How to get good feedback from clients and colleagues

By Michael Burns on March 15, 2013

Still from a 3D projection by Leviathan for US car site Kelley Blue Book

The secrets to getting feedback that will help improve a project

1.“Make sure that both your client and designers understand and agree on what is required. Ambiguity is the enemy of success”
Alec East, creative director, Thboom!

2.“Client feedback is often frustrating, prone to causing a few creative strops and Sharpie throwing, but the reality is that it grounds us”
Jamie Fleming, head of copy, Purple Creative

3.“In creative troughs, whether individually or collectively, the group critique is invaluable in spurring new ideas and approaches to a particular problem”
Paul Wang, creative director, design, Attik

4.“Always get a second (and third) opinion to back up what you are doing, re-read the brief, take a break and come back to it fresh”
Harry Jarman, creative director, Golden Square

Tools to manage feedback

Basecamp Simple, entirely cloud-based project management service that works across organisations and even allows clients to chip in. Pricing ranges from $20-$150 (£12-£93) per month, and scales based on number of projects and file storage. basecamp.com

DoneDone Simplified ‘issue tracking’ service that brings together feedback. Tags allow prioritisation and categorisation. Pricing ranges from $15-$149 (£9.30-£92) per month, and scales on users and storage. donedone.com

Interdubs Client review and approval service. Pricing is based on storage in use at the end of the month, from $135 (£84) for 3GB to $285 (£176) for 50GB – plus $3 (£1.86) per additional GB. Curiously poor website at interdubs.com

WireDrive Project presentation, sharing and collaboration service. Used by many big ad agencies and film studios (such as A52, above). Pricing from $349 per month for 15GB. wiredrive.com