The Language of Feedback
Language is tricky. But when you’re building creative work, bad language doesn't just cause confusion, it burns time, money, and morale.
I learned this on an LDS mission in Vancouver. My partner was experiencing English immersion for the first time. If you asked him, he’d tell you he was fluent. But day-to-day, he missed the subtle cultural cues that only come from growing up with a language.
To cope, he carried a book of English idioms everywhere. One problem: the book was published in 1952.
He’d drop wildly outdated, completely inappropriate phrases into casual conversation, leaving me scrambling to clean up the mess. Funny in hindsight. Painful in the moment.
Working in advertising feels a lot like that.
When clients don't have the vocabulary to describe what’s bugging them, they resort to idioms. Every creative knows the big one:
"Can you make it pop?"
What does that even mean? High contrast? Bigger type? A brighter red?
When language is vague, the brain fills in the blanks with its own context. (It’s like that viral video where they bleep out harmless words from Sesame Street’s Count, your mind instantly fills the silence with something dirty.)
Without a shared language, creatives guess, clients react, and round four of revisions turns into round fourteen.
Creatives don’t need vague impressions. We need actionable direction tied to a goal.
If you want to cut the back-and-forth in half, teach your clients the basic principles of design and copy. When you both speak the same language, the work gets better, faster.
Here’s the cheat sheet:
Design
Contrast: Something has to be the hero. If everything is shouting, nobody is heard.
Hierarchy: Tell the eye where to look first. Build a clear path from most important to least.
Proximity: If two ideas are married, let them live together visually.
Alignment: Nothing is random. Tether every element to an invisible grid.
Repetition: Consistency breeds familiarity. Familiarity breeds trust.
Copy
Economy: Every single word must earn its spot on the page. Cut the fluff.
Clarity: Never sacrifice clarity for cleverness. If they have to think, you lost them.
Active Voice: Put energy in the verb. Make the subject do the work.
Human Tone: Write like a person talking to another person. Leave the corporate buzzwords in the slide deck.
Rhythm: Mix up sentence lengths. Short. Medium. Longer and descriptive. It creates music.
eryone on the exact same page. Keep it on your desk for the next time feedback gets lost in translation.
Stop Playing the Guessing Game
To help you and your clients actually put this into practice, I put together a quick reference guide:
"Don't Just Make It Pop."
It’s a handy workbook packed with these core principles, real-world examples, and practical execises designed to keep everyone on the exact same page. Keep it on your desk for the next time feedback gets lost in translation.