Your first assumption might be to think about the designers around you, but your team, department, and entire company might need to brush up on what good design feedback consists of. As a designer, you can do more than present screens; you can teach people how to read those screens and offer their feedback in constructive ways.

Above and beyond all else, feedback and how it’s taught must be kind. Giving kind feedback means showing you care by being direct and coming from a place where you own your perceptions. You want to help the other person see the outcome of what was worked on. Is the outcome what they wanted? That’s for them to decide and take back to their desk.

Below are some ideas I’ve collected about the bad patterns in design feedback and what makes good design feedback. You can use this as an appendix for your own feedback playbook or pull bits and pieces to help give words to a situation you’re experiencing in the workplace. If you find something to add or end up using some of these, please comment on this post!

Set the Agenda

Discussions with unclear objectives and not enough context are a surefire way to derail your discussion from the start. Set the agenda with the boundaries of play outlined. When you start the meeting, restate the agenda. This is a great way to frame the conversation and set expectations around the rules of play. You will find that people actually want some boundaries defined, and if you can do that confidently and keep the conversation focused, it frames you as a leader of that meeting.

Lack of Goals

If your design or your meeting lacks goals, I hate to break it to you, but it might be your problem to solve. If you’re setting the agenda, why not own the goals of the feedback too? Put them out there and ask if those are acceptable goals for the meeting. If someone has something to add, thank them for the feedback. If we’re talking about broader goals like features, teams, or departments, that might be another type of meeting altogether (but you could own that too if you’re so inclined). If your team needs to define its goals, have a 30-minute session to align on goals by having everyone spend 5 minutes writing down their perceived goals, then go around and share. This will create the right conversation and get you going towards identifying the right goals for the team.

The Absence of Vulnerability and the Safety to Be Honest

The arena for design feedback needs to be safe for voicing opinions, doing that in kind ways, and accepting feedback openly. Being open to feedback doesn’t mean you always act on it, but feeling safe enough to take it in without argument is a highly valuable skill. In turn, you make it safe for others to offer feedback to you. Playful creation techniques like opening the meeting with an icebreaker (e.g., “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”) or a formatted critique program like a design studio are ways to level the playing field and engage stakeholders in a safe and fun way.

“I Don’t Like It”

Unproductive and frivolous feedback is when someone says things like “This is subpar,” or “I’ll know it when I see it.” With vague feedback, values often lie just beneath the surface. Try teasing values out by asking questions like “If this is subpar, what would be above par?” Remember, the person reviewing your work, no matter who they are, might not have strong feedback skills. In this situation, get them to focus on how the work makes them feel and get them to own their feedback. “Such as” is a great response to anything that trails off without detail. “I don’t like it, and I’ve seen better examples” can be met with “Such as…,” which puts the accountability back on them. This helps teach good technique and makes you a better facilitator.

Scope-Busting Feedback

“I think we should overhaul the entire back end,” “This small task should be done with a UI system,” “Have you explored this option from my personal agenda that will take you several more weeks?” This type of thing is partially on you and your team to sort out. What are you doing to tell the story of the constraints and guidelines of a given body of work? Have you sought feedback and buy-in on those guardrails? Some stakeholders will still ignore the constraints or surprise you with new ones because they weren’t incorporated earlier. If you can build a case for the goals, anti-goals, risks, mitigations, and the guardrails of your project, it will go a long way towards explaining what can be