Reading time 4 min

Ibn Renders

Do you know that feeling when you wake up from a great night? That moment when you sip from your freshly made coffee? The feeling you get when you open your laptop to start your new awesome day… only to be thrown into the fiery pits of design hell when you read the latest email from one of your clients: “The design is nice, but can you make it pop?” Goodbye awesome day, hello misery. Tired of getting vague feedback like this? Same here! Before we get to the steps of dealing with vague feedback, you should know the difference between constructive and vague feedback. If someone gives you comments in a detailed manner about what they like and don’t like, that’s constructive feedback. Perhaps you don’t agree with everything they say, but you can have a conversation and improve your design. Now vague feedback, that’s another story… “make it pop”, “can you add premium effects” or “this doesn’t look sexy enough” is feedback we all hate. You don’t know what the client means, so there’s no way you can improve your design. This is vague feedback and it can seriously ruin your day! But if you try the following 5 steps, it’ll help you deal with these kinds of situations. 1. Take a breath and expel your anger. Never respond immediately with an angry or aggressive email defending your work like it’s a masterpiece worth millions. Stand up for a minute, take a breath. Think about puppies and kittens. Listen to something relaxing . When you answer to vague feedback in an aggressive or defensive way, you’ll probably get a likewise answer with feedback that’s even weirder. Or in the worst case, they’ll search for another designer. This isn’t the outcome you want. The thing you want is feedback you can work with. So don’t take the vagueness personal and answer in a polite and clear way. This way your client will realise you take the project seriously and want to deliver a design you’re both happy with. 2. Ask clarifying questions You can’t improve your designs with feedback like ‘make it pop, premium or sexy’. So try to understand what your clients really wants to tell you by asking clarifying questions. For example, if you want to know what the meaning is of ‘make it pop’ you could ask for an example of a logo they think ‘pops’. Or ask whether they mean they just want brighter colors. The more specific you are with your question, the more detailed the answer hopefully will be. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean you’re agreeing with your client’s feedback. It’s just about understanding what they want. So be patient and ask enough questions. If you don’t get the answers you want, try having a meeting or video call. 3. Give them new options Build on the answers of your previously asked questions and present your client with some options about which changes you can make to the design. Search for examples and make sure they understand exactly what you’re trying to communicate. Tell them for example that you can change the colors and then show them a couple of color schemes so they can actively help choosing. While you’re giving these options, you’ll probably get feedback out of your client they didn’t think of before. 4. Motivate yourself Before we move on to the final step, let’s lift your spirits . Don’t be sad about how your day started. Remember that coffee you had earlier? Have another one and let’s move on with our process of dealing with vague feedback. We understand your mood can change when you really need to hunt for the opinion of people who don’t express themselves clearly in their first email. But use this as an opportunity to improve yourself. Let this be your motivation! Maybe you’ll learn a new skill by moving outside of your comfort zone? Often, after actively trying to receive useful feedback, you come up with new ideas on your own, for your current project or a whole other one. Feedback can bruise your ego, especially if it’s oddly communicated, but it can just as easily help you stay grounded. Use feedback to improve and motivate yourself! 5. Prevent vague feedback in the future Experiences like these can help you improve yourself, but they can also improve your design process. Go back to the beginning and try understanding why the person gave you such vague feedback. Maybe you just sent your ‘design_v1.pdf’ with the question “What do you think”? Perhaps you started designing too soon, without asking questions first? Try to use step 2 and 3 as a prevention tool in the future. Ask clarifying questions and give them options about what the outcome might look like. When you ask for feedback, send along some questions like “What do you think about the font?” or “I think there isn’t enough whitespace, what do you think?” This will encourage the person on the other end to answer in more detail. We know this kind of feedback will always be in our lives, and it will continue to annoy designers all over the world. But let’s try to handle it in a positive way so the client gets the design they want, and you get an awesome experience creating something.

Reading time 4 min

Stijn Schutyser

Summertime is traditionally a period of ‘dry time’ for a lot of freelancers. That’s okay: a lot of people are on vacation and there’s usually just less work overall. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use this dry time to your advantage. In this blog post, let’s look at dry time in a positive way and discuss its 4 benefits. 1. Dry time can push you and your business further Dry time means less income and more pressure to ask around for work in your network. You might feel a bit ashamed for asking for work, but you really shouldn’t. You’re just letting people know your skills are available to them. There are a couple of ways you can ask for work. The simplest way is to just contact some of your (previous) clients and tell them that you’re open for new work. You might also ask them to recommend you if they spot an opportunity in your field of work. Another approach you can try is asking your network (clients, colleagues, partners, …) if they have any info or recommendations on who to check out to score a new gig. Don’t forget to check out groups on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, either! You can also make dry time ‘you time’. If your business has predictable slow periods (post-holidays, post-taxes, post-wedding season, postschool year), prepare a financial cushion during your busy time so you can take that down time for rest and personal development: your vacation, a class, or anything you want. Planned dry time keeps it from being so dry. 2. Work can come from anywhere We can talk about clients on four levels: major clients that provide a regular source of income, new prospects a.k.a. growth investments for your business, opportunistic gigs that fill time or income gaps, and new ventures and growth for long-term future income. Dry time reminds you that work can come from clients on any of these four levels. Level 3 deserves some extra attention during dry time, since that level holds the opportunistic one-shots and long shots that fill time or income gaps. You’ll usually find work like this from online job boards and professional association job boards listings. Alternatively, dry time may prove to be the perfect opportunity for you to reach out to some of your ‘colder’ contacts again, or contacts that have ‘cooled’ over the last period. Remind yourself that during dry time, work can come from anywhere, so don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. 3. Tend to your portfolio Being struck with some dry time puts a lot of freelancers with their two feet back on earth. Suddenly, there’s the realization they haven’t really thought about a long-term plan yet. Hitting a slow time may make you think more about planning, strategy, and diversifying your client list . Treat your dry time work days like any other, but this time your portfolio is the project: touch base with former clients and potential long-term customers, prospect, do some cold-calling, seek referrals, follow up with new contacts, go to events where you can network, and checking job boards and work exchanges. You can also do pro bono or volunteer work. It feels great, and you’ll find new friends, connections, and community. 4. Re-evaluate the market and your business model Have you been working all the levels of your portfolio and still no gigs coming in, or too few? A prolonged dry time may point to market changes. Perhaps the demand is changing, and you need to add new skills to your bag of tricks? Maybe you need to seek clients in a broader range of businesses, or make alliances to expand your offerings? Perhaps the gaps in your work are the result of a business model that’s not optimal yet. Are you delivering the right amount of value for the right price ? Research where your fees fall on the spectrum for your profession and check whether your daily rate is still up-to-date with your current spending . Takeaway Dry time sucks, but why not see some of its benefits as well? The good news is that you can use dry time to work on yourself and your business, your client list and re-evaluating the market you’re in and your business model. Still, it’s best to avoid dry time as much as possible. We might have got you covered there! Check out all our available opportunities for exciting projects and the right challenge for you!