The most common mistake
“Make the logo bigger.”
That is a fix, not a problem. Maybe the logo is too small. Or maybe the page is too busy and the logo is losing a fight it should not be in.
If you give the fix, you get the fix. If you give the problem, you get options.
Describe the problem instead
Instead of: make the logo bigger.
Try: I could not tell whose site this was straight away.
Same observation. But the second version lets a designer solve it three different ways and bring you the best one.
You do not need to know the answer. That is what you hired them for.
Say what is working
This is not politeness. It is practical.
If you only mention what is wrong, the next round can quietly lose the parts you liked, because nobody knew they mattered.
One sentence is enough. “The type feels right” can save a whole round.
Send it in one piece
Feedback arriving from five people separately, over three days, contradicting each other, is the single biggest cause of slow projects.
Collect it first. Settle the disagreements inside your company. Then send one set.
If two of your people disagree, that is your decision to make, not the designer’s. Sending both puts them in the middle of an argument they cannot win.
Separate taste from a problem
Some feedback is a real issue. Some is preference. Both are allowed. Just label which is which.
“I do not personally like green” is a fine thing to say, and useful when it is marked as a preference.
Trouble starts when preference arrives dressed as fact. Then everyone argues about whether it is true instead of deciding whether you care.
A format that works
- What I am looking at.
- What is working, in one line.
- What confused me or felt wrong, and where exactly.
- Whether that is a problem or a preference.
- What has to be true before this can be approved.
Five lines. It takes a few minutes to write and it saves days.
What we do with it
We read all of it, then come back with what we plan to change, what we do not, and why.
If we disagree with something, we say so out loud. Quietly ignoring feedback is how trust goes.
Worth remembering
In four lines
- Describe the problem. Leave the fix to the designer.
- Say what is working, or it may vanish next round.
- Collect feedback internally and send one set.
- Label preferences as preferences. They are still allowed.
Questions we get asked
What if we genuinely do know the fix?
Then say both. Give the problem first, then your idea as a suggestion. That way the designer can use it or bring you something better.
How many rounds should a project have?
Two or three per stage is normal. If you are past four, the problem is usually an unresolved disagreement rather than the design.
Is it rude to say we do not like it?
Not at all. It is much ruder to say it is fine and then ask for changes later. Say it plainly and say what you are reacting to.
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