Obtaining Client Approvals
How you respond to client feedback determines whether a project will be successful and sets the tone for the relationship for the following rounds of revision and stages of the project.
A negative client reaction after the first or any round of design is inevitable when collaborating on creative or technical projects in a complex stakeholder environment. However, this does not mean that the project is doomed; it is a normal part of the process. After the initial setback there is an opportunity to regain client trust because you can demonstrate your understanding of the client’s concerns by repeating back what you heard, explain the reasons behind your original decisions, and present a new design, comparison, or explanation. This act communicates confidence in your work and process, establishes trust, and results in mutual respect. A working relationship built on mutual respect is essential in order for a project to achieve its goals, stay on budget and timeline, and ensure the client is happy.
Included are four examples where clients were won over or persuaded after a negative reaction and explain how I think about design when responding to feedback or helping stakeholders navigate internal disagreements.
Navigating Feedback New Design
Explaining Negative Space Visual Aid
Client Internal Disagreement Comparison
Conflicting Feedback Explanation
1. Navigating Feedback
Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Digital Exhibit Becoming Visible
Overview: Becoming Visible was an exciting opportunity to create an immersive digital experience that explores narrative and metaphors while highlighting objects from the museum’s collection. The website launched on International Women’s Day, featuring narration by Rosario Dawson, a foreword from Jill Biden, and introductory remarks from Lynda Carter as part of the commemoration of women’s history.
Challenge: Collaborating with many stakeholders on a highly creative and conceptual project, adhering to a fixed launch date, managing uncertain goals and an ambiguous narrative, and balancing an innovative experience with a concept that developers could build in in time.
Timeline: 3 months
First presentation: A month into the project we had conducted a design workshop, explored inspiration together and discussed ideas, but we did not have anything tangible to inform the design decisions. The script and concept were in flux, an identity did not exist for the exhibit, the museum identity was being redesigned, and the only agreed-upon goal was to create a fun, inspiring, educational experience. The first presentation carried significant risk because many creative decisions were still unresolved.
Motion by Jamie Bourne
Website by Corey Jones
The feedback we received.
Don’t want a tone like the Holocaust museum.
These examples hit a serious note, more than a fun quality.
Want a warm feel to this.
Worried about the site being so serious that it shuts people down.
Would like to see more color.
Want people to feel excited.
Corey and I were proud of the creative work we presented. However, given that we unveiled the exhibit name, early branding ideas, an aesthetic, animated videos, a digital concept for the metaphors, and a web experience, all without a clear script or concept, it is not surprising there was a disconnect. We had to make a lot of creative assumptions and hoped they would resonate. The silver lining was that the feedback provided gave us a new direction to explore and build upon.
Second Presentation
In the following presentation, we reiterated the feedback we received, the aspirational emotions and look, and the design challenges for the round. We focused on how we could leverage historical artifacts while also making the designs appear fun, welcoming, and dynamic. We presented designs featuring illustrations, color, and texture, framing the direction as something that didn’t look like a typical Smithsonian experience, and we tied our design decisions back to the inspiration they had shared. As we unveiled the designs, it was immediately clear that the new direction resonated.
Motion by Corey Jones & Jamie Bourne | Illustration by Corey Jones & Corey Hemingway
Website by Jamie Bourne & Corey Jones
Takeaway
Respond to Negative Feedback:
Acknowledge that you hear that the designs didn’t resonate in the last round and repeat their feedback potentially side by side with the past designs.
Explain the reason for your decisions, but avoid apologizing for the direction unless you made a major mistake.
Thank the client for their honesty to ensure they continue to feel comfortable sharing their feedback. Emphasize that being honest now is much more productive than receiving negative feedback later.
Lead with enthusiasm and excitement for the next set of designs repeating their aspirational goals.
Highlight that this is part of the collaborative process. We are building on what we liked from the last round, changing what we did not, and hopefully moving closer to something we can all get excited about.
2. Explaining Negative Space
Direxion Website Support
Overview: Direxion was a long-term client. We created and implemented the website and provided ongoing design support. At this point in the project, Direxion requested that we remove negative space from the top portion of their homepage.
Challenge: Negative space, also known as white space, is a misunderstood principle in web design. Non-designers tend to want to remove as much space as possible, thinking that by squeezing more content into an area it will make the design easier to use and increase engagement by reducing the need to scroll. Unfortunately, the opposite is true: the design becomes more difficult to navigate and engage with. To explain the importance of negative space, I created a side-by-side comparison of the website with a visual to demonstrate how we use space to organize content and establish hierarchy.
Explanation: We recommend keeping the current amount of negative space on the website. In the last round, we removed 175px. Removing more space risks losing the separation between elements, which is crucial for visual hierarchy.
There's a saying in music: "The space between the notes is more important than the notes themselves." This concept applies to web design as well. Removing space might bring more content above the fold but will make the page harder to scan at a glance.
Currently, there are four items between the main navigation, type/photo, ticker, and TAS. We included a black-and-white version of the top of the website to illustrate our thoughts on spacing.
Direxion Website
Layout Hierarchy
Client Quote: Thanks and I agree (or at least concede) on your spacing explanation. So all good as is.
Takeaway
If a client makes a request that could be detrimental to their goals, it is the designer’s responsibility to recommend against it and explain the reasoning behind the recommendation. I have since reused this black-and-white blocking approach when making design recommendations. This method effectively communicates the value and purpose of negative space to non-designers.
