Feedback is a fundamental part of the creative process. It shapes ideas and guides development for a final result that creative teams and clients can be proud of.
But the quality of the feedback matters. Developing creative assets without clear feedback is like trying to build a house without input from the owner or the city — you’re going to have some awkward conversations after that last coat of paint.
On top of that, design teams are under ever-increasing pressure to produce more work faster and better. They need effective feedback to help them deliver, which is where design feedback templates come in.
Sharing a design feedback form with your team, clients, and other stakeholders standardizes the feedback you receive to ensure it's relevant, actionable, and timely.
Here's what to include in a design feedback template to get the best results from your team.
What we'll cover
Table of contents
What should be included in a design feedback template?
Before you start creating a client feedback template, you’re going to have to do something difficult: set your expertise aside.
Sure, your creative team might have a century of experience between you. Sure, you've worked on more design assets than anyone. But when you collect feedback, it comes from a range of respondents — some may not have any design experience, but that doesn’t make their input any less relevant.
To enhance the creative process, it's worth spending some time to guide the feedback you receive from clients. Think about it: would you rather create and use templates that produce effective feedback now or waste time translating vague comments into actionable tasks later?
A feedback form template teaches your clients how to give creative or design feedback that's actually useful. Instead of saying, "Make it pop!", they'll learn how to identify the exact changes they want, leading to less creative frustration and more customer satisfaction.
1. Creative brief
At the top of the feedback template or evaluation form, include a reminder of the creative brief. Include basic details like the project name and goals. It's also good practice to include links to relevant docs like the full creative brief and brand guidelines.
You can also leave a space for the reviewer's name and the date. This makes it easier to track responses and, if necessary, go back to the reviewer for more information.
2. Review criteria
Here's where you educate the reviewer by explaining the criteria that you use for feedback and giving them guidance on what type of feedback you’re looking for.
Some common review criteria include:
- Visual elements: Is the design visually appealing? How does it make you feel?
- Functionality: Is the design user-friendly and intuitive? Does it do what it's supposed to?
- User experience: Assess the usability of any interactive media. Is it obvious what to do? Is the customer experience positive or negative?
- Content: Does the content match the brief? Is it engaging and relevant?
- Brand alignment: Does this asset follow brand compliance and guidelines?
3. Feedback sections
Once you've set out the criteria, respondents can start adding their comments. Create sections to structure their feedback. This will help them (by organizing their ideas) and you (by helping you identify actionable points).
For example, you could lay out the feedback form like this:
- General impressions
- Specific feedback on different elements of the design
- Any other comments
4. Action items
Encourage reviewers to sum up their feedback as actionable points. This makes it easier to incorporate feedback into your designs effectively. It also prompts reviewers to explain their opinions in specific terms.
For example, say you have a paragraph of general feedback like this:
"Overall, it looks really good — fresh, appealing, and matches the brand colors. I'm concerned that the text in the infographic sections is a little hard to read, and it sometimes looks crowded on the page."
You could add an "Action Items" line at the end of the general feedback section. Depending on the reviewer's expertise, you might ask them to fill in the action items on their own — or have your team lead write the action items based on their feedback.
Action items:
- Size up infographic text by two points.
- Review layout of the third infographic to make it less cluttered.
5. Approval status
End the design feedback template with a "Status" section. This asks reviewers to make an approval decision. For maximum clarity, you can make this a checkbox section so there's no room for confusion.
It might look like this:
Approved
Approved with minor changes
Needs major revisions
Rejected
An approval status form like this can save you a lot of time. Instead of the uncertainty of "well, it's almost there…" you can move on straight away and make any necessary changes as part of your review and approval workflows.
Design feedback template to use for creative or design teams
There are many different tools to create your own design feedback template and approval workflows, from survey form builders to user-friendly collaborative proofing tools.
You can adapt them from the basic framework to suit different use cases. For example, you might add sections for user feedback if focus groups are regularly part of your review process.
Whatever you use, and however you plan to tweak it, here's a simple design template to get you started.
Design Feedback Template
1. Creative Brief
- Project Name: [Insert Project Name]
- Reviewer Name: [Insert Reviewer Name]
- Reviewer Role: [Team member, manager, client, etc.]
