How do you use client feedback on graphic design concepts?

Feedback is the fuel that ensures great designs are “fit-for-purpose”. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of the process.

An experienced graphic designer understands that their target audience has different preferences to their personal tastes, and has the creative versatility to tailor their creative work to suit those diverse needs.

Getting the best result is a team effort. Some companies opt for a participatory approach, which involves inviting members of their demographic targets to provide feedback and thereby influence the design process.

But graphic designers incorporate feedback into their artwork using a variety of other methods. Remember that design is not only subjective, it also triggers left-brain and right-brain responses. It talks to people at both the rational and emotional level.

The significance of that is that feedback can be both factual (“that colour won’t be legible on our next product that’s in development”), through to emotional (“I feel calm when I see logo concept A but the colour in concept B feels like it has more energy”). 

People can give valuable feedback on artwork by sharing their own experiences and feelings about it. This can help the designer to understand why they are responding with certain emotions. It can also lead to new insights into the design that may not have been seen in initial sketches or conceptions of the work.

Changes to artwork based on feedback aren’t always driven by aesthetics. The designer can also use this information to improve their design (for example, altering white space to draw the eye to key graphics or messages). As stated previously, they may also use it to change the artwork in order to meet the needs of their audience, rather than their design tastes.

Not all feedback is equal. That’s why feedback from committees can be dangerous. This is particularly important for products like websites, since small tweaks can have a big impact on how users interact with the product and how much they perceive it to be worth. Sometimes a strong voice is required to safeguard the integrity of the design. At other times, a senior person such as a marketing manager may need to steer more senior people – such as a CEO or business owner – away from their own preferences and remind them of the stated aims of the design project.

Rest assured that at Boylen, we only employ empathetic designers. They listen. They are respectful of input into their designs.

If we sound like a good match, let’s talk.