Feedback

Giving and receiving feedback is an important part of a collaborative workflow. At every phase of my career – as a student, as a freelancer, as an individual contributor and as a team lead – I’ve had to give feedback to others and receive feedback on my work.

On my teams, we talk about a book called Radical Candor. The author puts forth the idea that individuals and teams benefit when we provide direct feedback rooted in caring for each other personally and about each others’ success.

Radical candor is not brutal honesty or being a jerk. See the note above 👆🏻 about caring about the people you’re giving feedback to. If you’re interested in more detail about Radical Candor, there’s an article and video on the Matter blogFollowing and reading this link is optional.✳️ .

This informs my approach to critiques/feedback because I’m treating y’all like future potential colleagues. I already care deeply about your success and feedback is one of the collaborative tools I use to encourage you to think and do more.

Receiving feedback

Even if you’ve asked for feedback or go into a class or presentation knowing feedback will be shared, that’s not the same as being prepared to hear feedback.

I have four pieces of feedback (see what I did there? 😹) for your approach to feedback.

Set your expectations

You are forever going to be getting feedback on your work – from clients, from coworkers, from the public. It is simply part of the job. Don’t go into any setting where you can get feedback and expect to walk out without actionable feedback.

Learn your tell

There is something that happens in your body when you start to feel defensive or anxious. Maybe you start to feel flush or your hands start to shake or you bite your lip or you cross your arms…or you do all the things. Learn the thing and name the thing. It is very difficult to hear and process feedback when we’re defensive, so it’s helpful to spot this tell in yourself and be able to take a breath and remember that feedback is what you want to get out of this experience.

Own your design

At least in the space of this course, you own your design and the decisions around it. Just because you get a piece of feedback does not mean you need to act on it or integrate it into your design. You are the final decider about what issues you’ll resolve and how you’ll do so.

Be proactive

You, too, should be evaluating your design and its problem solving. Share your own questions, uncertainties and struggles as part of feedback sessions. Read Better Questions for Better Design Feedback (est. reading time: 5min) by Dan Brown to get a handle on good, pointed questions to lead your feedback sessions.

Giving feedback

If you are in a position to give feedback on a colleague’s work in progress or finished project, you have the following responsibilities:

• You should understand the context and audience for the design.
  • You may not be a member of the targeted audience and, therefore, should be prepared to check your personal preferences at the door.
• You should share feedback about what’s effective in the current design and why it is effective.
• You should contribute questions, not just judgements.
• You should be descriptive about any problems or concerns without being prescriptive about the solutions.
  • 😺 Do this: “It’s hard for me to tell what’s most important in your header because there are so many elements and they’re visually similar.”
  • ❌ Not this: “Your header should only have the heading and a photo.”
  • 😺 Do this: “The color contrast on your main text seems low; did you use a contrast checker tool on it?”
  • ❌ Not this: “You should change your colors to be blue and white instead.”
• You should avoid stating personal preferences about colors, fonts, etc. Figure out the root problem, if there is one; if the issue is that you just don’t like orange, keep it to yourself.