Hey, everyone, and welcome back.
We're going to be talking about a topic that a lot of people try to avoid, and that's feedback.
Now, I feel like a lot of designers avoid feedback.
There are reasons why it could be that they're scared to have their work critiqued, possibly they don't
know how to actually approach the situation with clients or team members.
So I'm going to show you why it's so useful to give feedback and then we'll get into how you can actually
get good feedback.
So let's jump right in.
So let's talk about receiving feedback, feedback can be a frustrating part of every project, it may
feel like a battle with clients, you know, with clients you may feel like you're coming to a compromised
outcome when it should feel like an alliance of ideas that, you know, elevates that design solution.
Design critics are full of little subtleties, just like any other conversation, and it can turn painful
quick when you can't define a process or if egos get in the way.
You know, sometimes we go out and try to get feedback and we don't necessarily let people know the
proper context of the feedback or what stage of the designs we're in.
And people may just be throwing out irrelevant feedback towards us and we don't know how to actually
use that to move forward in the design process.
So if it's so hard, why is it so important?
Well, that's because you're doing it wrong and we're going to get into that next.
But it really helps you distance yourself from your designs.
Sometimes as a designer, you get so connected to your work that that may seem kind of dramatic and
over-the-top, but it's true.
That may lead you to start making some choices that don't necessarily benefit your users.
And it happens.
It really does.
Feedback is a nice reminder that design is a craft.
Feedback can also help you take a step back and see your designs from a different perspective.
Sometimes we get a little tunnel vision.
It's so easy to get stuck in a silo working at the same designs over and over again.
I mean, we've all been there and feedback really fixes that mindset and helps us improve.
It also really helps you grow.
You're going to inevitably work with other designers.
And those designers may have different opinions, skill levels and experiences.
Listening to their opinions and feedback opens up your mind to new points of view and urges you to try
new things that you may not have tried anyways.
Feedback gives you new insight and approaches to design, and you will ultimately improve because of
it.
Whether that be because of a team, like I mentioned before, in terms of people coming together to
share their experiences or look at things from different perspectives or working with clients and maybe
understanding a problem just a little bit better.
So how do we get good feedback?
There are two types of feedback that have a significant impact on your design.
The first one is constructive.
Now, this will help you move the design forward.
It can also uncover clues to answering those open questions you may have.
It can also identify new blockers for your idea of success and can add momentum towards a direction
both negative and positive feedback can be constructive.
So when I say that, I mean that your designs may not resonate with the user base or your designs may
not actually solve the problem that you should be solving and you may get negative feedback.
But that feedback is still good because it's going to push you in a new direction that you need to go
in.
The second type is destructive.
Now, this will cloud the way your design moves forward, your design can be misled by asking unrelated
questions or wasting people's time by derailing discussions.
It can be really difficult to understand what matters because there is just so much noise.
This really, really happens a lot.
I feel like, especially with clients, a lot of design critiques or feedback meetings, they often
get derailed because there are so many irrelevant things that are popping up that aren't really relevant
to the types of problems you're trying to solve or your designs in general.
The goal is to get your group to give you constructive feedback, and I'm going to show you how to do
it in the next video.