your tips with us too!
