Revision requests make all digital marketing endeavors more successful when effectively communicated.

It’s easy to spot and fix issues like a social media post with an outdated logo, a “download” button with a broken link, a winky italicizing webpage due to an unclosed EM tag, or a copyright statement with the date of last year in your footer. These types of mistakes are straightforward and actionable.

Sometimes things start to get more complicated and ambiguous when you arrive at a website project’s design evaluation stage.

Avoid subjective recommendations to keep in track. Personal preference will definitely always play a role during a design review, but when you give feedback that is informed by definitive information, such as research findings or creative brief goals, designers are often more helpful.

For example, be more objective when asking your designer to explore removing that color, rather than saying you hate the purple type used dominantly throughout a layout. Give an objective reason, like “I’d like to go in a different color because purple isn’t part of the brand palette of our company. Let’s stick to the hues specified in our identity guidelines for copying for the bulk of the typesetting.”

In general, people tend to act on feedback only 30 per cent of the time. To ensure that your concerns are not forgotten or overlooked (and keep your web designer inspired and engaged), one way to avoid sharing feedback on things that don’t matter is to make sure your biggest concerns are addressed and not missed.

Here are three further tips to keep in mind when framing feedback on web design:

1. Make it a discussion

“A little less conversation, a little more action, please.” Sorry, Elvis fans, but when it comes to providing feedback to web designers you shouldn’t follow the lead of the King of Rock and Roll.

Don’t skip the step of revising a design thoroughly by going right to recommend edits. Set aside time for an initial discussion so you postpone judgment until you fully understand the rationale behind the work of your designer.

As a bonus, you’ll have the chance to talk through something that isn’t working by making time to have a conversation with your designer about the design. This is particularly useful when you can’t explain exactly what you’re having trouble with.

They may drill down through conversation to the reason you’re asking clarifying questions, making it easier for them to address your concerns productively in the next iteration.
Don’t fear asking, “Why? “Want to change something? Ask a question to get more information before giving a designer what you think is constructive criticism (and, if necessary, ask an open-ended follow-up question like “Would you tell me more about that?”).

With enough up front and back, you may find out if what you perceive as “wrong” is subjective (and up for debate) or if you may have identified something that’s legitimately off and needs to be fixed due to the misunderstanding of the creative brief by your designer.

Is it ever okay to slam a web designer during a criticism, for example, when they used Comic Sans in the design?

Perhaps. Possibly not. Web design is cunning. It never hurts to avoid hypothesizing by initiating conversations to clarify the thinking behind the choices made by your designer.

2. Avoid ambiguity (not being too specific yet)

Want the best possible design? Make your enemy Absolutes. Just mention it when you spot a problem but don’t tell the designer how to solve it.

If you are by nature someone who likes to be helpful, it may seem counter-intuitive to fail to give advice. Why wouldn’t you help anybody, if you could? One reason is that, as a designer, it’s much easier to fix something that’s wrong when a client describes the problem rather than offering a way to fix it.

Web design projects function best when collaborative. If you share feedback and also say how you want the problem to be resolved, you are limiting possible outcomes and pushing around pixels just get production help.

Remember: Precise, but not restrictive, feedback is the most useful.
Put your confidence in the process—and love the design of your web designer. For most of them it’s their passion for driving. If you have chosen to hire a designer because you like their work and admire their creativity, extend that confidence to them during the design assessment stage and give them the freedom to design a new solution that addresses their concerns.

Designers are looking to succeed and want their customers to succeed. You give your designer the license to explore options and come up with a thoughtful and fitting solution that meets your business goals and helps your customers.

3. Equilibre nice and evil

Feedback giving and receiving is notorious to create anxiety and friction. The process is not meant to hurt feelings, but if you include criticism only when you share feedback, your designer may feel hurt, understandably. One way to counter possible negative and stressful feelings involved is to make an effort to identify signs of improvement when evaluating a design.

Motivation is an important part of doing successful work. Be a good listener, maintain an upbeat attitude and show your designer that by being positive and prioritizing the things that require attention, you won’t pick out every aspect of their work. Ultimately, during the criticism it’s all about building trust so you can push the concept in the right direction.