The most common reason design projects fail isn't the designer — it's the collaboration. Unclear briefs, late feedback, conflicting stakeholder opinions, and scope creep cause more project failures than poor design skill ever does.
Whether you're working with a logo designer, a brand agency, or a web design studio, these seven principles will help you get better results, finish on time, and build a productive working relationship.
1. Do the Strategy Work Before the Design Work
The brief you hand to a designer is the most important document in any design project. A strong brief enables a designer to make decisions with confidence and present work that hits the target first or second time. A weak brief produces generic, directionless design — and multiple rounds of costly revision.
A good brief answers:
- Who is the audience for this brand or design?
- What is the most important thing this brand needs to communicate?
- What are the key competitors and how should we look different?
- What visual references inspire you (even from outside your industry)?
- What are the hard constraints? (Colours to avoid, words that must/can't appear, technical limitations)
If you haven't worked through a brand strategy, read our brand strategy template for small businesses before writing a brief.
2. Separate Decision-Makers from Opinion-Givers
One of the most damaging dynamics in design projects is "design by committee" — multiple stakeholders with equal authority giving conflicting direction to a designer who tries to satisfy everyone. The result is always a watered-down compromise that satisfies no one.
Before the project begins, decide:
- Who is the final decision-maker? (One person.)
- Who provides input? (They can have opinions — they don't have final say.)
- When will feedback be consolidated? (Not in real-time in separate emails to the designer.)
One point of contact. One consolidated feedback document per round. The designer's job becomes possible.
3. Provide References, Not Descriptions
"I want something modern and clean" is one of the most common pieces of design feedback — and one of the least useful. "Modern and clean" means different things to different people, and a designer cannot produce a specific result from a vague descriptor.
Instead: collect visual references. Use Pinterest, Google Images, or direct competitor websites. Find logos, colour palettes, and websites that represent the direction you're interested in — even if they're from completely different industries.
Then explain what you like about each reference. "I like this logo because the typography feels authoritative and technical without being cold" is actionable. "I like this" is not.
4. Give Feedback on Function, Not Just Taste
The most useful design feedback describes whether the design is achieving its objectives — not just whether you personally like it.
Instead of: "I don't love the blue." Try: "The blue feels corporate and cold — I want the brand to feel approachable and warm. Can we explore warmer tones?"
Instead of: "It doesn't feel right." Try: "It feels too similar to [competitor] — I want to feel more differentiated. Can we push in a different direction?"
This kind of feedback gives the designer a problem to solve, not just a preference to accommodate. The distinction produces much better revision directions.
5. Consolidate and Prioritise Your Feedback
When providing feedback on a design concept, list every change you want — then prioritise. Not everything can be addressed simultaneously, and some changes conflict with others. A prioritised feedback list tells the designer what matters most.
Format: "The most important thing to address is [X]. After that, I'd also like to explore [Y] and [Z]."
Also, distinguish between:
- Required changes — must be addressed before you can approve
- Preferred changes — would improve the result but aren't blocking
- Questions — things you want to understand before deciding
This organisation makes revision rounds faster and more productive for both parties.
6. Trust the Expertise You're Paying For
If you hire a professional designer for their expertise, then override every recommendation based on personal preference, you've hired a graphic production service — not a design expert.
The best client-designer relationships involve genuine creative trust: the client brings domain knowledge, audience knowledge, and strategic direction; the designer brings visual expertise, category knowledge, and craft. Both are necessary. Neither is sufficient alone.
This doesn't mean accepting work you don't believe in. It means engaging with the rationale behind design decisions before concluding that your personal preference is correct. Ask why. Listen to the answer. Then decide.
7. Respect the Timeline
Design work is time-intensive and requires sustained concentration. Project schedules are built on the assumption that feedback will arrive within agreed windows. Late feedback creates cascading delays — because the designer has scheduled other work around your project timeline.
When you receive work for review:
- Set time aside to review it properly, not in passing
- Consolidate all stakeholder feedback before sending
- Respond within the agreed feedback window
- If you need more time, communicate that proactively — not after the deadline has passed
Designers appreciate clients who respect the schedule as much as clients appreciate designers who deliver on time.
The Pattern That Produces Great Design Projects
The projects that produce the best results consistently share the same pattern:
- Clear strategy and brief before any design work starts
- One decision-maker with consolidated feedback from all stakeholders
- Specific visual references rather than adjective descriptions
- Feedback on function ("does this achieve the goal?") not just taste
- Prioritised feedback lists that give the designer clear direction
- Genuine trust in the designer's expertise and craft
- Timely, responsive communication throughout
If you can operate this way as a client, you will get disproportionately better results from every designer you ever work with — because most clients don't.
Looking for a brand identity project that runs smoothly?
Evoke Studio's process is designed for clarity — a structured brief, a clear timeline, and one round of focused feedback. Brand identity systems delivered on time, every time.
Most professional brand identity and logo projects include 2–3 rounds of revisions as standard. Additional rounds are available at a fee. The number of rounds matters less than the quality of the brief and feedback — a clear brief with specific feedback can produce approvable work in round one. A vague brief with generic feedback can require six rounds and still miss the target.
This usually indicates a briefing problem — the brief wasn't specific enough to guide the designer in the right direction. Before concluding the work is wrong, examine the brief: did it specify audience, references, personality, and competitive positioning clearly? If not, the fix is a better brief, not more design rounds. If the brief was thorough and the work is still off-brief, that's a legitimate feedback conversation with specific references to guide the next direction.
A Pinterest board, a shared folder of screenshots, or a PDF with annotated examples are all effective. For each reference, note specifically what you like about it — the colour palette, the typography style, the composition, the overall feeling. References without annotation are helpful but less so. Annotated references are actionable.
Always explain why. 'Change the blue to green' tells the designer what to do. 'The blue feels too corporate for our audience — I want something warmer and more approachable' tells the designer what to achieve. The first produces a mechanical change. The second enables the designer to find the best solution to the underlying problem.
Ask for the rationale before concluding you're right. A professional designer made a deliberate decision for specific reasons — understanding those reasons often changes the client's perspective. If after understanding the rationale you still disagree, explain your specific concern. Good designers can hold their own aesthetic preferences lightly and prioritise the client's strategic objectives.