Best Ways To Gather Feedback During Design

Design reviews aren’t about proving your design is “right.” They’re about sparking the right conversations, surfacing blind spots, and aligning your work with both the business and the user. But here’s the thing: The quality of the questions you ask directly shapes the quality of the feedback you’ll receive. When you ask questions that seek approval, you invite surface-level reactions: “I don’t like that color.” “Can you move this button?” “It doesn’t feel right.” When you ask questions that seek perspective, you unlock insights that go much deeper: “Does this flow align with the goals we set?” “Which part of this journey feels riskiest for launch?” “What business constraints should we keep in mind?” That’s the shift: ❌ Approval → opinions ✅ Perspective → alignment, priorities, and actionable feedback Strong designers don’t just show screens. They guide the conversation by asking thoughtful, open questions that: Clarify the “why” behind feedback Dig into what truly matters for success Encourage stakeholders to connect feedback back to goals That’s how design reviews stop feeling like a defensive battle and start becoming a collaboration that moves everyone forward. Because when you stop asking “Do you like it?” and start asking “How does this support our goals?”you elevate both the conversation and the design.

How to Use Gemini 3 Pro to Analyze Your UI Design Here’s a simple, practical workflow I use: Every designer has faced this: The UI looks clean. The screens feel polished. But something still doesn’t convert. Users hesitate. Flows feel confusing. Feedback sounds vague. That’s where AI-assisted UI analysis helps. Here’s how to do it properly: Step 1: Start With Real Screens Not Dribbble shots. Not random concepts. Use real product screens. Focus on actual user flows. - Login - Onboarding - Checkout - Core actions. Garbage input always gives garbage feedback. Step 2: Export With Intention Export screens as images. PNG or JPG works best. Keep labels visible. Avoid half-finished versions. Clarity matters more than quantity. Step 3: Clean the Noise Before uploading, review everything. Remove unused variations. Drop old experiments. Keep only final, connected flows. Think like a reviewer, not a designer. Step 4: Ask the Right Questions Don’t just upload and hope. Be specific: “What usability issues do you see?” “Where might users get confused?” “What feels heavy or unclear?” Good prompts unlock good insights. Step 5: Spot Patterns, Not Opinions One comment can be ignored. Repeated feedback is a signal. Look for: - Friction points. - Confusion. - Hierarchy problems. Patterns matter more than details. Step 6: Structure the Feedback Ask for summaries. Ask for priority-based issues. Ask for simple tables or lists. This turns raw feedback into action. Step 7: Design With Confidence Now you’re not guessing. You’re fixing real problems. Improve clarity. Refine flows. Strengthen hierarchy. That’s how AI becomes a design partner, not a shortcut. If you’re still reviewing your UI only by gut feeling, you’re leaving clarity on the table. Save this. Try it on your next screen. And tell me what surprised you most. ♻️ Repost to help your network. Follow Rasel Ahmed, Co-Founder of Musemind and Mentor Lane.

Most designers think more feedback is better—in reality, most just want *better* feedback. “Make it pop.” “Not feeling it.” These sorts of vague comments do more harm than good—they stall progress, frustrate teams, and rarely lead to real improvement. Here’s what actually makes feedback actionable: ✅ Specific examples (“The signup checkbox is hard to tap on mobile.”) ✅ Clear reasoning (“Low-contrast elements slow down new users.”) ✅ Focus on goals (“This round: clarity > cleverness.”) ❌ Vague opinions (being deleted) Industry research backs this up: → Actionable feedback (with concrete strategies) improves learning, team performance, and project outcomes—across design, education, and product teams. → Vague feedback? It muddies decision-making and leads to circular revisions. (via Nielsen Norman Group, Lyssna, University of Missouri) Here’s what I’ve found helps: 👉🏼 Set expectations up front. Let people know what stage you’re at—and what kind of feedback you actually need. And if you’re giving feedback, ask yourself: “Am I pointing to a real issue, or just reacting to taste?” What’s the most helpful or useless feedback you’ve received? Curious how others handle this... #uxdesign #designfeedback #designmentorship ⸻ 👋🏼 Hi, I’m Dane—your source for UX and career tips. ❤️ Was this helpful? A 👍🏼 would be thuper kewl. 🔄 Share to help others (or for easy access later). ➕ Follow for more like this in your feed every day.

