Talking to Designers: Feedback That Helps Everybody

Feedback doesn’t have to be shocking.

If you’re an editor, publisher or anyone who works with a magazine designer on a regular basis, one of the most challenging responsibilities of your job is liable to be design feedback. Many non-designers dread these discussions, especially when there’s a problem with a layout.

First of all, if the prospect of passing along negative commentary to your designer fills you with anxiety, please know: It’s not your fault. The difficulties designers and non-designers have in communicating with each other come down to a basic failure of the medium: words. The English language is a terrible vehicle for conveying visual information.

But it’s what we have, so let’s make the best of it. Try these tips to make an uncomfortable discussion more productive and positive for all concerned:

1. Be specific. Avoid sentences such as “I don’t like it.” Understand that your designer hears that sentence in the same way a waiter does when you complain about the flavor of your entrée. Your tastes aren’t unimportant, but it’s not your designer’s job to win a guessing game about your likes and dislikes. Try to dig a little deeper into your own misgivings and figure out what it is that you actually dislike.

2. Ask questions. If you’re having trouble with tip #1, the best remedy is tip #2: Ask why your designer made the choice that you dislike. If your designer knows this business, the answer will be grounded in the fulfillment of a visual strategy, not an aesthetic preference. In other words, if your designer’s answer to the question “Why?” is something along the lines of “Because it looks good,” you may have bigger problems than one unsatisfying layout.

3. Avoid industry examples. Unless your designer requests it, don’t introduce pages from your favorite magazine and announce, “I want it to look like this.” Why? You probably don’t. What works on the pages of Real Simple or Wired won’t automatically work for your publication because you’re not covering the same topic with the same budget for the same audience. If there’s a specific design idea that you like, by all means, point it out. But understand that your designer should know to emulate the spirit of someone else’s design, not copy it.

4. Don’t make color choices. This sounds suspiciously specific; it’s not. It’s the #1 subject in which non-designers feel an unwarranted sense of expertise. Yes, you know what colors you like. But liking certain colors above others is not the same thing as an understanding of color theory, or the tactical uses of color combinations in design. If your designer is using more green than you prefer, there is almost certainly a reason. See tip #2 above.

And designers, help your non-designer colleagues by articulating a clear purpose behind your choices. Don’t assume that the beauty and elegance of your layout will automatically sell themselves. Again, language is not our friend here. How should designers respond to negative feedback?

1. Don’t be defensive. This is hard for many designers because of a personal investment — time, creativity, effort — in the work. Criticism can feel personal, too, but it isn’t. It’s good for designers to like their own work, but it’s a terrible thing to fall in love with it.

2. Ask questions. See above. Your non-designer colleagues might be terrible — through no fault of their own — at clearly articulating their critical view of your work. When that happens, you have one job: Tease out the real problem. If your editor says something like, “I don’t like yellow,” don’t ever take that at face value. That’s a cry for help; start digging.

3. Don’t be afraid to start over. It happens. Sometimes, we all follow a weak idea and fully execute it before fully appreciating its shortcomings. Or maybe it’s a great idea and the designer has absolutely nailed it. It doesn’t matter. The belief that there is one perfect solution to a layout problem has derailed more publishing relationships than almost any other cause. There are multiple — maybe numberless — solutions out there. It’s the designer’s job to find the next one.

Giving and receiving feedback are skills, like anything else. With practice, they get easier. And the very best editorial teams operate as partners, not individual stops on an assembly line. Editors and publishers should weigh in on artwork just as freely as designers should weigh in on copy. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn while enhancing the publication process. And the process is everything. It’s possible to make a good magazine from a bad process, but it requires generous helpings of good luck. Strong teams make their own luck.

Quarto Creative isn’t just here to help your magazine design improve. We’re an experienced resource for creative teams that need to function more efficiently and collaboratively. Talk to us about the challenges your team is experiencing: contact@quartocreative.com or 224-730-1083.