Mox Blog

How to Give Design Feedback the Right Way


Giving great packaging design feedback is like having a secret weapon when managing artwork projects. It can differ between getting stuck in endless review loops or sailing through the approval process. And let's face it—we all want that smooth ride. 

This guide's got your back! We'll walk you through how to give design feedback and show you how Mox can make the process easier and faster. Ready to take your artwork approvals up a notch? Let's dive in.


Table of Contents

Design Feedback: Understanding the Basics

How to Give Good Design Feedback

Streamline Your Design Feedback With Mox

Design Feedback: Understanding the Basics

The complex procedure of approving packaging artwork relies heavily on insightful design criticism. The guiding light helps everyone, from artists to designers to businesspeople, work together effectively and achieve their best work. 

It's a delicate balancing act to provide feedback that is both helpful and acknowledges the effort put into the work. 

A well-designed feedback loop points out areas for improvement in an artwork and emphasizes its qualities. It promotes honest discussion, which is good for encouraging creativity and building a feeling of pride in one's work.

Effective design feedback is a global language reconciling divergent viewpoints in the creative arena. Harmonizing the creator's vision with the audience's expectations makes the finished product meaningful to the intended viewers. The approval process becomes a journey towards perfection thanks to the teamwork involved in it. 

Not only does constructive criticism of designs matter for improving future iterations, but it also helps establish a creative flow that ultimately brings more satisfying results. It allows artists and stakeholders alike to navigate turbulent waters to arrive at a work of art that stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The Benefits of Design Feedback

Design feedback can increase responsibility, improve collaboration, and enhance performance.

Creating an open system of communication enhances responsibility sharing by clarifying duties and ensuring everyone is on the same page. Keeping the creative process on track is easier when there are fewer misunderstandings. For more insights on how to optimize your design approval process, check out these tips.

Design feedback also promotes cooperation by bringing together artists, designers, customers, and employees. Feedback on designs encourages collaboration and the sharing of new insights, allowing for the creation of more well-rounded and engaging products.

Finally, it boosts efficiency via helpful criticism and constant improvement. This recurrent feedback loop helps fix problems and encourages continuous improvement. For hands-on advice on reducing errors in your packaging, read here. In addition to improving inspiration, this motivates people to produce superior results that exceed their high standards continually.

Overall, design feedback effectively encourages responsibility, ignites teamwork, and catapults performance to new heights, leading to impressive outcomes.

Design Feedback Guidelines

Aligning your feedback with project objectives and being explicit in your suggestions are three key ideas crucial for design input's usefulness.

  1. Focus your feedback on the project's goals: Providing effective feedback is crucial for the success of a design project. To achieve this, aligning your input with the project's goals is essential. By doing so, you can ensure that it contributes to the project and that each design iteration aligns with the project's final vision. This fosters a sense of direction and purpose, making the feedback process more focused and outcome-oriented.
  2. Be specific: Clear and detailed comments help designers make quick and effective modifications, saving time and effort. When you align input with project objectives and provide details, you can create a robust feedback loop that supports the success of design projects.
  3. Back up your claims: Use reference files to back up your comments and requested changes by referring to previous versions of the artwork, copy decks, regulatory or brand guidelines.

How to Give Good Design Feedback

Providing good design feedback requires both the right words and the right tone. A positive and courteous fashion, along with clear and encouraging language, can make a significant difference in the impact of your requested changes. 

Acknowledge the time and effort invested in the design to make your input appear less like criticism and more like a collaborative effort to arrive at a better conclusion. Overall, conveying your message with subtlety and empathy contributes to the quality of the design process and the final product.

Use An Artwork Management Software

The right technology can make all the difference in streamlining your design approval process. You can centralize feedback with Mox's Artwork Approval Management Software, making the approval process a breeze. This software allows you to consolidate all stakeholders' input in the approval process, making it easier to manage and keep track of. 

By using Mox's software, you can save time and reduce errors, ultimately resulting in a smoother and more efficient workflow. With its user-friendly interface and customizable features, Mox's Artwork Approval Management Software is the perfect solution for any team to streamline their design approval process.

Stick to the Facts

Factual commentary keeps the discourse on the artwork rather than personal preferences. This is where referencing previous versions of the artwork, copy decks, regulatory or brand guidelines can help keep things factual and consistent.

Art and design criticism guide us toward better performance. It refines our ideas and goods. Sticking to the facts and not revealing your views or bias is critical to practical criticism.

Why is this important? Picture yourself as a designer dedicated to your profession. You display the design to the team for feedback, and they provide a variety of opinions. Honest criticism prevents you from making other mistakes.

Factual statements keep the discourse on art. Understanding what works and what needs improvement benefits everyone.

Provide Examples

Reference to past examples can illuminate your feedback, adding depth and context that can expedite the approval process. Referring to previous versions or other examples of artwork files, which are attached as reference files, can be compared directly with the artwork. These can act as inspiration or reference to keep artwork design on track and inline with project goals.

Let's pretend: You're sitting in on a design meeting for an upcoming project. The room is buzzing with conversation, and you want to share your thoughts on a specific section of the discussion. 

Then you remember seeing this kind of thing, which was quite effective. Here's where looking back at precedents may help get your ideas greenlit.

What makes it so important? It's like tapping into a wealth of wisdom and experience. Your comments will have more weight and make more sense when you provide specific instances from the past. 

You're not just saying, "I like this," or "I don't like that." You're asking, "Remember how we used that color palette in our last campaign? It resonated with our audience." By outlining what has worked in the past and why, you are developing a road map for the team.

This does double duty: it speeds up the approval process and lends credibility to your comments. You're not simply making something up but basing your claims on facts and personal experience. Be bold and bring up previous projects while discussing design. It's guaranteed to boost inspiration and drive the creative process ahead.

Encourage Discussion

Open communication fosters understanding. When submitting feedback, encouraging questions and discussion may clarify and improve results.

Keep in mind, real feedback is a two-way street. It's not just about telling someone what you think—it's about opening the door for questions and a genuine conversation.

After all, truthful communication leads to awareness. You create a learning environment by sharing your opinions and encouraging questions. Everyone may ask questions, express concerns, and discuss solutions.

Also, honest talk helps things go ahead. When team members feel comfortable asking questions and participating, they make better decisions. As fresh perspectives arise, creativity and innovation flourish.

Giving feedback is more than simply voicing your opinion—it starts a conversation that might advance the project. Questions and thoughts from others fuel creativity.

Streamline Your Design Feedback With Mox

With Mox, simplifying your design approval process is easier than ever. Imagine saying goodbye to cumbersome email threads and disconnected tools. Mox offers an all-in-one solution that consolidates everything from packaging project management and artwork management to specialized tools for project managers. Take away the stress of managing versions, tracking annotations, and assigning tasks while enjoying a fluid, real-time collaboration experience.


Are you ready to streamline your design approval process and achieve unparalleled efficiency with Mox that will upgrade your workflow? Craving seamless teamwork and faster approvals? 

Click here to request a demo and experience speed, precision, and collaboration like never before.