I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that every entrepreneur who has been in the business for at least a few years has received some frustrating and cringe-worthy feedback from clients about their work.
Much of the blame rests on poor initial communication, a lack of understanding about our respective roles, and, I think, a large crop of entrepreneur who haven't apprenticed with folks who have modeled professional habits in client relationships, instead jumping into freelance work. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, we just get terrible feedback.
Here are a few examples based on my own experience or on that of folks I know.
"I know we're a landscaping company, but I really don't like green."
When dealing with feedback that threatens to allow personal preferences – irrelevant ones specifically – to sabotage a project's success, it is important to always return to the desired outcome of the project when discussing why something might not work. It is perfectly professional to remind a client that your goal is to communicate with and elicit a response from the folks whose patronage is wanted.
Letting personal preferences interfere with appropriate design decisions.
"My wife likes it in this other font I found."
It is awkward, and can feel quite insulting when work that you've put through the rigors of research, brainstorming, and pruning is subject to flippant comments and the whims of someone who isn't trained as a designer. Again, we have to shift the focus back to the goals of the project.
Feedback that doesn't put the weight on the project that you have yourself
"So I want this logo to feel modern and trendy, but also classic at the same time. I want to capture the timelessness of filmmaking while showing that we are always at the forefront of new technologies. But I definitely don't want it to be too busy."
Feedback like this has come more often on logos than anything else, because folks place a lot of importance on them, and sometimes simply want them to do too much.
Unclear, over-ambitious goals
"This feels too big-city to me. Make it more homey."
There is something of substance meant here, but this alone is too vague and open for interpretation to base any targeted changes on. "What does big-city mean to you?" would be a good follow-up question. Even adjectives like "modern" or "classy" or "retro" fall into this same category of ambiguity.
Subjective, jargon-filled feedback
"I don't like it."
Yes, we need to know this, but we need to know why or nothing can be done to change it.
Unhelpful negative feedback
"I love it."
Okay, I have to admit: I like to hear this. But it can be a paralyzing thing moving forward if we're not on the same page about what is liked.
Unhelpful positive feedback
"When I said 'Just do your thing,' I was really thinking..."
If the initial direction given by a client is "do what you do," this very often results in the client not being happy with the work presented. And it's a dangerous route to take as a designer because the attitude behind this approach often includes not properly establishing expectations.
Flip-floppy feedback
"I really like what you did. But can you change [everything about it]?"
If someone says they really like what you did (which is, again, nice but not very informative), but wants all the defining characteristics of it changed, it's time to sit back down and get on the same page about what the objectives are.
Contradictory feedback
"I like what you did. But what we're really looking for is [unrelated thing]..."
One of the most awkward, debilitating things to hear is feedback that doesn't actually address what has been done. If the first try isn't what is wanted, a clear project path must be followed that will achieve the desired objectives while still falling reasonably within a project's scope. So addressing what has been presented – how specifically it does or does not meet goals – is a must.
Not addressing what has been presented
"We actually need 3 more main navigation links."
Whether it is requesting a major site re-organization half-way into a web project or adding 2 paragraphs into a tightly packed brochure, it is frustrating to receive requests that seem to overlook the planning that has already been required up to this point.
Changing the scope or specs in impractical ways
"I'll know what I want when I see it."
Probably once in the history of Earth has this been uttered before a happy, profitable project. If you hear this, there has been a terrible misunderstanding, and an immediate re-evaluation of the project is needed.
Not allowing for a clear path forward
"This type looks too Gaelic (or funky or Middle-Age) for us."
Fear of alienating some (a reasonable concern) can lead to marks that aren't as unique as they could be. It's important to establish early on what the mandatory elements are in a project, and if the client has something specific in mind, to clarify this. By the way, this specificity isn't a bad thing, but you should know it before you explore half a dozen solutions that are non-starters. The logical follow-up question would be, "what about the type looking Gaelic is problematic to you?" It may simply be that the client has a clearer idea of what they want than you imagined.
Vague feedback which doesn't address the actual problem
"There's a mistake here. Tea leaves actually have more ridges than this."
In other words, the feedback is that the art doesn't match the reality. As designers, it is often our job to distil reality into symbols and motifs that indicate reality, not duplicate it. This must be communicated to folks we're working with.
Expecting design to duplicate reality
Can you use the symbol from this mark with the type from that mark?
The point of providing options is usually to give widely varying paths to choose from, so cobbling pieces together usually results in something that looks cobbled together.
Requests for Frankenstein solutions
"This 'logo' is just letters. I could have done that."
In designing logos, one should explore a wide variety of options, but that exploration often leads back to a seemingly simple solution. (Although, of course, custom type is a serious and complicated endeavor.) Often, the solution is something the client could physically do his or herself, but that doesn't make the exercise to discover that any less important or specialized.
Unappreciative (or simply uninformed) feedback
"I thought you were good at this."
If you've really put your heart and effort into a project, and the feedback you get is not only unhelpful, but personally insulting, that's a relationship that's pretty hard to salvage. This has not happened to me, but did to someone sitting right next to me. It didn't look like a fun situation.
Hateful feedback
...
There is no less useful feedback than absolutely no feedback. In one really odd situation, a client fell off the face of the Earth for months. Eventually everything was worked out, monetarily and logistically (legal rights, how to move forward), but it threw a kink in my work and scheduling process.
No feedback. Literally nothing.
"This is unacceptable." (And it really is.)
Without a doubt, the most dreaded feedback is negative feedback that you know is absolutely warranted. Maybe you under-estimated the time required, or maybe you spelled their name wrong in your logo comps. Whatever the case, it is no fun when you messed up big and you know it.
Bad feedback that you deserve.
Let me be clear. Most clients do not make a habit of giving bad feedback. Part of the reason these things incite dread then, at least for me, is that when I've gotten this type of response, it's usually an indication that I've not communicated properly. Most of these can be avoided when proper expectations are set up at the outset about what our respective roles are. That requires that we remember a big part of our jobs as designers is educating folks about what in the world it is that we do.
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