We’ve all been there, you have a great intro meeting. You’ve reviewed inspiration sites together. You think you have a clear vision of the client’s project and goals and you excitedly rush to bring those thoughts to life.

You know you’ve knocked them out of the park and can barely contain yourself as you send them a draft for review. You try to remain calm and patient, then their email appears in your inbox with a simple reply, “it’s just not right”. You take a deep breathe and you try and dig out more constructive feedback which goes something like this.

YOU: “Can you be more specific about what you like or don’t?”

THEM: “Um, not really it’s just not what I had in mind…”

YOU: “Let’s break this down. Do you like the color palette? What about the font? Do you like the full-width banner? Logo placement in the center….”

THEM: “I’m not sure. Can you just show me something else?”

And so on and so on and… So the question remains, how do you get constructive feedback in order to move forward in your design?

Start by understanding that your client may not know how to communicate with you. Try to use simple terms or to educate them. Not everyone understands the difference between a slider, full-bleed or parallax. I find Zoom calls a great way to test out ideas or give example and get real-time feedback.

Want more or better advice. Check out this article below and above all patience, Grasshopper. It’s all part of the design process.