- Date: [Insert Date]
- Project Description: [Brief description of the project and its goals]
2. Review Criteria
- Visual Elements: Design and Layout, Color Scheme, Typography, Imagery and Graphics
- Functionality: User Experience (UX), Interactive Elements, Responsiveness
- Content: Accuracy and Clarity, Tone and Voice, Relevance to the Audience
- Brand Alignment: Consistency with Brand Guidelines, Brand Messaging, Overall Brand Representation
3. Feedback Sections
- General Impressions
- Specific Feedback, based on the criteria above:
- Visual Elements
- Functionality
- Content
- Brand Alignment
- Additional Comments:
- [Insert any other relevant comments or observations]
4. Action Items
- What Works Well:
- [Highlight aspects of the design that are successful and effective]
- Areas for Improvement:
- [Identify specific areas that need refinement or changes]
- Suggestions:
- [Provide constructive suggestions for improvements or alternatives]
- Tasks:
- [List specific actions for named individuals to take]
5. Approval Status
- Approval Status:
- Approved
- Approved with Minor Changes
- Needs Major Revisions
- Rejected
- Next Steps:
- [Outline the steps to be taken based on the approval status, including deadlines for revisions, additional meetings, etc.]
Tips for getting the most out of the design feedback process
A design feedback template will take you a long way — but to get the best results, you'll need to build an effective process around that template. The template is just a tool within your larger creative operations strategy.
Here are five ways you can streamline your creative review and approval workflows even more.
Create a standardized review and approval process
Design feedback templates standardize feedback so that it's actionable and relevant. Creating a review and approval process standardizes your workflow so that everyone knows what actions to take and when.
Starting to see the pattern here? Standardization helps you work faster and smarter across the board. It can even reinforce creativity, creating a positive loop in your work.
To create your own standardized process, lay out how you want reviews and approvals to work, then document it. Use tools to support the process, such as proofing software and task management apps.
Foster an environment of positive and actionable feedback
Work culture has a real impact on feedback. In a design team that's hierarchical and critical, people are less likely to give honest (and therefore useful) feedback. But in an open, transparent team that has constructive, respectful conversations, you'll get useful feedback every time.
The best way to create a positive feedback culture is to model it. Give the kind of feedback that you want to receive: specific, actionable, accompanied by praise, and directed at the work instead of the individual person.
Keep track of design versions and changes made
Version control is a perennial problem for design reviews and feedback. You can lose days just because a client accidentally reviewed an outdated version of a creative asset.
To avoid this, you need a version control system, a way to track changes, and organized records that include an audit trail of who accesses which files. While you can manage these tasks manually, it's worth trying collaborative proofing software that can automate the process for you.
Centralize feedback collection and discussion
You can speed up the review and approval process by collecting all your feedback in one place. Instead of sifting through multiple emails, chat apps, and responses to feedback surveys, you could make, discuss, and act on feedback from a single platform.
This approach also eliminates the problem of version control. When everyone works on the same cloud-based document, you don't have to worry about out-of-date file versions or comments getting overlooked. Some proofing platforms will even send notifications to alert you to changes and comments in real time.
Use a collaborative proofing tool
Collaborative proofing tools (also referred to as online proofing tools) are the software that does it all: collecting feedback, managing version control, tracking changes, and centralizing discussions. Plus, platforms like Ziflow offer integrations with other design and productivity tools.
They automate the administrative side so that you can collaborate seamlessly with your design team and clients. For modern design teams that work across digital media, the best design feedback tools are collaborative proofing software.
Examples of effective feedback on designs
The most effective creative feedback is honest, specific, relevant, and presented in a polite way.
Here are some examples of what that looks like:
Manage creative feedback effortlessly with Ziflow
Feedback templates can help shape and direct feedback so that it's more effective. While design teams are under pressure to produce quality work at speed, a streamlined feedback process can make a big difference to their workflow.
Ziflow's collaborative proofing software is built to centralize feedback and smooth out review and approval. It’s the easiest, most powerful way to collect and act on creative design feedback. As the only enterprise-level online proofing platform, Ziflow can handle all types of content, from video to print, and offers automated workflows, integrations, and compliance tools to help your team work faster.
