Managing Your Design Feedback

Feeling defensive towards feedback can be a natural response. Work you’ve put hours into is being criticized by people who don’t have your same level of context or project knowledge. It’s easy to take this feedback personally (they don’t like me, so of course they’re tearing up my work) but listening to and processing someone’s feedback is a valuable exercise in patience, empathy, and understanding that may ultimately make you a stronger collaborator.

1. Separate your self-worth from your feedback.

When someone gives you feedback, in return, give them the benefit of good intent. Trust that it takes courage to give and get feedback and the people who invest their time into you are doing so for your (or at least your project’s) benefit. This perspective will allow you to adopt a growth mindset.

In her post, Taking Feedback Impersonally, Facebook’s VP of product design, Julie Zhuo references a growth mindset as a way of separating your self-worth from the feedback you receive: “With a growth mindset, you start to crave feedback from as many people as possible, even critical feedback, because you realize it’s the fastest way for you to learn and improve.” When you’re able to separate feedback from your ego, your vulnerability will allow you to become more willing accept criticism and new ideas.

As a residence hall advisor in college, I recited a phrase I had learned from one of my advisors: “It’s not you, it’s what you did.” While not completely similar, this mindset of separating an actor from their action is one way to mentally unpack the process of receiving feedback for your work. The feedback is a response to what you’re presenting. Not you, yourself.

This principle is challenging for anyone whose passion is their profession. Many designers feel that their identity is design. If you don’t like my design choices, you don’t like me as a designer. Who you are, what you do and how you do it are not intrinsically linked.

2. Understand your feedback by asking questions.

When receiving feedback, it’s tempting to respond with a quick defense of your rationale. While legitimate, this call-and-response can easily become a battle of egos — ultimately failing to benefit…