Good news everyone,
I give a substantial amount of design feedback. I mentor dozens of people who are transitioning into the design world. I review portfolios at design schools. When people ask, I give feedback over the internet. I even help friends and coworkers work through design challenges. Some of these incredible people have long standing design backgrounds while others have almost none. I’ve developed my method of giving feedback to accommodate for this, but I didn’t realize this until recently.
Often I tell my mentees that getting feedback is one of the most important parts of the process. Designing anything takes a series of hundreds if not thousands of decisions. Each made with purpose, thought, and care. When we hold onto those decisions without outside perspective we build a world that could have vulnerabilities. Those could range from ideas lacking originality to major issues in accessibility. It turns out that even though I practice giving feedback non-stop, I often don’t ask for it.
Asking for feedback early, often, specific, and diverse are all important aspects to get the most in a project.
Early
Got an idea for a new project? Bounce it off of a friend. You don’t need to ask them if it’s perfect, but start a conversation. Have an idea that speaks to a specific audience, reach out to someone in that audience. Even before you break out your fancy software or watercolors, get some feedback on the initial idea. I’ve found that my first idea was ok, but after talking through it with a few trusted folks it evolved into a much better idea.
Often
You’ve got a great idea that others think is interesting too. They’ve helped you realize some other aspects you didn’t even think about (go you). Just when you get back into the weeds with so many decisions floating around your head, go gather some more feedback. Sometimes this is in the form of testing or UX research. But I’ve found that it’s equally important to just share and get feedback from all sorts of people.
I highly recommend creating a peer group where you can share work and feedback together. Make it a great give and take relationship. Every time I give feedback, I learn something form it as well.
Specific
This one is important. Any time you ask for feedback on an idea, project, or anything. Make sure you share the context and what level of feedback you are looking for. Mention what the big goal is, and then try to put into context where you are in the process. We don’t want to hear about the color choice when we haven’t even figured out which screens need to exist. Same can be applied to any sort of creative project. Notice the difference between the following two questions:
“Hi, this mobile app helps people find the nearest open Resturant. Do you think the flow between these three screens is easier than what people do currently?”
VS
“Hi, this mobile app helps people find the nearest open Resturant. We’re almost done with the project. Do you think this color looks inviting and related to restaurants?”
Diverse
It’s important to get feedback from people with other experiences in the world. Think diverse in as many ways as you can. Whatever their perspective or experience has is valuable feedback. You want to see your work through as many lenses as you can. This helps us not only check our work in ways we can’t as a single lens, but it also helps us grow our understanding of the world, and ultimately make better designs in the future.
So these are my tips for giving and getting feedback. I need to listen to my own advice and start sharing my work earlier, more often, in specific ways, and to a diverse group of people. Let me know your feedback tips, or if you’d like these ideas to be flushed out in more detail.
🖤
Geremy