Articulating Design Decisions to Stakeholders

Discover effective communication strategies to convey the rationale behind your design choices and align stakeholders' expectations

Having excellent communication skills is one of the core characteristics of a good designer. Communicating effectively means having a clear, polite, and straightforward way of expressing your ideas. But even if you're an experienced speaker, it can be stressful to articulate your design decisions to people who have the authority to approve or deny them. This task requires strong listening skills as well as stress resistance and critical thinking. An effective approach to a design presentation involves 3 simple steps:

  • Understanding your stakeholders and their goals
  • Planning and rehearsing your presentation
  • Learning how to appear in a favorable light and prevent yourself from panicking or becoming too defensive about your work

Great designers are great communicators

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Communication is one of the core skills a good designer needs. Being a good communicator implies an ability to participate in discussions, share ideas, and give feedback to others in a polite but clear and concise manner. Designers commonly use user flows, sketches, wireframes, and prototypes to communicate. Visual artifacts, however, are not enough to articulate a design solution. Good design doesn't just speak for itself — the designer must also know how to prove that their solution can solve the problem and why it's the best.

Design is subjective

We might believe that the best ideas and great designs speak for themselves, but that’s not how it works in reality. In his book Articulating Design Decisions, Tom Greever says, “Communicating about the designs is more important than the designs themselves.”[1] As a designer, you need to be prepared for all attendees of a design workshop, including marketing specialists, executives, developers, product managers, and other team members, to tell you how things should work and what your design lacks.

Like all things visual, design is subjective. This is why communication is so crucial. It helps teams talk things out, hear everyone’s opinions, especially those of non-designers, and find common ground.

Communication makes everyone in a room feel satisfied and respected. Conversely, when designers get overly defensive of their designs, they fail to stay objective and forget about the team’s goal — finding the most suitable design solution. Ultimately, the discussion spirals out of control, resulting in misunderstandings and poor design decisions.

Set the context

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Effective communication helps prevent misunderstandings between you and stakeholders. But how can designers prepare for this conversation? Before you jump into the design presentation, start the meeting by setting the context and introducing the agenda:

  • State the goal. Remind everyone of the goal of your product or its new feature. What user problem are you trying to solve?
  • Give a short summary of the last meeting. Refresh everybody’s memory of what you discussed during the last conversation.
  • Mention the design project stage and design fidelity level. Many stakeholders switch between meetings and don’t always remember each project’s timeline. They might expect to see pixel-perfect final designs while you’re still in the wireframe stage, so clear things out for them.
  • Specify what feedback you expect from them. Depending on the current design stage, you might expect different types of feedback. For example, it might be too early to discuss colors and copy, and you may only want to hear their general opinion of the layout.

Consider the presentation's structure and style

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The structure of your design presentation is another key element in your discussion with stakeholders. There are certain things about human memory and brain work you should consider before drafting your presentation:

  • People better remember things mentioned at the beginning and at the end and lose concentration on things mentioned in the middle
  • People remember things that have been said more than once
  • People remember unexpected things

What can you do with this knowledge?

  • Break down the presentation into meaningful chunks and create distinct transitions between them. You can use visual tools, e.g., different background colors for your slides, to indicate different parts of the discussion.
  • Repeat things. You might want to repeat the design goal or user problem at least 3 times (verbally or visually) to draw attention to and reinforce these points in stakeholders' minds.
  • Surprise the audience. It could be a well-timed joke or a funny image of cute animals to ease the atmosphere — make everyone smile, surprise them, and make them remember an important piece of your presentation.

Encouraging everyone to take a break, stretch, change seats, or pass out snacks can be a great activity to break the monotony and help stakeholders memorize the specific and important parts of your presentation.

Remove distractions

Design meetings can easily veer off-topic. The visual aspect of design is usually the most distracting, and before you know it, everyone could be talking about things irrelevant to the problem. What can you do to avoid distractions and keep the conversation focused? One of the most thoughtful strategies Tom Greever suggests is to get to know each of your stakeholders. Try to find out what everyone is most sensitive to during the discussion and remove those distractions for the sake of keeping the conversation on track. The most common distractions include:

  • Stock images. Some clients find it challenging to evaluate designs with image placeholders or stock images that you've selected on the fly. If you know some of your stakeholders are sensitive to imagery, make an extra effort to find relevant, high-quality images and avoid using ones from the websites of your competitors.
  • Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum or placeholder text helps designers save time (at least in the early stages), but it can often become a point of distraction for some stakeholders. Real copy is more likely to prevent unnecessary questions and frustration.
  • Grids and alignment. Some stakeholders can be obsessed with perfectly aligned elements in a grid, even if it isn't the first intent of your wireframes. Take some time to clean up wireframes so you won't waste time aligning elements during your meeting.
  • Colors. The choice of colors can drag out the whole meeting, so avoid them altogether in wireframes. Stick to grayscale and use colors only to signify meaningful elements, like error messages.

Develop empathy for stakeholders

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Developing empathy for stakeholders and building good relationships with them can help you look at your project through their eyes and find the right flow for your presentation.

What can you do as a designer to understand your stakeholders better?

