The Boss of You

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about a crucial part of my job: the ability to welcome criticism from my clients and put it to good use. Any designer worth her salt will tell you this is a fundamental aspect of good design work; you work on the design, you put it forward for review, and you incorporate the client’s — and possibly the end user’s — feedback to refine the design further. This dialectic proceeds until you arrive at a solution that makes the client happy. This is basic customer service protocol, but it can be particularly sensitive ground in some client-service provider relationships — and that can stem from either side. But I believe there’s always room to improve on our end, and to get better at listening to criticism well.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the client isn’t always right. The best-case scenario is to find the clients who value a designer’s expertise and are willing to listen to it. But I do find that more often than not, “amateur” input can be helpful in making a design user-friendly. That outside perspective is valuable. The key is whether or not your customer is treating you with respect, and learning to identify the ones that aren’t — so you don’t scratch your eyes out trying to make the latter happy. (Chances are, they won’t ever get there, so we’ve learned to spot them from a distance and avoid ‘em whenever possible.)

Here’s the thing: this doesn’t just apply to designers. All entrepreneurs need to know how to take criticism and learn from it.

We all get customers who are ready and willing to tell us straight-up what we’re doing wrong. The temptation is to run and hide, to get defensive, or to turn into a complete doormat. There’s an alternative, which is to respond with sympathy and active listening skills, and to determine as objectively as possible what, if anything, needs to be done to rectify the situation.

I could probably write several posts on this — and maybe I will — but I want to begin with a quick and dirty breakdown of how to separate the good criticism from the bad. The trick is getting familiar with the distinction between the client who is giving you actually useful feedback (and who presumably wants to help you do a better job) and the client who is frankly just being a pain in the ass.

So, what separates the useful feedback from useless? Here are a few tips:

A useful feedback provider:

• has clear and reasonable goals (e.g. “I need my logo to stand out more from the competition”; “I want this belt to fit me correctly”);
• explains why the product/service isn’t working for them (e.g. “the colour scheme is too bright”);
• understands the target audience (e.g. “Since our shareholders are primarily 50 and older, we need the type size bumped up for legibility”);
• proposes possible solutions (“Can I get a refund?”; “How about something in earth tones?”);
• is open to dialogue.

A useless feedback provider:

• assumes they represent all members of the target market (e.g. “I hate that colour”, even if the target market is a totally different demographic);
• is unrelentingly negative but sketchy on detail (“I hate everything!” “You’re useless!”);
• is unable, or unwilling, to articulate how their expectations have been disappointed (or what their expectations were in the first place, which may well have led them to this problem in the first place!);
• has an adversarial approach to their relationship with you, and doesn’t actually want to hear your perspective;
• cannot, and will not, be placated or satisfied.

What do you think? Have I missed anything? Over-generalized?

I’m open to feedback. ;-)