The Creative Review: How to Give Feedback That Actually Helps

Bad feedback is worse than no feedback. 'I don't like it' tells the creative nothing actionable. 'Make it pop' is meaningless. 'Can you try something else?' is a complete waste of everyone's time. Here's how to give feedback that actually moves the work forward.

The Three Rules

Rule 1: Be specific about what's not working. Instead of 'I don't like the colors,' try 'The blue feels too corporate for our brand — we want something warmer.' Specificity gives the creative a direction to move in.

Rule 2: Reference the brief. Every piece of feedback should connect back to the original objective. 'This doesn't feel right' becomes 'This doesn't serve our goal of appearing approachable to first-time founders.' Now the creative knows what problem to solve.

Rule 3: Separate your preferences from your audience's needs. You might personally hate orange. But if your audience responds to warm, energetic colors, orange might be exactly right. The question isn't 'do I like this?' — it's 'will this work for the people we're trying to reach?'