Navigating Input: A Guide to Prioritizing Input for New Designers

If you’ve been in the industry for more than five minutes, you’ve likely encountered the challenge of managing input from various stakeholders, and trying to prioritize feedback that often contradicts.

As you advance in your career, you start to encounter this more and more as the scope of your impact expands. It’s an inevitable hurdle, so I guess the first take away here is: get use to it.

All is not lost however. I know it’s challenging when you hear one piece of feedback, and another, then another, and now you’re not sure who you’re suppose to be listening to (insert dizzy face here). Here is how I’ve found success in approaching these situations with confidence and clarity.

Develop a solid perspective.

The most important thing is knowing why you made certain choices, and know how to articulate your rational. This one can be tricky. Often we don’t think about our work in terms of a narrative. However, that narrative is exactly what is going to pull your thinking out of Figma, and into the real world. Being able to explain not only what you did, by why you did it shows that you’re choices aren’t arbitrary. It may seem like this should be a given, however anyone you show your work to is going to start poking holes; so anticipate what those may be and have a responce ready.

Now, I’m not saying to have an unwavering point of view, but if you don’t have a foundation on which to stand, you’re much more likely to be pushed around by every input thrown your way.

Ok, now bare with me… the way my mind visualizes this is in blob shapes (pictured). Your idea is a ball in the middle, and inputs are thrown at it from all directions. (1) Too ridged: This is the idea that starts and ends looking almost exactly the same. You don’t absorb the ideas of others. You hold to your own perspective so steadfastly, inputs bounce right off your work. (2) Too malleable: This is the idea that is unrecognizable from the original intent from all the ideas thrown at it. Your point of view is completely lost in the noise of inputs. You’re no longer able to accurately defend your work because you’re not quite sure how you got to this point. (3) Firm but flexible: This idea absorbs what makes it more durable, but is able to let some input bounce off. A way to differentiate between inputs that benefit the project is you can defend the ideas with confidence and explain them to a broad audience. If you can’t explain the rationale you’re ether not bought in or don’t understand why a choice was made.

What we’re looking for is a solid, but bendable point of view. This will allow you to assess each input, and decide which absorb, and which to reject.

This is why identifying your stance is so important: without it, it’s more likely you’re going to get overwhelmed by all the input you receive. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what direction you should go in. Go into the conversation with a point of view, but be willing to pivot if better ideas come along — especially if they make your designs better (spoiler: if you are able to prioritize your inputs, your work is always better for it.)

Articulate Your Rationale Clearly.

Practice talking about your work with friends or mentors, and consider creating a design decision log to track and articulate your choices. I’ve even recorded myself explaining something out loud, alone in my office, just so I could hear how I was talking about my work. I’d also recommend recording your self, and waiting a day or two and listen to it fresh. You may, for better or worse, surprise yourself.

Leverage Data to Support Your Decisions.

We often make decisions based on intuition honed through experience. However, when faced with conflicting opinions, data becomes your strongest ally. People find it harder to disagree with numbers and facts than with subjective preferences, so as much as possible, your point of view should be anchored in established design principles and cold hard data.

It’s also essential for you to differentiate between your fact-based decisions and those driven by personal experience, anecdotes, and preferences. Facts trump feelings when it comes to defending your choices. This is also a good barometer for which aspects of your work you should defend, and which you are willing to sacrifice. After all, there really is no accounting for taste.

And don’t let a lack of company-specific data hold you back! You can draw from broader industry knowledge and established design best practices. I’ve personally used data from sources like Statista, or industry news published by Forbes when speaking about design rational.

Remember, your unique perspective in design is valuable. By developing a solid, data-driven approach to prioritizing input, I guarantee you’ll not only improve your designs but also build your confidence and influence within your organization.

What strategies have you found helpful in managing stakeholder input?