Guide
How to give design feedback
Most design feedback fails for one of two reasons: it's too vague ("make it pop") to act on, or it's so specific it hands the designer a solution instead of a problem ("make the button blue"). Good feedback sits between those: specific about what's wrong, open about how to fix it.
The three-part structure
- What you're looking at. Point to the exact thing: this headline, this button, this spacing between the image and the text. Not "the hero section," the actual element.
- What's wrong, and why it matters. Describe the problem, not your preferred fix. "This CTA doesn't stand out against the background" is feedback. "Make this button orange" is a decision you're making for the designer, often without their context.
- What you're trying to achieve. Give the goal, not the solution: "I want someone scanning the page to see this button within two seconds." Let the designer decide how.
Before and after
Vague: "The hero doesn't feel right." Specific: "The headline and subhead are competing for attention, they're almost the same size. I want the headline to clearly win."
Over-specific: "Make the logo bigger and move it 10px left." Useful: "The logo feels lost next to the nav links. Can it have more presence?"
Opinion stated as fact: "This is ugly." Useful: "This colour combination is hard to read for me, the text has low contrast against the background."
A few more rules that help
- Ask, don't assume, when you're not sure. "Is this spacing intentional, or a bug?" costs you nothing and avoids feedback on something that was already a deliberate choice.
- Separate "I don't like it" from "this doesn't work." Both are valid, but they're different kinds of feedback, and saying which one you mean saves a round of guessing.
- Give feedback on the real thing, not a description of it. "The button in the top right" means something different on a phone than on a widescreen monitor. Comment where you're actually looking.
- One round, one set of feedback. Dribbling in one comment a day draws the process out and makes it hard for the designer to see the whole picture at once.
Do it in StiqNote
Point at the actual element on the live page or prototype and write the note right there, no need to describe "the hero section" when you can just click it. On Pro, Suggest an edit lets you show the change directly, new text, a colour, spacing, and hands the designer the exact CSS, so "make it pop" becomes a change they can see and accept or adjust. Everything stays pinned to the page, in context, instead of scattered across comments on a shared doc.
See design QA on the live site or comments and Suggest an edit for how it works.
Stop sending screenshots in Slack
Pin the feedback where it belongs. Free to start, with 14 days of Agency for your first team.