Is your design really UX, if you never talk to users? I've watched countless "UX designers" spend weeks perfecting pixels while never once speaking to the humans who'll actually use their products. After 15 years in UX design and front-end development, I've learned one harsh truth: 💡 Design without user feedback are just expensive art projects. The uncomfortable reality most designers don't want to admit: You can have: - The sleekest UI - The most innovative interactions - Perfect adherence to design systems - Award-winning visuals But if actual humans struggle to use your product, you've failed at your ONE job. Here's what many designers miss in our AI-obsessed industry: 1. User feedback isn't just "nice to have" - it's the difference between success and failure 2. Even the most sophisticated AI tools can't replace human experience and emotion 3. We design for humans with unique needs, not algorithms or machines 🛑 Stop doing these immediately: - Designing in isolation based on assumptions - Using only internal feedback from team members - Assuming AI knows user's behavior - Skipping usability testing to "save time" - Ignoring qualitative feedback because it's "subjective" ✅ Start doing these instead: - Run quick guerrilla testing sessions (even 5 users reveal most issues) - Build lightweight prototypes early to validate concepts - Schedule regular user interviews - Watch real users interact with your designs (their behavior and struggles reveal everything) The best UX designers aren't the ones with the prettiest Figma files - they're the ones who deeply understand their users' needs. --- PS: When was the last time you watched someone use your design? Follow me, John Balboa. I swear I'm friendly and I won't detach your components.

I don’t like it - we’ve all faced this dreaded feedback post-release.😅 What exactly don’t they like? 🤔 Is it the design? The workflow? Or something completely unexpected? This is where curiosity becomes our superpower. 💪 When we get feedback like this, we dig deeper by asking ‘Why?’—not just once, but over and over. Here’s how a recent conversation went: Customer: ‘I don’t like this new dashboard.’ PM (me): ‘What about it isn’t working for you?’ Customer: ‘It’s cluttered.’ PM: ‘When you say cluttered, do you mean visually or functionally?’ Customer: ‘It’s hard to find my key metrics.’ PM: ‘Which metrics are most important to you?’ Customer: ‘The monthly revenue report’ Aha! 💡 The real issue wasn’t the entire dashboard—it was about surfacing key metrics more effectively. The fix? Moving the revenue report front and center. But here’s the thing—we could have avoided this after-the-fact feedback with early testing and customer input. At Intuit, this is part of our product DNA and we approach it through Customer-Driven Innovation and Design for Delight (D4D)  (Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g5nijjkK) Getting vague feedback like 'I don’t like it' becomes less likely when: ☑️ We involve customers not only in discovery but also in design stage. ☑️ We run quick experiments and gather feedback in real-time. ☑️ We refine solutions through rapid iteration. The key? Make customers part of the journey from the start. 'I don’t like it' then becomes less of a surprise—and more of an insight we’ve already acted on. Now over to you: What’s the most ambiguous feedback you’ve received, and how did you turn it into a win? #ProductManagement #DesignThinking #GrowthMindset #Experimentation #BuildMeasureLearn

Here is the most underrated soft skill for a product designer: The way you ask for feedback. In getting design feedback, many product designers — even senior or lead level — make the following mistakes again and again: - Only asking for feedback on refined designs - Asking for feedback without giving context - Not specifying what feedback they need - Using the wrong medium to get input - Not being open to candid feedback As a product designer, you can instantly level up your career by changing the questions you ask, as well as how and when you ask them. Firstly, asking for feedback should be structured around: - The problem you are trying to solve - The input you need to be successful - The format in which you need it Secondly, you should embrace any feedback session/exchange with: - Confidence - Openness - Honesty - Respect Lastly and very importantly, asking for feedback shouldn't only happen once you have a mockup. You should engage other team members at any part of your process: - On whether the problem at hand is the right one - On whether the ideas you have will solve it - On whether the solution is right The following cheatsheet will guide you in asking for effective feedback at any part of your product design process. If you found it helpful, consider reposting ♻️ #productdesign #uxdesign #uiux

