This is a bit of a light-hearted post 🙂
After decades of designing websites, there’s one thing I can say with confidence: most people don’t mean to be annoying, but some comments really do stick with you.
This post is a greatest-hits collection of some real comments I have heard over the years. Some are funny. Some are painful. All of them have happened.
If you’re a fellow (web) designer, this is your group therapy session. If you’re here as a client: this is a friendly guide to communicating more effectively with your designer, not a rant 😊.
“Can you just make it pop?”
A classic. A curse. A phrase with no fixed meaning.
Sometimes it means more contrast, brighter colours, bigger text, something else entirely, or simply: “I don’t like this but I can’t explain why”.
Closely related phrases include “Jazz it up”, “Add a bit of wow”, and “Make it more premium”. All perfectly valid feelings. None of them are instructions.
The problem with this phrase is that it describes a reaction, not a requirement. Designers can make something louder, brighter, bolder or more noticeable in dozens of ways, but without knowing why something needs to stand out, it’s guesswork. A more helpful alternative is to explain what the design should achieve, for example, what you want people to notice first, or what action you want them to take.
“I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it”
This usually translates to: I haven’t thought this through, but I’ll recognise the answer once you guess it correctly. 
This puts all decision-making onto the designer without giving them the information needed to make good decisions. Design works best when there’s a shared goal to work towards. Talking about your audience, competitors, or what hasn’t worked before gives the designer a direction, even if you’re not 100% sure what the final result looks like yet.
“This is perfect… just one more thing”
Also known as “One tiny tweak”, “A small change”, or “It won’t take long”. These phrases are never followed by something small.
The issue here isn’t the feedback, it’s the expectation that changes are small when they often aren’t. What feels like a minor tweak can trigger knock-on effects across layout, spacing, hierarchy and accessibility. Grouping feedback together and being clear about priorities helps designers make smarter changes without undoing work that already functions well.
“Can you do this in Word / Canva / Publisher?”
Word is not a bag for JPEGs. Canva is not magic. Publisher should be treated gently and from a distance.
Bonus points for screenshots pasted into Excel, logos sent as blurry scans of business cards, and a BMP embedded inside an EPS “to make it vector”.
These tools aren’t designed for professional, flexible or future-proof design work. Using them usually creates technical limitations that show up later, especially when printing, scaling or editing is required. Letting designers work in the tools they’re trained in produces cleaner results and avoids extra work fixing files that were never meant for that purpose.
“Can you send me the file so I can make quick edits?”
This sounds reasonable until you realise it means handing over professional software files to someone who doesn’t use the software, to make changes that will break everything, and then asking you to fix it.
It’s the digital equivalent of asking a chef to finish off their Michellin star meal mid-service.
Design files aren’t the same as finished documents. They rely on software, fonts and structure that can easily break if edited without experience. A better approach is to explain what you’d like changed and why. This allows the designer to make updates properly while keeping everything consistent and usable.
Make the logo bigger
There it is. The final boss.
No explanation needed. No context required. Just… bigger.
This feedback often signals that something doesn’t feel noticeable enough, not that the logo itself is the issue. Instead of focusing on size alone, it helps to talk about visibility, hierarchy, or balance. Designers can then solve the underlying problem rather than just scaling one element until it dominates everything else.
We want a redesign but don’t want to change anything
This one deserves a moment of silence.
What they usually mean is keep the audience comfortable, don’t scare existing customers, and modernise without upsetting anyone. What they literally say is change nothing. Somehow, both must happen at once.
This usually reflects fear of confusing existing customers, which is completely understandable. The challenge is that improvement requires some level of change. Being clear about what must stay the same, such as tone, messaging, audience, helps designers modernise the design while respecting what already works.
I am a big fan of evolution over revolution, but a new design is – well – a new design 😊.
“It looks different on my phone. I like that version better”
Phones are not calibrated monitors. Screens vary on different devices and then there are colour profiles.
Yet this feedback arrives with a screenshot taken at night on low battery, through Night Shift, inside WhatsApp.
Different screens display colours and contrast differently, often dramatically so. Rather than comparing devices, it’s more useful to talk about how the design should feel overall, i.e. softer, brighter, calmer, higher contrast, so the designer can adjust the source design, not chase device-specific quirks.
“Can you add a QR code?”
Especially when it’s a website viewed on phones where the QR code links to the same website. 🤦♀️
Or worse: social ads, job ads, and anything that requires scanning a phone with a phone.
