How Do You Give Design Feedback That Moves a Branding Project Forward?

Give design feedback that moves a branding project forward by naming 1 decision maker, judging each concept against the brief, describing the problem instead of the fix, and sending all comments in one consolidated round. Before approval, run the checks only you can make, such as a trade mark search, and agree the number of revision rounds in writing.

Name one decision maker before the first review

Feedback slows a branding project when it arrives from several people who disagree with each other. The agency then waits for the client to settle the disagreement, or designs to whoever spoke last.

Our article on how long a branding project takes counts where the time goes: “There are 5 things that set the clock, counted from the stages a project actually waits on, and 4 of them are decisions only you can make.” Approval is one of them. The same article puts the remedy plainly: “You can compress the approval chain by naming one decision maker before the work starts.”

A decision maker does not have to work alone. Others can comment, and their comments go to the decision maker first, who merges them into one set and settles the conflicts before anything reaches the designer. What the decision maker owns is the final word on each point.

Write the name down before the first meeting. Our guide to questions to ask a branding agency lists it among the things to agree at the start: “The decision maker, named before the first meeting.” A project that names this person in week 1 does not have to discover, at the first review, that 4 people each expected the final say.

Judge each concept against the brief

The brief is the agreed test for every concept. It says who the brand is for, what it must say, where it will be seen and what it must not look like. Feedback that refers to the brief can be acted on. Feedback that refers only to taste cannot, because the designer has no way to know whether the next version will be liked.

Compare 2 comments on the same logo:

• “I don’t like the green.”
• “The brief says the brand must read as premium in a chiller next to supermarket own labels, and this green reads close to the own label packs.”

The second comment names the goal, the context and the gap. The designer can now change the colour, or argue for it with evidence, and both outcomes move the project.

If a concept fails the brief and the brief is still right, say which line of the brief it fails. If the concept made you realise the brief is wrong, say that instead, and change the brief in writing before the next round.

Describe the problem, not the fix

The client knows the market and the product; the designer knows the tools. Feedback works when each side brings what it knows. Describing the problem uses the client’s knowledge; prescribing the fix takes the designer’s tools away.

“Make the logo bigger” is a fix. The problem behind it might be that the brand is not recognised from the aisle, that the product name competes with the logo, or that the logo disappears on the darkest variant. Each problem has a different solution, and only one of them is a bigger logo.

A useful pattern for each comment has 3 parts:

• What you see: the element and where it is.
• Why it matters: the brief line, the shopper, the channel or the risk it affects.
• What you need it to do: the outcome, not the method.

Fixes are still welcome when they are specific constraints. “The retailer needs the barcode on the base” is a fact the designer did not have. “Use a serif” is a guess at a solution, and it is worth asking what problem it is meant to solve before writing it down.

Send one consolidated round of comments

Feedback in pieces costs more rounds than it seems. A comment sent on Monday, another on Wednesday and a third after a meeting on Friday are 3 revisions to the designer, and the second may undo the first.

Collect every comment for a round in one document, against one version of the work. Number the comments, mark each as required or optional, and attach the file name and version they refer to. When 2 comments conflict, the decision maker settles it before sending, so the designer receives one instruction per point.

The number of rounds is set in the agreement. Our guide to questions for an agency suggests asking “How many rounds of revision are included, and what happens after them.” The article on project length explains why the count matters: “Each round has a natural length and the number of rounds is the variable, which is why the revision count belongs in the contract.” A round that arrives in 3 parts can use up more of that count than the client intended.

One rule keeps rounds clean: comment on what was presented. A new idea that changes the direction belongs in a separate conversation about scope, not inside a round of refinements.

Give feedback that fits the stage

Each stage of a branding project answers a different question, and the useful feedback changes with it. Reopening an earlier stage is possible, but it should be a decision, not a side effect of a comment.

