If you want your website to fit your needs and expectations, knowing how to give constructive feedback is key. Too many projects fall short due to bad communication, and there’s nothing that is more frustrating to a web developer than a client that doesn’t know what he wants or doesn’t know how to explain it. But how exactly do you go about giving feedback that’s clear and helpful? Here are a few tips that will help you provide better feedback throughout the design process.

1. Be Specific as Possible

When it comes to web design, you need to use concrete examples if you don’t like aspects of the design. Saying that the design is too bland isn’t good feedback since that’s highly subjective. Instead, you could say that the colours in the design appear muted and you’d rather have more vibrant shades. Try to refer to specific examples as much as possible by discussing your thoughts on the font, colours, imagery, and anything else you notice.

2. Provide Concrete Examples

If you’re hiring a designer to build a website, then you may already have an idea of what you want as a final product. Even if you’re flexible, you probably still have websites that you like. Although you don’t want the designer to copy a website, provide them with examples of website design that you like. This is incredibly helpful if you’re not a designer but need to communicate an idea of what you expect.

3. Provide Balanced Feedback

Web designers are humans also and they may react negatively if your feedback only focuses on the negative. This is natural since you are focusing on corrections, but positive feedback can help the designer to understand what you like in a design. Provide information on what you liked or didn’t like about the design. This isn’t just to provide a compliment but rather to help the designer understand your design goals.

4. Ask Questions

The biggest mistake that people make is not asking questions when they’re evaluating a design. Feedback can be an open discussion and may help you understand the design better at the same time. Don’t be afraid even if you don’t know the right terminology. If you’re unsure why an image was placed in the design or why the layout reads a certain way, ask the designer. There are no stupid questions and a good designer will be able to explain the work well.

5. Avoid Micromanaging

It can be tempting to want to control the design process from start to finish but most designers like to have some creative freedom to do their work. When you set up the project, make a schedule to see the design as it develops and times to provide feedback on the design. This will help you avoid trying to control every aspect of the project.

Giving feedback is a skill that we can all learn and feedback for web design can be particularly challenging. To avoid frustration and end up with a good final product, use these five tips to create feedback. You’ll find that it’s much easier to work with designers and get the product you want.