3. Client Internal Disagreement
NRDC Website Redesign
Overview: NRDC was a long-term client. Their website redesign took several years and incorporated user testing and focus group feedback to refine the early stages of UX and visual design.
Challenge: The client had over 20 stakeholders participating in the redesign. Until the middle of the visual design phase, they were able to reconcile differences through discussion. The disagreement between stakeholders was over the layout of an article detail page. Our primary contact was unsure how to resolve the disagreement and looked to us for guidance.
Explanation: I compiled a comparison of 50 reputable sites' article detail pages side by side. I organized the websites by line length, text alignment (left, center, right), and photo orientations (featured image, medium image, small image, and no image).
I pointed out that, despite being from different industries, brands, and content types, these articles are all similar because design principles are rooted in typographic precedent. We design websites with best UX practices in mind, reflecting established and expected user behavior from the last 30 years. While some aspects of website or product design can be complex, such as organizing deep taxonomies, analyzing research results, or handling data migrations, interior pages that mainly feature text are simple to design, regardless of whether they are news, blog, about, or any other type of page.
Takeaway
The comparison was helpful for the group in demonstrating several key points that addressed their concerns and helped facilitate discussion:
Line Length: averages between 75 and 100 characters, close to Emil Ruder's recommendation of 65 characters.
Negative Space: is a useful tool for focusing attention on content and does not detract from it.
Layout Consistency: Layouts should work as part of a system.
Does title alignment vary with featured, medium, small, or no images?
If there is not an image how do we maintain title hierarchy and maintain consistency?
If the text is positioned on the left, center, or right of the page how does that impact layout options?
Columns and Content: Considerations for columns on either side of the text.
Deciding whether photos or pull quotes should break out of the main column of text might mean eliminating the side column. This requires balancing trade-offs between space for CTAs and prioritizing an engaging experience.
If there are columns does that mean we cannot have photos that span the full width of the screen or does that limit the placement of the photos?
Will the column affect the width of calls to action (CTAs) further down the page that are below the main text column?
Do we limit the columns to the top of the page resulting in less influence on the rest of the page design?
Do we give content administrators the ability to place full width components anywhere on the page increasing the risk that the page layout will break if they place a full width component beside the column?
With this additional information, the group was able to reach a compromise on the page layout and continue on schedule. Designers aren't always successful in advocating for best practices or design decisions because we might not fully appreciate the need to explain principles we take for granted.
It's important to explore alternative ways to communicate and visualize best practices, as initial setbacks do not necessarily mean the client is inflexible. Building a collaborative relationship by providing additional comparisons that support recommendations strengthens trust in the process.
4. Conflicting Feedback:
Gates Discovery Center Website Redesign
Overview: Gates Discovery Center was a long-term client. At this point in the project, we were nearing the end of the design phase for the website redesign.
Challenge: The client repeatedly asked for type sizes and negative space to be reduced to get more content above the fold. Despite months of back-and-forth and compromise, the client remained dissatisfied. Interestingly, stakeholders expressed satisfaction during design presentations but provided negative feedback afterward. Project managers believed the client was just being polite and that further design changes were needed. The design team insisted that reducing title sizes any further would require a complete overhaul of the type hierarchy and spacing system, compromising the website's and organizations’ goals to be modern, bold, and innovative.
Explanation: A breakthrough occurred after I made an offhand comment during a meeting that I wished I could see what the client was seeing. The client later sent a screenshot, revealing they used an unusual external monitor that had a 21:9 aspect ratio. Cropping our designs to fit her monitor showed the disconnect between what appeared above the fold on our screens versus hers, clarifying her concern. Once we explained that the majority of their users viewed the site as we presented it and confirmed this with their Google Analytics data, we received immediate approval.
16:9 Aspect Ratio
21:9 Aspect Ratio
Takeaway
If a client expresses concern about how much is appearing above the fold, it's important to ask how they are viewing the website and to explain that websites can appear slightly different across browsers, devices, bandwidths, and user customizations. It’s better to accept fluidity as the nature of web design than to fixate on any one design snapshot.
Guaranteeing exact placement is nearly impossible, consumes significant development time, and carries risks of creating worse issues. Additionally, the problem you’re focused on likely isn't a problem for your users. It’s best to view the website as an overall system and judge the design based on the average of it’s appearance overall. Prioritize design QA for the platforms where you receive the most traffic, whether that’s desktop, mobile, Chrome, or Internet Explorer (RIP).
Stay curious and ask good questions if the client’s in-person feedback differs from their written feedback.
Conclusion
Guiding clients through the design process and obtaining approvals requires careful listening, asking good questions, and making strong recommendations. Each client and project is different; there is no single workshop activity, presentation approach, or methodology that can safeguard against failure. Inevitably, there will be negative feedback, but how you navigate each situation is rooted in the skill and intuition that only comes from past experience of working directly with clients and solving design challenges.
Each project in this case study is an example of building client trust through the conversation around the design. It is only possible to do good work for satisfied clients by being active partners. This means having a perspective on what quality work is, communicating that to the client, continuing to explore new ways to explain and have a dialogue about design.
"There are few greater joys than doing work you love, with people you care about, and achieving great results." —Kim Scott, Radical Candor