Giving Constructive Feedback to Your Design Agency
Giving constructive feedback to your design agency is essential for maintaining a productive working relationship, ensuring that the work aligns with your brand vision and building a successful partnership. Below are some tips for how to provide the most effective and constructive feedback:
1. Be Clear and Specific
- Explain exactly what you like or dislike, avoiding vague statements like “This doesn’t feel right” as that is not specific enough direction. Giving vague direction with the expectation that the agency’s team will be able to discern exactly what you’re looking for can lead to frustration on both sides and additional rounds of revisions (and costs!).
- How to say it: Instead, say something like, “I think the colors in the header are too muted. Could we try something more vibrant to match our brand’s energy?” If you really don’t like something but you’re unsure why, sit with it for a day or so if timing allows. It’s often helpful to go back to the original direction you gave and think about what you asked for and see if there’s a disconnect.
2. Focus on the Objective, Not Personal Preferences
- Keep the feedback centered on the business goals, brand identity, and audience rather than just personal likes and dislikes. This is not to say that personal opinions don’t matter, especially if you’re the face of the brand. But we have to keep in mind that the brand look and feel is designed for the people consuming your brand and your product/service.
- How to say it: “I know blue is my favorite color, but let’s think about whether it aligns with the goal of appealing to our target audience and matching our brand identity?”
3. Provide Context and Examples
- Offer insight into why something may not be working and, if possible, provide references or examples of what you envision. This also works for giving positive feedback – hearing both is very helpful to a creative team.
- How to say it: “The logo feels too formal. Our brand is more playful, like this example from [another brand], which has a softer and more approachable feel.”
4. Keep It Solution-Oriented
- When pointing out an issue, suggest potential alternatives rather than just highlighting problems.
- How to say it: “I think the layout is a bit cluttered. Could we try a simpler design, maybe by reducing the number of elements on the page?”
5. Balance Positive with Constructive Feedback
- Start with what you like before diving into areas that need improvement. This encourages the agency and motivates them to refine the work further. Designers often have “thick skins” but it’s good communication practice to balance feedback in general. This keeps the relationship positive and more of partnership, which motivates and encourages both sides.
- How to say it: “I love the creativity in this design, especially the way the text flows. I think the typography could be bolder, though, to increase readability.”
6. Ask Questions
- Sometimes, asking the agency for their reasoning behind a design decision can provide clarity and prevent misunderstandings. The right agency will have reasons for what they do (or they should!) so asking clarifying questions will give you more insight into why they’re presenting what they’re presenting.
- How to say it: “What was the thought process behind choosing these icons? I’m curious to get your perspective on how they align with our messaging and brand.”
7. Stay Open to Their Expertise
- Remember that design agencies bring expertise and experience to the table. While it’s important to provide feedback, be open to their suggestions and rationale, even when they may seem outside of what you were expecting. A good agency will give you options when time and budget allow – what you asked for, plus some options that might push the envelope a little or pull in some of their own expertise. This can be highly beneficial to the relationship and is one of the great reasons why using an agency can give you exceptional results. Not only do they often have more time, but there’s more resources dedicated to your project, providing you with a breadth of experience and recommendations.
- How to say it: “I see what you did with the minimalistic design, and while it’s not what I initially envisioned, I’m interested in how it can enhance the user experience, can you talk about that a little?”
8. Be Timely & Involve Key Stakeholders
- Provide feedback from all key stakeholders early in the process to avoid late-stage revisions, which can be more time-consuming and costly. Providing your feedback in a clear and concise manner is also important to keeping projects on time, in scope and within budget. When an agency has to go through multiple emails or comments in a document to determine what feedback they should take, it adds time and room for error. Timely and clear feedback is key!
- How to say it: “I’d like to review the wireframes and provide our team’s feedback before we move on to design to make sure everything is on track.”
9. Prioritize Feedback
- Rank your feedback by importance so the agency knows which changes are critical versus which are more flexible.
- How to say it: “The color palette needs to be adjusted as a top priority. The font size, while important, can be a lower priority for now.”
10. Express Appreciation
- When you’re pleased with the work, recognize the effort the agency puts in and be appreciative of the progress they make. This may seem like a no-brainer but agencies often don’t hear this and it can be draining over time and eventually can cause stress in the agency/client relationship. It goes both ways too – agencies should be appreciative of your timely, thoughtful and concise feedback and communication.
- How to say it: “Thank you for the hard work on these revisions. I know it’s a process, but the designs are definitely heading in the right direction!”
By following these tips, you’ll foster a collaborative environment where your design agency feels empowered to deliver the best results for your brand, resulting in a true partnership. When this relationship is running smoothly, there’s so much that can be accomplished!
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