10 tips for handling push back on your designs.
As a designer, one of the situations you need to master is navigating pushback on your designs with confidence.
Helpful design feedback
There are two scenarios when it comes to someone pushing back on what you’re suggesting. Firstly if the other person is a more experienced and knowledgeable designer or team member. In this situation, they’re helping you to see how you can improve your designs which is great. Examples here include:
When a lead designer explains a design pattern you might not have considered
When someone explains how there is legislation so the design will have to be modified to be in line with the legislation
When a senior team member explains that because of the limitations of the technology we won’t be able to add a specific feature that’s designed.
All of these scenarios are great examples of stakeholder or team-member collaboration a stakeholder is someone who has an interest in your work). Stakeholders help you complete your work as they have specific domain knowledge that you don’t have. They’re often the experts in a specific domain. Eg Developers are the experts of the tech, the Compliance team members are experts when it comes to the ‘rules’ we need to follow, and Customer Operations are experts when it comes to what customers complain about.
Not-so-helpful design feedback
However, there’s another scenario when someone wants to provide their personal view or opinion and you disagree with their opinion. This scenario tends to be less helpful. Some examples include
When someone asks you to change a design because ‘they’ wouldn’t use it in that way
When someone has a personal preference for the way you have approached the design
When someone makes assumptions about how the users will interact with what you’ve designed
10 things to remember when you receive design feedback
(whether you agree with it or not)
There is a lot here so I recommend saving/bookmarking this so you can refer back to it when you need it
1. The feedback isn’t a reflection of you
First and foremost, remind yourself this feedback isn’t a reflection of you. It is often very easy to see our designs as us. In situations like this, you can feel quite uncomfortable, embarrassed, frustrated etc. Remember this is normal.
2. Different perspectives are crucial
As individuals, we all have different perspectives, due to our different beliefs, experiences and thoughts. Different perspectives are great as they bring a diverse range of opinions and approaches to the creative process. This is very helpful with helping challenge assumptions you may have. Overall this leads to more well-rounded and thought-through design decisions.
3. Ask clarifying questions
Imagine a scenario where you have been asked to design a new checkout feature which allows users to add a discount code. And you’re presenting your wireframes to the stakeholders of the team and someone (senior to you) says this:
I’m not sure this is the right approach to take for this feature.
You should always respond with something along the lines of:
Could you explain a bit more about why you feel this might not be the right approach so I can understand more of your thinking?
By providing insight into why they have formed that specific opinion, you can decide whether you agree or disagree. Make a concerted effort to understand the person, their perspective, and the problems they see.
4. Team members have information you don’t
It is impossible to know everything. Life does not work this way. We have to rely on others to help provide us with information we may not have. A big part of the design process is gathering all the information we can before we start to design. And we will definitely miss some pieces of information. So we have to rely on others to provide us with this information. We need to provide the opportunities such as design reviews and critiques for them to have a place to provide us with this information.
5. Build good working relationships by listening to opinions
Asking clarifying questions shows you are listening and you value their opinions. Both are important skills for a great designer. Making someone feel heard will really help build a great working relationship with them. But remember, making someone feel heard doesn’t mean you have to do what they suggest. If you don’t agree with a piece of feedback, you can simply say you will take it away and think it through further if you have any reservations.
6. Avoid making decisions on the spot
This leads to my next point: you do not have to make decisions during the meeting where you are getting pushback. If you’re unsure, always say “I will take this away and have a think about it and get back to you on the end result”. Don’t feel pressured to make a call on the spot, as it is easy to make a decision which isn’t thought through when under pressure.
7. Explore multiple design options
Ensure you’ve done a lot of design explorations beforehand. Make sure you don’t present the first idea you came up with. You will struggle to answer a lot of the questions on why you went for this approach if you hadn’t explored others. Showing your previous explorations communicates that you have gone through a process to try to find the most appropriate approach. Which helps build trust in your final decision.
8. Communicate your thinking and how you got to your decision
When presenting your ideas, ensure you talk through the logic and reasoning for selecting the final design. Explain what information led you to this decision, and explain the analysis of ideas which led to the chosen one being most appropriate. This explanation will help those listening to understand the due diligence you went through to make the decision.
9. Link back to the research findings or the data you have
This one works so well for me. When I present design ideas, I ensure I link them back to the research findings or data I have gathered to support the design direction I have chosen. Demonstrating the ideas have been validated through research adds confidence to my ideas and is difficult to argue against.
10. Finally, prioritise your feedback
There will be times when you receive a huge amount of feedback. Some of it will be relevant, some won’t. After a big design review session, I will take the feedback and prioritise it.
I will move the irrelevant feedback into a separate column. I will add the ‘nice to have’ or ‘subjective’ feedback to a separate column. And then I am left with the feedback which is important. I will order this feedback based on the most important. And tackle the pieces which are relevant to the user's needs.
As designers, we will always receive a lot of feedback, sometimes useful and sometimes not useful. The reason for this is that our work is so tangible and understood by many. It isn’t like a piece of code that only developers understand it. So developing strategies to manage pushback on designs, whether positive or negative is a crucial skill for designers.
The final point I want to end on is to always assume positive intent. This will enable you to develop a positive and open attitude. This attitude will help develop positive relationships and trust with others, this will ultimately make your job much easier!