QR codes are often added because they feel modern, not because they solve a real problem. Sometimes a clear button or link works better.
“Can you do this for exposure?”
Exposure does not pay hosting, software, rent, taxes, or the electricity keeping my laptop alive. Especially when it comes to photography, I heard this so often. My work has been published A LOT, but not once it equated to new customers.
Exposure is unpredictable and rarely translates into meaningful business. Clear budgets and expectations create better work and better relationships. Designers do their best work when they’re valued as professionals, not treated as a marketing gamble.
“Can you play with the fonts?”
This sounds creative, but it’s incredibly open-ended. Fonts aren’t decorative extras. They affect readability, hierarchy, accessibility and brand perception. “Playing” often leads to unnecessary complexity or inconsistent typography, especially when the real issue isn’t the font at all but how the content is structured or prioritised.
What to do instead: explain what feels off. Is it too formal? Too playful? Hard to read? Referencing brands or websites with a similar tone gives designers a much clearer direction than experimenting blindly.
“Can you add more space?”
Extra space can improve clarity, but this phrase doesn’t say where or why. Sometimes the issue is breathing room. Other times it’s weak hierarchy, poor grouping, or too much competing content. Adding space everywhere can just make the design feel empty rather than clearer.
What to do instead: point out where things feel cramped or hard to scan. Saying “this section feels overwhelming” or “I’m not sure where my eye should go first” helps the designer solve the underlying layout problem, not just pad things out.
“Can you make it feel more minimalistic?”
Minimalism isn’t about removing things at random. It’s about clarity and intention. Without context, this request can lead to stripped-back designs that lose personality, usability or important information, especially if the real problem is visual noise rather than quantity.
What to do instead: identify what feels unnecessary or distracting. Highlighting elements that don’t need as much emphasis allows the designer to simplify with purpose, rather than removing things that actually matter.
“Can you change the colours?”
On its own, this feedback doesn’t explain the problem. Colour choices are usually tied to brand, contrast, accessibility and hierarchy, so changing them without context can easily make the design weaker rather than better. Often the issue isn’t the colours themselves, but how they’re being used.
What to do instead: explain what isn’t working. Is it too dull, too loud, too corporate, or hard to read? Saying how you want it to feel gives the designer something actionable to work with.
“It just doesn’t feel right”
This phrase stops progress dead because there’s nothing concrete to respond to. Designers can’t fix a feeling without clues about what’s causing it. Used repeatedly, it often leads to circular revisions where nothing really improves.
What to do instead: point to a specific part of the design and describe your reaction to it. Even saying “this section feels busy” or “this doesn’t match our brand tone” gives the designer a place to start.
“Can you make it more premium?”
“Premium” means wildly different things to different people. To some it’s minimal and restrained, to others it’s bold, glossy and high-contrast. Without examples, designers are left guessing which direction you mean.
What to do instead: share references. Pointing to brands, websites or products that feel “premium” to you helps translate an abstract idea into a visual direction.
“Can you just use what I sent you?”
This often refers to low-quality images, screenshots, scanned logos or files pulled from unsuitable software (or worse, copied from the internet!). Using them as-is usually compromises the final result, even if the design work itself is solid.
What to do instead: ask what format or quality is needed and why. Supplying proper assets upfront saves time and avoids disappointment later.
“My partner / boss / team wants to see it”
Feedback by committee is one of the fastest ways to derail a project. Conflicting opinions, vague comments and last-minute changes often come from people who weren’t involved earlier.
What to do instead: nominate one decision-maker and gather consolidated feedback. This keeps revisions focused and prevents endless back-and-forth.
“Can you please use this exact design from [insert premium brand here]”
This usually sounds like a compliment, but it puts designers in an impossible position. Copying another brand’s design ignores context, audience, budget and most importantly legal boundaries. What works for a global, well-funded brand often relies on years of brand equity, custom assets and a completely different business model.
What to do instead: explain what you like about the example. Is it the spacing, typography, tone, simplicity or confidence? Identifying specific elements allows the designer to create something inspired by the right ideas without copying and without losing what makes your business unique.
Final thoughts from someone who has heard it all
If you’re a client, clearer feedback saves time and money, examples help, and trusting the professional you hired makes everything smoother.
If you’re a designer, you’re not alone. Yes, everyone hears this. No, AI is not replacing you yet.
And if you’ve ever said “make it pop”, we forgive you. Mostly.
