Giving constructive feedback is one of the most important, yet challenging tasks for any design team.
It requires you to be both honest and tactful in order to help someone improve their work without hurting their feelings or making them feel discouraged.
Luckily, with a few simple tips and tricks, you can master the art of giving positive design feedback that will motivate your team members and encourage creativity.
Why Proper Feedback Is so Important
When it comes to giving feedback, the goal should always be to help your team members grow and improve their skills.
Giving positive design feedback helps your team members understand how they can better approach a problem or task, while simultaneously boosting their confidence.
When done correctly, proper feedback gives designers an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work, helping them become better at their craft.
Tips for Giving Positive Design Feedback
Without further ado, here are a few feedback tips to keep in mind next time you need to provide colleagues with your thoughts.
1. Understand the Purpose of Feedback
Before giving design feedback, it’s important to understand why you are providing the feedback in the first place.
Whether it’s to improve a product, help someone learn and grow, or build a trusting relationship between two people, understanding the purpose of giving feedback can make all the difference when it comes time to provide constructive criticism
2. Ask Questions for Clarity
Design feedback should be tailored to the project and the individual providing it.
Asking questions about what is expected from the feedback can help narrow down expectations and provide clarity on how to best approach giving design feedback.
3. Focus on Constructive Criticism
When giving design feedback, it’s important to focus on the positives but also provide meaningful, constructive criticism.
This means providing thoughtful feedback that provides direction while also taking into account the individual’s skill set and experience.
4. Focus on Solutions Over Problems
Instead of simply pointing out all the problems with a design, focus on providing solutions for improvement.
This can help to make feedback easier to digest and give the individual more direction when revising the design.
5. Provide Specific Examples
Feedback should be as detailed as possible. Providing specific examples of what could be improved helps to provide actionable steps for the individual to take when revising the design.
6. Acknowledge Good Work
It’s important to recognize and celebrate successes in addition to giving constructive feedback. Make sure to acknowledge good work and give praise where it’s due.
7. Be Open to Different Perspectives
Design feedback should be open to different perspectives. After all, two heads are always better than one!
Encouraging the exchange of ideas and opinions can help make design feedback more meaningful and productive.
8. Encourage Collaboration
Working together and collaborating on feedback can help ensure that different perspectives are taken into consideration.
This can lead to more well-rounded feedback and a better end product. Don’t be afraid to work directly with the designer or loop in others to help make the project the best it can be.
Working remotely? Check out these tips for effective collaboration with a non-central team.
9. Make Feedback Timely and Relevant
Feedback should be timely and relevant to the project. Giving feedback at the right time can help ensure that it’s taken into consideration before the design is finalized, which can save a lot of time in the long run.
10. Provide Actionable Steps Forward
In addition to pointing out problems, it’s important to provide actionable steps for the individual to move forward with.
This can help ensure that the feedback is productive and leads to meaningful improvements in the design.
Depending on how the project team functions, you may want to supply that list of next steps, work together to determine them or approve a list provided by the original designer.
11. Follow Up and Check-In
Following up with the individual to see how they’re progressing is a great way to ensure that feedback was taken into consideration.
Checking in occasionally can also help foster trust between the designer and the customer.
This is also a good step to make sure the re-designer has everything they need to be successful such as coding knowledge or a bug-tracking tool like BugHerd.
Conclusion
By following these tips, you can master the art of giving meaningful, constructive design feedback that helps individuals improve their skills and produce better designs.
It’s important to remember that feedback should always be respectful, constructive, and tailored to the individual and project. With practice and patience, you can become an expert in giving design feedback.