You need a website. You’ve asked around, looked online and found Artillery. You’ve viewed our portfolio of work, dig our design style, and you understand our strategic approach to design. You trust us.
We’re a perfect fit and everyone is excited!
Even the best fit can use a little adjusting though. Whether it’s the wireframe, style tile, or mockup we send you; if it’s not 100% what you’re looking for, we want to know. More importantly, we want to know how we can get to 100%.
We won’t hit a home run every time. For those times we don’t, here are some tips on how to provide us with effective feedback so we can hit the home run our next at bat.
1. Include strategy if possible.
When providing feedback, try to give strategic reasons for the change. “I don’t like how it looks.” or “It doesn’t feel like me.” are not strategic reasons for a design change and gives us little insight into what you are looking for.
“We really like how Apple displays their products on this page (website link). The clean design allows the photos to grab my attention. We believe our custom photos will help sell our products. Can we showcase our photos more?” is a great example of specific feedback using strategy.
“Can we increase the font size overall? Our audience is a bit older and has trouble reading smaller type.” is another example of using strategy when giving feedback.
Provide specific feedback. Send website and/or print examples. Send us a napkin sketch. The more specific, the better.
At this point, it may help to identify what kind of client you are when it comes to working with a designer (we’re not big fans of #4).
Provide specific feedback. Send us a napkin sketch. The more specific, the better.
2. Keep it simple.
Be clear and to the point. A bulleted list works best. Our pricing includes 2 rounds of revisions. We want to deliver a strategic design you love within the 2 rounds. Direct, clear, and concise feedback helps direct our designers to what you’re looking for.
3. Be nice.
Accepting critique / feedback can be a delicate situation, please help the reception by providing feedback in a positive way. Compare these two feedback statements:
“We showed our friends the mockup and they said it’s HORRIBLE.”
“We showed some folks in our target market the design and they didn’t have the reaction we were expecting. They were a bit underwhelmed. Can we try adjusting … ”
Who are you more excited to work with after reading the above statements?
4. Give positive feedback.
Giving feedback is also an opportunity to affirm what we are doing right. That affirmation may help us when addressing items we didn’t get quite right. We’re not necessarily asking for a compliment sandwich though.
5. Trust us.
We’re not always going to agree on design. Design is very subjective. It can be next to impossible to create a design everyone loves. This is exactly why we use strategy in our design. Everyone should agree on the strategy and goals for the site.
There may be times we push back on feedback. Please know our pushback is purely based on strategy & our experience.
Ultimately, you are the client and we will gladly edit the design to your liking. However, there may be times we ask for your trust. When we do, we’re basing our decisions on our experience, knowing what works online, and keeping your goals in mind.
Some people say, “Give the customers what they want.” But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!'” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.
– Steve Jobs
By following these guidelines when giving feedback, you’re giving us the best opportunity to serve you and build a website that will exceed your expectations as well as your goals.
For some fun, you can read an example of how website feedback can go terribly wrong.
