Design draft feedback

How do I write good design draft feedback?

Good feedback covers four things: "where, how it is now, how you want it, and why." When you include the reason, the developer can adjust other similar spots on their own.

It's fine to share a vague feeling. But if you point out where you get that feeling, the developer can find the cause much faster.

When a feeling is hard to put into words, comparisons work well. Giving a reference point, like "a little brighter than now" or "photos about the size of the reference site's," helps the developer judge how far to go.

When you have a lot of comments, send them as a numbered list. The developer can reply to each number with "Done · Needs checking," so nothing gets missed in the back-and-forth.

In what order should I organize my feedback?

Go in this order and nothing gets missed: "skim once → mark where you get stuck → organize." If you start listing fixes one by one from the beginning, it's easy to miss big problems and end up with lots of small ones.

If you have time, setting it aside for a day and looking again also helps. Things you missed the first time because everything felt new can jump out when you look again through a customer's eyes.

When asking family or staff for their opinion, give them a task like "Find the booking button on this screen" instead of asking "What do you think?" Where they actually get stuck is far more useful than a vague impression.

1. 01Without taking notes, skim it once from start to finish on your phone to get an overall impression.
2. 02Pretend to be a customer, follow through to booking or contacting you, and mark every spot where you hesitated.
3. 03Group the marked spots by page and section.
4. 04Tag each comment as "must" or "preference," and number them in order of importance.
5. 05For things that are hard to explain in words, attach screenshots of reference sites or a hand sketch.
6. 06Combine your family's and staff's comments into one final version and send it all at once.

Should I describe the problem or suggest a solution?

It's best to state the problem first and add the solution you have in mind as an example. "The booking button doesn't stand out. Red, for example" often leads to a better result than "Make the button red."

The same problem can be solved in several ways. A button may not stand out because of its size or position rather than its color, so when you describe the problem, the developer can pick the approach that fits best.

On the other hand, for circumstances only your business knows, state the solution clearly. Requests with an operational reason, like "There's no parking here, so parking info must be on the first screen," are hard for a developer to guess.

What are common mistakes in design draft feedback?

The most common mistake is reversing something already approved at a later stage. Changing an order or color decided earlier means redoing all the work built on top of it.

Sending feedback too late also affects the schedule. The developer can't start the next task until they get your feedback, so if your review slips by a week, the launch date tends to slip by the same amount.

On the other hand, holding back comments isn't good either. If you let something that bothers you slide, it has to be fixed after launch, which can cost more time and money.

• Giving feedback only by phone without putting it in writing, so both sides later remember the requests differently
• Checking only the computer version and never the phone version
• Starting to write your introduction text only at the draft stage, so the text length changes and the layout shifts again
• Asking for a competitor's website to be copied "exactly" (using it as a mood reference is fine, but copying it outright can cause copyright problems)
• Several people sending the same comment separately, each in different words

What feedback comes up most often by type of business?

Customers check different information depending on the industry, so certain spots attract feedback again and again. Use the list below to check those same spots on your own draft first.

Across all industries, the most common comments are about ease of use on phones. Requests that let customers act in one tap, like "Tapping the phone number should call right away" or "Tapping the address should open a map app," apply to almost every business.

For restaurants, people also often check whether menu names and prices match the actual menu, and whether there's a spot for country-of-origin or allergy information.

• Cafe: whether menu photos look darker than the real thing, and whether there's a spot to post that a dessert is sold out
• Hair salon: whether it's clear if service prices are "starting from" or fixed, and whether booking by stylist is easy to follow
• Craft studio: whether the structure makes it easy to update when the class schedule changes, and whether supplies and class length are shown
• Academies and tutoring centers: whether classes by grade level are clear at a glance, and whether the consultation button sits right next to each class description

What should I ask the agency about how feedback works?

Agreeing in advance on where and how to send feedback keeps comments from getting scattered and makes counting revisions clear.

A tool that lets you leave comments directly on the spot you mean greatly cuts down on explaining "which part I'm talking about." When sending by messenger, drawing a circle on a screenshot and sending it along has a similar effect.

After sending feedback, get confirmation that it was received. Messenger messages getting buried in other chats, or emails landing in spam and delaying changes, happen more often than you'd think.

• Where to send feedback (on-screen comments, email or messenger)
• What counts as 1 revision per round of feedback
• How long it takes to get a revised version after sending feedback
• How you confirm whether changes were made (marked changes or a reply list)
• How they let you know about comments they decide are hard to implement