🎡 How To Run UX Workshops With Users (Scripts + Templates) (https://lnkd.in/evqDZSFe), a helpful overview of practical techniques to turn a verbal-only interview into a collaborative UX workshop — with sticky note mapping, solution drag’n’drop and voting. Put together by Laura Eiche-Laane. 👏🏽 🤔 Users and designers often a speak a different language. ✅ Insights are clearer when you see users performing tasks. ✅ Switch question-answer sections with small visual tasks. ✅ Sticky note mapping: for user flows, journeys, org maps. ✅ Card sorting: organize data, filters, menu items into groups. ✅ Feature location: ask users where they’d expect a new feature. ✅ Drag’n’drop: ask users to design their own UI or page layout. ✅ Solution voting: get feedback on many design directions. ✅ When explaining a task, show what you’d like them to do. ✅ Track where users are undecided, and follow up in a debrief. When I jump in a new project, I like to run walkthroughs with actual users as a way to understand the domain and the product. I simply ask them what the product does and how it helps them in their daily work. And then I invite them to show and explain it to me. I ask them to show how it works, the features they use, the quirks they’ve discovered and the shortcuts and loopholes they rely on daily. Perhaps there is something where the product fails on them, or something they wish was better, or something that is too fragile, confusing, complex or irrelevant. That’s when insights emerge, and that’s when you might notice that the things said and the things done are not necessarily the same thing. Of course users sometimes exaggerate their struggles, but they rarely complain lividly about something that isn’t really an issue for them. 🗃️ Useful resources: How And Why To Include Users In UX Workshops, by Maddie Brown https://lnkd.in/eKdd5GXp UX Workshop Activities With Users, by Jonathon Juvenal https://lnkd.in/eJjpcibR Remote UX Workshop Activities, by Jordan Bowman https://lnkd.in/e8wSMVwC Usability Testing Templates (Scripts), by Slava Shestopalov https://lnkd.in/gZyBtK6u UX Workshop Scripts + Templates https://theuxcookbook.com UX Research Templates, by Odette Jansen https://lnkd.in/eqpXyGHH --- 🧲 Miro and Notion templates: UX Research Templates (Miro), by ServiceNow https://lnkd.in/e48nKzKA Miro Templates For Designers https://lnkd.in/e8Hkp-ws Notion Templates For Designers https://lnkd.in/en_VBc6r #ux #design

Yes you can innovate with more management buy-in and less risk …. How? Start PRETOTYPING … Pretotyping is a concept developed by Alberto Savoia that focuses on quickly and cost-effectively validating an idea before investing substantial time and resources into building it. It involves creating a minimal, low-fidelity version of a product or service to gather feedback and insights from potential users. Simply put: “FAKE IT BEFORE YOU MAKE IT”. And that’s also the difference with PROTOTYPING. As you do NOT make aworking prototype it’s faster and cheaper. Here are the steps to take when pretotyping: 1. Identify your core assumptions: Define the key assumptions underlying your idea. What are the most critical aspects that need to be tested? 2. Design a pretotype: Create a basic version of your idea that captures its core functionality and value proposition. This can be a physical mock-up, a landing page, or a simple web-based pretotype. 3. Test with a target audience: Share your pretotype with a select group of potential users who match your target audience. Allow them to interact with it and gather their feedback. 4. Measure user interest and behavior: Pay close attention to how users engage with your pretotype. Is there genuine interest? Are they willing to provide contact information or take the desired actions? 5. Iterate and refine: Based on the insights gained from user testing, make informed refinements to your idea. Focus on addressing the most critical areas of improvement. 6. Repeat the process: Continue iterating and testing until you have validated or invalidated your core assumptions. This iterative process ensures you are building something that meets user needs and has the potential to succeed. Remember, the goal of pretotyping is to learn quickly and make informed decisions early on, saving valuable time and resources in the long run. #designthinking #innovation #pretotype

