How NOT to give design feedback

An appreciative designer’s guide to being helpful.

I’m a massive fan of constructive feedback. I’ve seen it working too many times to question it and so I promote it seriously and endlessly in my team as a key part of elevating our work and practices.

What I can’t stand is bad feedback. And this doesn’t mean feedback I don’t agree with, or criticism that rips my designs and ideas to shreds (I revel in this - my humble ego has learnt too many times that Roisin as an island sucks as compared to Roisin with others in my corner).

Bad feedback could be defined in my personal Ro-ford English dictionary as the following: “Reactions that fail to inspire solutions”.

UX-ers are problem solvers. There may be massive creative skill and prowess driving our work but essentially, what we are here for is to solve a problem in the best way possible for our target audience.

Feedback is a gift that has the potential to elevate you and your work to the next level.

Simply remember why we do it. The purpose of giving feedback is to improve the situation or the person’s work or performance. You don’t accomplish that by being harsh, critical or offensive - you accomplish it by being honest, helpful and proactive, guiding them through the weeds when needs be for everyone’s gain in the end.

As such, we should be inspired by criticism. We should welcome it with open arms, a warm bowl of soup and a pair of slippers heated up by the fire.

Bad feedback, on the other hand, has a way of changing the vibe of your whole experience, taking what should be a welcome guest and turning it into a snarky smart arse who lets one rip as he pushes his way into your house dragging his mucky feet on the carpet.

A simple 8 step guide on how NOT to give feedback

Let’s jump in and stop feedback turning into the unwelcome guest in your house and your mind…

1. Angrily

Any feedback given in anger has the risk of making you sound (not one to mince words, me) like an ass. When you’re angry, you are overheated, irritable and giving feedback in this state is likely to make you a lot harsher than you’d like to be.

On top of this, anyone on the receiving end having borne the brunt of your anger will most likely avoid asking you for feedback again.

This is just not worth encouraging as it breeds fear of sharing and this tends to trickle down in design teams. So take a breath, ask yourself if you’re in a good enough state to be objective and constructive and if not, put it off until you’ve calmed down.

2. In dribs and drabs

This is an incredibly frustrating way to receive feedback, as any designer who has asked for feedback before committing to a full design across a prototype. Imagine the frustration of hearing “Yep, looks great, let’s go with that”, then a week later, “Change that colour to red there,” to a month later, “You know what, I actually think we need to make a move towards flat UI, I never really liked these elements…”, to “You know what, I showed it to my friend last night and he said - ”… and you, the designer, are left holding the carcass of a bullet riddled layout that never stood a chance, poor thing.

When you feedback, do it honestly and thoroughly and in one shot.

Make a list if you need to. It may sound anal, it may feel mean, but if you don’t call all your points from the start, you are doing a disservice to the designer, especially if someone else calls them out later and you find yourself inclined to agree. This only makes you come across as disingenuous whereas being completely open on all areas you think could improve from the beginning, tells me that you took the time to really look and not only that, you care about me making my work better.

3. Late

As with dribs and drabs, this is as much of a call to action to clients, as well as designers. Feeding back too late is useless, you’ve already wasted a lot of people’s time, money and energy and it’s not going to reflect well on your results or how they’re delivered, because at this point, your delivery is being iterated in panic mode.

Try to understand that by doing all the feedback upfront, early, when asked and investing time in the essential design iteration from the beginning, you begin to own your design more.

You understand why the designer made this or that choice, you’ve fed into the conversation and shaped it with the designer, so it really does become your baby.

As such, you can sell and defend that call when questioned. By not caring enough from the beginning, you leave yourself more suggestible throughout and therefore, a lot more vulnerable to losing time on confusion. This leads to you seeking different opinions in a panic, leading to a too-many-cooks situation, making vague suggestions on ways to change things that are not backed up by anything concrete.

4. Vaguely

This is my particular bugbear - I can’t stand vague feedback. At this point, the uninvited guest, who has barged into your home like an unwelcome hurricane, has kicked his dirty shoes off onto your coffee table and is asking for a foot massage and a toenail clip. No, no, no…

Vague feedback is saying no when you’re asked if you like something and following it up with nothing else. Vague feedback is voicing an opinion one way and then wandering off, without finishing your thought. Frustrating as anything and likely to drive the receiving party insane.

I don’t care what level you are, if you have an opinion, you should be able to back up an opinion with demonstrable facts and proactive suggestions on improvements.

Put yourself in the other’s shoes, what would I want to hear if it were me?

• What are the practical things I need to be aware of?
• Where do I need to be pointed to to gain clarity, what app, what design?
• Is there a resource I haven’t discovered yet that would help me?
• What reference makes sense in this case and simplifies this user journey?

Comments like “No, I don’t like it… “There’s just something off, it’s missing something, I don’t know exactly what…”
That’s just not helpful. And you want to be helpful, that’s the whole point.