At strategy stage, comment on whether the positioning is true and whether it separates the brand from the alternatives the buyer sees. At concept stage, comment on whether each route answers the brief, and choose one route; mixing elements from 3 routes produces a fourth route that nobody has tested against the brief. At refinement stage, comment on detail: spacing, weight, colour values, small sizes.

Packaging artwork has its own stage, and its feedback is a proof check rather than a design review. Every line of text, every claim, the barcode, the net contents and the position of each element on the dieline is checked against the approved copy and the printer’s specification. A range adds one more check, every variant side by side, which our article on packaging a range across many variants, sizes and formats covers.

Our guide to questions for an agency suggests asking to see this step on finished work: “dielines, print ready artwork, and the review step before the files go to the printer.”

Run the checks only you can make before approval

Some checks sit with the brand owner because they depend on information or decisions the agency does not hold. They are best done before the identity is approved, not after it is printed.

The first is a trade mark search. In the UK, GOV.UK’s search for a trade mark service lets you “check if a similar trade mark to your brand already exists in the UK”. When an application is filed, the guidance on registering a trade mark says the Intellectual Property Office will “check that your trade mark is not the same as, or similar to, any existing trade marks”. In the US, the USPTO’s trademark basics page notes that “Creative and unique trademarks are more effective and easier to protect.” A legal adviser reads the results; the design feedback stage is where a conflict is cheapest to act on.

The second is screen legibility. For on-screen text, the GOV.UK Design System, written for UK government services, points to the contrast standard in “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) level AA.” A palette approved on print proofs alone may need adjusting for buttons and body text.

The third is real use. Print the logo at its smallest planned size, place the pack on a shelf next to the products it competes with, and view the website on a phone. Comments from those tests describe problems a designer can solve.

Approve in writing, with the files and rights named

Approval is the last piece of feedback, and it should be as clear as the others. Write which version is approved, for which use, and what is still open.

At this point 2 practical questions are worth settling. The first is the file list: which source files, formats and versions the agency hands over. The second is ownership. Our guide to questions for an agency puts both on the list: “Ask who owns the source files, in what formats they are delivered, and what the agency charges for later revisions.” How ownership of a logo and its files works in the US and the UK is covered in our article on who owns the logo and design files.

A written approval protects the project as well as the client. When a comment arrives after approval, both sides can see whether it is a correction inside the approved scope or a new request, and handle it accordingly. That distinction is much easier to make with a dated approval than with a memory of a meeting.

How MarkaWorks runs review rounds

MarkaWorks is a branding agency for product brands, and the way we run review rounds follows the points above. Our guide to questions for an agency states our own practice: “We publish the deliverable list item by item and put revision rounds, file formats and source-file ownership in writing before you sign.”

On our projects, the decision maker is named at the start, each round is presented against the brief, and comments come back in one document per round. Each stage closes with a written approval before the next one opens, so concept work does not continue on a direction that was never agreed. The brand strategy and visual identity page describes the stages of an identity project.

The article on project length makes the reason clear: “You cannot compress print lead times, and you cannot compress a decision nobody has made yet.” Clear feedback is the part of the timeline the client controls. To plan a project with review rounds agreed in advance, start from our contact page.

Questions brand owners ask about design feedback

How many people should give feedback on a branding project?

Many people can comment, but one decision maker should merge the comments, settle conflicts and send one set to the agency. Naming that person before the first meeting shortens the approval chain.

Is it wrong to say I don’t like a design?

It is honest but hard to act on. Add why: which line of the brief it misses, which shopper or channel it fails, or which risk it creates. The designer can then change the work or explain the choice.

How many revision rounds are normal?

There is no fixed standard. The number of rounds is set in the agreement, which is why it is worth asking how many rounds are included and what happens after them before the project starts.

Can we combine elements from different logo concepts?

It is possible, but the result is a new route that nobody has tested against the brief. Choose the strongest route first, then ask for specific elements to be explored inside it.

Should we search for trade marks before approving a logo?

Yes, it is worth doing before approval. In the UK, GOV.UK offers a trade mark search to check whether a similar mark already exists, and a legal adviser can read the results.