A short story of design feedback from “douche” clients

The thing about humans is that on the one hand, we’ve mastered the most developed communication system that involves a lot of different verbal and visual factors, but on the other hand, there are so many of them that sometimes understanding each other seems harder than understanding cats. Nature is hilarious!

I came here to chew bubblegum and give shitty feedback. And I’m all out of gum.
Image source: https://flypaper.soundfly.com

Who’s responsible for this? Our conscious brain, of course. It allows us to analyze, calculate, plan, imagine and, unfortunately, overthink. And that leads to a lot of misunderstandings, especially in a workplace, and especially when it comes to giving feedback to another person. 

How to give design feedback that is actually worth something for us – designers?

Giving design feedback (or any creative-related feedback) is extremely hard since the giver should be able to switch off your private aesthetics and stick to brand guidelines, design systems and basic design rules. Unfortunately, in most cases I worked on, it was all about looking for the balance between things that the client thinks are SEXY (worst word for describing any creative project  – feel the cringe yet?) and things that will actually serve the overall purpose.

I wish every client knew that good design feedback should be a combination of being a stone-cold calculator and trusting your gut. 

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”

Frank A. Clark

Yep, I know life is harsh and clients can be too. That’s why today I’ll guide you through the maze of good and bad design feedback to cheer you up (we all work with douchebags from time to time), and to arm you with some rules, you could easily use when discussing any design changes with the feedback giving site.