Structure your feedback and it will go far. If you choose to feedback, do it as you’d want it to be done to you: Be specific, name every point that needs to be addressed and have a clear reason why you’re commenting for each.

Be evidence based and ideally come to the table with a suggested solution. This doesn’t mean you do their work for them but take the time to do a quick Google for a reference or mock up what you think could be better. It’s not going to take a lot of time but is so much better than starting from nothing.

Aside from this, the designer should be grateful you took the time to help them like this. Be vague and you may as well just have not said anything. George Bernard Shaw said “the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” This tends to ring true in a lot of companies.

5. Unfollowed up

This can also be said for when you start off by saying “Yes, there’s lots to work on. Let me catch up with you on it later”… And you never do. Follow up on it. Please, for all the designers out there.

It’s just an unfair thing to introduce doubt without clarifying exactly what you mean. I don’t care if you don’t have time, make it.

If you’ve said you’ll touch base later, touch base later. And follow through. If you make the statement, be prepared to back it up or else, just don’t comment.

All you have done at this point is unsettled the designer, made them question their work and potentially compromise delivery.

6. Remotely

This sometimes cannot be helped but if possible feedback should always be given in person. The simple act of sitting down beside someone and talking through the points is quicker, enables quicker and better conversation to be had and solutions to be discussed.

Remotely means you’re likely to miss things, you’re also likely to miss nuance in body language and reaction — It’s why as much as I value qualitative testing, I much prefer face to face user testing as that physical interaction gives me a million more silent but visible clues than a phone call.

7. In a way that shames

Just to clarify, feedback for me is a thing that should never be associated with fear or terrible judgement, only improvement and growth. I am of the view personally that teams should be able to take and give feedback in groups so that it becomes a normal part of daily practice.

Saying that, there are times when designers make worse mistakes than others and while these need to be called out, remember the person behind the error.

When there is a bigger need for improvement that may lead to the person feeling exposed, embarrassed or insulted, this should always be done privately.

There’s no need for the rest of a team to hear anything they don’t need to hear if you feel it will make the designer uncomfortable. Again, we are UX-ers - consider your audience and the best approach to use to approach them specifically. Be kind. Be supportive and this will help your designer get to where they need to without feeling undermined or inadequate.

8. Holding back

I learned this interesting point in my journey, forming my first design team. I was new at this with a distinct desire to prove myself. I had a clear cut idea of the type of leader I wanted to be and that was someone who wanted to inspire. I wouldn’t call myself soft on my team, but I was gentle.

I was cautious and protective. I would muffle my true thoughts with over zealous compliments before hinting they might relook at X or Y… I was trying to be nice, not harsh. I was trying to help them realise their mistakes indirectly as opposed to outright honestly, being clever and subtle (so I thought) and lead them to the answer, hoping it would make itself obvious to them and resonate so I wouldn’t have to do any more than imply… Which is bonkers.

I realise now that by being gentle, they maybe didn’t grow as quickly as they could have had I not been holding back on my thoughts for the sake of their feelings. By being more direct, there is less room for ambiguity and a lot less chance of messages being lost in translation, which I’m sure they were.

Like in any type of relationship, honesty is always, always better. True with a partner, true with a team.

In hindsight, I think the fact that I was a female in a leadership role played a lot in my mind in the early days. I wanted to be seen as a confident, practical and encouraging influence and had no desire to be consciously or subconsciously labelled with the “crazy catty bitchy boss lady” brand, but this fear fell to the wayside as you do the job, give what you need to give of yourself to the team and see what comes back.

I’ve since seen the results of giving full honesty in feedback sessions and not only have I seen my teams work improve significantly in terms of their and my standards, but their trust in me and what I think of their work is stronger as they appreciate I will give the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god.

My feedback may help them break bad habits others will also call them out on. My feedback may teach them different, maybe quicker ways of doing things. Or my feedback may just give them a springboard to think - I do this to help and to enable them to get to the best possible result faster.

Being brutally honest (in the kindest possible way) shows them that I’m on their side and that we’re in it together because I trust them to react.

I’m doing better by them and our company and I am enabling us as a team to see clearer paths to success now and in the future.

If you see yourself reflected back in any of these scenarios, feel hopeful. All these trying experiences add up themselves to help you grow and evolve. The most influential mentors will say more to you, not less, in the hopes that you will continue to grow and never sit on your laurels thinking you’ve finally arrived.

For designers in this new era where there seems to be literally no cap on what you can learn, there will always be something else that you can work on and there should be too.

“You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By becoming a little better each and every day, over a period of time, you will become a lot better.”
John Wooden

My best piece of advise I could give you to end this tale is simple: In life, work and feedback, your best bet is always to be as honest and authentic as you can possibly be. What’s the worst that could happen?