How to deal with vague comments about a design from my clients and boss?

Question

I am the only qualified designer in the company I work for, and I struggle with someone higher up the food chain, who has no experience in graphic design, who doesn't know current trends or anything of the sort, looking at my work and giving me vague instructions such as - "give it some more colour" or "jazz it up a bit".I did a nice black on yellow advertisement which utilised nice typography and a visual hierarchy, was well put together with the 2 colours. His comment was "give it some more colour, maybe some bubbles to make it a bit flashier". Problem is "more colour" ruins the effect in my opinion. Basically he seems to think "more is more" and I think his suggestions are just distracting from the main message of the piece. Basically my problem is I feel I'm taking instructions from someone who knows less about design than I do.How do you deal with this sort of thing? My thought is get him to tell me exactly what he wants and then just do it, but what he does it he gives really vague instructions like "spruice it up" or something, and then I have to think of a way to make my design worse all on my own.

Answer 1

This is such a frustratingly common problem. I've found a few things that help navigate some of the vague responses when asking for critique or direction, but they're not fool proof.

One thing I try to do is, instead of leaving my requests for feedback open-ended, I'll kind of lead them towards the subject I would like them to comment on. I turned phrases like "Let me know what you would like to change about this design" into "What do you think of this color combination?" or "I like this font, but I think it could be sleeker. What are your thoughts?" This doesn't always work, but sometimes having the client focus on one thing at a time rather than large concepts of 'okay, now make it even better/eye catching/more' will deter vague, non-actionable advice.

If a client makes continual suggestions that clutter or otherwise hurt the overall design, I have a few ways to try and alleviate this. I like to stress legibility in design. If their suggestions make things less legible, busier, harder for the average consumer to parse, I'll emphasize this. "While this is attention-grabbing, I think some of your consumers/customers/users/what-have-you will find it confusing to the eye." Sometimes I push ideas of accessibility, things like dyslexia friendly font and color choices. "More people will be able to understand your message more quickly this way." Some clients don't actually care that much about such things, sadly.

This one's a little strange, I've only done it a couple times with tough clients. But if they are being stubborn about a design, I sometimes make a simple, well thought out design, one that I think is effective, but maybe slightly 'boring,' and then I make one that's... not great. Not so terrible as to risk my credibility, but enough that the client will actually prefer the simpler example, perhaps with a few reasonable edits, to meet in the middle. There's a small chance they'll LIKE the terrible design, which is always a fear, but so far, this has worked in my favor.

Hope these are at all helpful! Grain of salt, and all! 😅

Answer 2

Oh wow, that sounds like a terrible job. You have three choices (not in order of importance):

Choice 1:

Say, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means. Can you be more specific? Perhaps, show me some examples of what you have in mind?" If he's going to act as a creative director, he needs to know how to give directions, so make him. Ask him to sketch if for you, in a very polite and non-confrontational manner. If he wants bubbles, ask where to put them. But, know that this guy will always have you change your design because it makes him feel empowered.

Choice 2:

Graphic design is not just about making things look good, busy, or simple. It is about solving communication problems. So, if you’re going to defend your design, you need to be strategic. Who is the target audience for the design? What do they wear, buy, and do? Explain your thought process when you present your work. Why did you chose a certain look and colors? What do you think your design says to those who are going to see it? Are they going to think like your boss? If not, say so. Talk about the message and what makes it stand out. Would a busy design distract from the message? Use other brands as examples. Also, talk about the cost of production. If you like a two-color design, explain how it will save the client some money on print jobs. If your boss doesn’t want to hear it, ask him if you could present two designs to the client, your original design and the one he’s having you alter.

Choice 3:

Find another job. As a designer, you must be able to accept criticism and compromise with people who have different tastes than you, but you also need to feel appreciated and respected. The solution is to work for people who appreciate your expertise and want to foster your creativity instead of killing every one of your designs.