I'd like to discuss using Customer Feedback for more focused product iteration. One of the most direct ways to understand customers needs and desires is through feedback. Leveraging tools like surveys, user testing, and even social media can offer invaluable insights. But don't underestimate the power of simple direct communication – be it through emails, chats, or interviews. However, while gathering feedback is essential, ensuring its quality is even more crucial. Start by setting clear feedback objectives and favor open-ended questions that allow for comprehensive answers. It's also pivotal to ensure a diversity in your feedback sources to avoid any inherent biases. But here's a caveat – not all feedback will be relevant to every customer. That's why it's essential to segment the feedback, identify common themes, and use statistical methods to validate its wider applicability. Once you've sorted and prioritised the feedback, the next step is actioning it. This involves cross-functional collaboration, translating feedback into product requirements, and setting milestones for implementation. Lastly, once changes are implemented, the cycle doesn't end. Use methods like A/B testing to gauge the direct impact of the changes. And always, always return to your customers for follow-up feedback to ensure you're on the right track. In the bustling world of tech startups, startups that listen, iterate, and refine based on customer feedback truly thrive. #startups #entrepreneurship #customer #pmf #product

💡3 Types of User Research There are three main dimensions of user research: What, How, and When. Each answers a different strategic question about the research: 🟦 What — The nature of the data you're gathering This dimension defines the type of insight you're seeking: Are you looking for behavioral explanations or measurable trends? This affects not just how you interpret findings, but also what kind of decisions those findings can support. ✔ Qualitative Research Used when you want to understand user behavior, motivations, and emotions. It's ideal for uncovering insights that explain why users do what they do. Methods: User interviews, field observations, diary studies, usability tests (think-aloud), contextual inquiries. Best for: Early exploration, understanding pain points, and refining design direction. ✔ Quantitative Research Focuses on numerical data to identify patterns, trends, and statistical relationships. It helps measure how many users behave a certain way or prefer a certain option. Methods: Surveys, analytics, heatmaps, A/B tests, telemetry data. Best for: Validating hypotheses, benchmarking, tracking user behavior at scale. 🟩 How — The method of data collection This refers to where your data comes from—do you go out and gather it yourself or analyze what's already available? ✔ Primary Research Involves collecting firsthand data directly from users. This allows for targeted insights specific to your product or audience. Examples: Conducting new user interviews, running usability studies, creating and analyzing custom surveys. Best for: Gaining fresh, tailored insights when existing data isn’t enough or doesn’t exist. ✔ Secondary Research Uses existing sources of information, such as internal documentation, industry benchmarks, academic research, or third-party reports. Examples: Analyzing past usability test results, reading competitor case studies, reviewing analytics from previous product versions. Best for: Getting up to speed quickly, identifying gaps in knowledge, and informing planning with minimal resources. 🟪 When — The stage in the product or research lifecycle This defines when research happens in the design process and what strategic function it serves—discovery vs validation. ✔ Exploratory Research Done early in the product or feature lifecycle to explore user needs and opportunities. It’s about asking open-ended questions and identifying problems worth solving. Examples: Generative interviews, ethnographic research, problem framing workshops. Best for: Concept ideation, prioritization, early product-market fit exploration. ✔ Validating Research Performed later in the process to test assumptions or design decisions. It's more structured and focused on confirming what you think you know. Examples: Prototype usability testing, A/B testing, preference testing, survey-based validation. Best for: Reducing risk before launch, finalizing UI decisions, measuring design effectiveness. #UX #uxresearch #design