How Do I Give My Graphic Designer Good Feedback

You can always count on friends and family members to offer feedback on outfits, new recipes, pet names, etc. On some stuff, though, you probably shouldn’t for their opinion. Sometimes, you need expertise.

As a graphic designer, I’ve seen and heard a lot—good opinions, bad opinions, downright ugly opinions—and I can tell you that it’s one of those areas where you certainly need expertise. Designers need to not only be visual problem solvers but also skilled interpreters, translating “I don’t like the bluish color” or “It’s too traditional” into a smart, strategic solution.

The truth is that it’s difficult to offer useful feedback to a designer when graphic design isn’t your area of expertise. Thankfully, you don’t need to be an expert to give great feedback; you simply need to know which questions to answer.

Seven questions to answer to give great design feedback

Your designer is an expert in her field, but you’re the expert on your brand. So, together, you have everything you need to devise the best solutions! In my experience, these seven pointed questions will not only make it easier for you to opine on a graphic, but will also make your designer’s next steps much clearer.

1. Is this on brand?

You know your brand better than anyone. (Hopefully!) A designer will guide you in how to communicate your brand, but you know what you want to communicate. The Catch-22 to this question is that a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t able to articulate precisely what their “brand” is. If that’s you, then try breaking down the question into smaller pieces:

1. Does this reflect our core values?
2. Does this use our correct colors?
3. Does this use our correct typefaces?
4. Does this use our logo properly?
5. Does this use our established tone of voice?
6. Is this how we want to look to the public?

2. Does this appeal to the correct target audience?

Clients spend a lot of time thinking about how to address their audience’s needs in a practical sense, but they often forget to put themselves in their audience’s shoes. As a designer, one of the most critical parts of my work is to get inside the end user’s head. What will capture their attention? How can I eliminate what will distract them? What will they want to do next? 

Sometimes, companies are so intent on telling the world that their product or service is A (e.g., ready in half the time) that they miss that their audience really wants B (e.g., more time with family). A great designer will always guide you from A to B, but it doesn’t hurt for you to be ready to articulate that marketing strategy in advance.

3. Is this factually accurate?

Okay, duh. You can’t be inaccurate. But, it’s also true that sometimes the easiest fixes are the easiest to miss. Unless you have a long-lasting partnership with a graphic designer or you have a designer in-house, the person developing your content may not be able to tell which copy is incorrect or which data points became obsolete while you were working on the project.

If you’re in too deep—as in, if you’re the person who wrote the copy on the the postcard or the founder of the brand itself—you may want to bring in an “outsider” who knows the brand well to ask this question. It’s usually a good idea to have a second set of eyes anyway. (Did you notice there was a duplicate “the” in the first sentence of this paragraph?)

4. Is this missing crucial information or elements?

Imagine this: you create an incredible event invitation that’s on brand, targeted to the right audience segments and factually accurate. It hits mailboxes and, after a few days with no response, you realize that you left off the date. How is someone supposed to know whether they can RSVP or not? This happens more than you’d think, and more than most would like to admit. It’s possible to be completely accurate and incomplete. 

In addition to being thoughtful, you need to be thorough. I believe we often focus so much on what we do see that we neglect to notice what we don’t. Check for the basics: who, what, when, where, why and how.

5. Is this solving our problem?

When it comes down to it, designers are problem solvers—and the difference between a good designer and a great designer is critical thinking. If you just want a designer to do what you say, then you might as well log into Fiverr to hire an affordable amateur to follow directions. If you want a real solution, stick to sharing your challenges and let the graphic designer do the hard part.

That means you need to deeply understand your problem so that when you see the right solution, you know it. Collateral can be on brand, targeted, thorough, thoughtful and accurate, and still not quite address the challenge. Do you need to gather data? Drive new revenue? Correct brand misconceptions? Establish thought leadership?

6. Is it clear what the next steps are?

As John O’Nolan of Ghost.org puts it, “Good art inspires. Good design motivates.” At its core, good design encourages action. It directs a viewer’s decision-making: where to look, what to think, what to do. Pay close attention to the information, layout and call to action and assess whether or not the design gives your audience the appropriate direction. 

Even when it’s clear what the end user is supposed to do, they may not want to. You have to not only ensure you include next steps, but you also have to ensure the end user is motivated to take that step. Would you click the “call us” button? Would you purchase the product? Would you share the post? If not, then the end user probably won’t either.

7. Is this in line with what we have done and said before?

Two totally different designs can both be on brand. This is a good thing! A brand should be a guide, not dogma. As marketing strategies, we tell our clients to think about their guidelines as a way to focus messaging rather than limit it. That said, you certainly can’t make a 180 on a dime. Consistency matters. A brand’s evolution happens over time, so your audience needs to easily recognize that the design is yours.

Defying your audience’s expectations can cause confusion or frustration, but when done adeptly, it can also be an effective strategy in visual storytelling. In other words, the answer to the question doesn’t need to be “yes” as long as it’s “no” for a good reason.

Graphic designers who can guide you to success

Ideally, your graphic designer should be asking these sorts of strategic questions to get your project successfully across the finish line—unless they’re the type to get it perfectly correct the first time. But we know that’s rarely the case. If you need a marketing agency partner or a graphic designer who will make the content creation process as easy as possible, let’s schedule a call!

As an award-winning agency that prioritizes process and people, we know how to ask the right questions and get your design from Point A to Point (EM)B with guided precision.