Ismail B.

October 4, 2022

How to give great design feedback

Key points

Subjective feedback like "That's nice." or "I think that's wrong." isn't productive
Back up your claims like so: “_____ would be better because [Insert reasonable justification]”
Use evidence-based design resources like nngroup.com, baymard.com, and interaction-design.org to back up your claims

Subjective feedback like "This is nice" or "That's wrong" without justifications doesn't help anyone. Give better design feedback by backing up your claims with evidence-based insights using websites like nngroup.com, baymard.com, and interaction-design.org.

You need to be able to back up your claims.

Whether giving feedback or justifying design choices.

This is called subjective feedback.

It isn’t enough.

Do this instead

“_____ would be better.” can become “_____ would be better because [Insert reasonable justification]”

Example:

Resources

Use the following evidence-based resources to start backing up your claims like a pro.

1. Nngroup.com (Link)

Groundbreaking visual design research

2. Baymard.com (Link)

How to create “State of the Art” e-commerce experiences

3. Interaction-design.org (Link)

Market leaders in online design education.

Let's make a change

Let’s turn “That looks niiice” into “I like the use of contrast to call attention to that element”

Then we can have more productive conversations and learn from each other.