  • Accept the fact that stakeholders are human. Like all people, they have their own feelings and emotions, experience different problems outside of work, and have busy schedules. Their reactions to your designs can be a result of multiple factors, and it doesn’t always mean they don’t like your work.
  • Understand their goals. When you look at the project from their perspective and understand their pains, you’re no longer overly protective of your ideas. See yourself as someone who can actually help them achieve their goals. Research everyone's role in the company before the meeting to learn what they care about.
  • Get to know stakeholders outside of work. You don’t necessarily have to become best friends with your team members. However, a shared experience of going to lunch, grabbing a coffee or a drink after work, or even having a nice chat about something that interests you both right before the meeting can help build rapport. Building strong relationships with your colleagues simplifies communication and makes everyone feel more relaxed during a work meeting.
  • Find out how stakeholders process information. Some people prefer seeing information visually to process it better, while others want to hear it aloud. Make sure to include various methods of communication, including verbal descriptions, visual elements, and written or printed explanations.

Anticipate reactions

The better you know the stakeholders, the more precisely you can predict their reactions. Predictable behavior means you can prepare your answers and adjust your presentation to their needs. Take a look at the agenda and determine the most effective flow of the design discussion before attending the meeting. Answering the following questions can help you here:

  • What roles do the people in the room fulfill?
  • What do they care most about in the project?
  • What are their pet peeves during work meetings?
  • Who is a potential influencer that might impact others’ decisions in the room?

If you have already met some of these people in a meeting, you’ll know what to expect from them. For example, if one of the executives is a big fan of numbers and analytics, be sure to prepare some stats to support your words and visuals.

Although you can’t anticipate all reactions and objections, it might be a good idea to list any that you can think of and prepare your replies. Do not rely on your memory — write them down and reread them before the meeting.

Prepare alternatives

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Many designers avoid presenting alternative solutions to stakeholders, fearing they may like the “wrong” variants and insist on using them. You should be so confident in your designs and that they solve the problem better than anything else that coming up with another solution shouldn't seem like a risk. Presenting stakeholders with a choice proves to them that you worked on different approaches and came to the conclusion that they aren’t as effective as the one you’re presenting. If you don’t bring alternatives to the meeting, stakeholders might start looking for them during the meeting. It may toss the discussion in the opposite direction, and you’ll lose control of it. Having more than one solution demonstrates your skills in critical thinking and persuades stakeholders to consider what you suggest.

Prepare research data to backup

Research findings (web analytics, users’ quotes from interviews, user testing results, usability reports, etc.) are your pep squad during a design discussion. You can use them to make a suggestion or support the design solution you’re presenting.

Tom Greever recommends pulling out the research data only when your designs are met with skepticism and unfair criticism. Prepare research data for this scenario but don’t overwhelm your audience with it during your presentation. Data is powerful and may stifle the conversation, making participants feel like they have nothing to say against facts. Your job is to hear everyone’s opinion, even if it contradicts the research data. If you need to defend your designs, bring the data up, but don’t show your cards until necessary.

Create a support network

You might wonder, “Why do I need a support group if I'm confident my solution is perfect?” Having people in a group who support your idea demonstrates to others that you’re not alone and there are other respectful (and sometimes more influential) people who share your perspective. For example, when the whole design team is convinced that the suggested solution is the most suitable, executives are more likely to agree with them. A support network can also assist in guiding the conversation in the right direction. They may ask leading questions, point out the strongest points of your designs, or reinforce what you have said.

Talk to people who you think may support you and get them acquainted with your ideas before the meeting. In a group environment, people fall under the influence of executives or managers more easily and won’t want to support conflicting ideas. Other designers are most likely to be on the same page as you, so talk to them first.

Rehearse your presentation

What are the last preparations for a design discussion that can help you do your job well?

  • Rehearse your presentation. Practice makes perfect — you’ve heard this phrase millions of times, right? Indeed, even if you’re a confident speaker, rehearsing your presentation will help you prevent awkward pauses, stammering, and hesitations about what you say next. Even if you know everyone in the room and feel comfortable presenting in front of them, rehearsing makes your presentation more structured and gives you confidence.
  • Practice out loud. Practicing your speech in your head is different from hearing yourself speak aloud. You might notice you ramble or use too many repetitions. You may even decide to word sentences differently and emphasize different points. A rehearsal may make you feel uncomfortable, but it reduces the cognitive load on your memory and helps you feel more relaxed during the meeting.
  • Write down the meeting agenda. Tom Greever recommends having a paper copy of your agenda, so if anything goes wrong with the technology, you’ll still have a list of all the things you want to discuss. When you have an outline of your meeting, you won’t get lost even if a colleague interrupts you or asks a question in the middle of your presentation. It also helps prevent the design discussion from veering off track.

While rehearsing your presentation, pay attention to your voice and body language. They should help you articulate your decision, make you look confident, and engage your audience.

Remote meeting tips

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Many of us have switched to remote work in the last few years, and having remote design meetings isn’t new. Nevertheless, online presentations may present certain challenges. These recommendations can help you pull off your presentation without breaking a sweat:

  • Tell everyone to keep their cameras on. It makes everyone feel like they’re sitting in one room and can help you read everyone’s facial reactions.
  • Eliminate technology risks. Double-check whether your internet connection is stable and that you can quickly switch to cellular data if your Wi-Fi breaks down. In case the power goes off or the system decides to update, be sure you have a video meeting application installed on your phone.
  • Tell everyone to keep their mics off when someone is speaking. Learn the keyboard shortcut to mute your mic as quickly as possible and use it when someone else is speaking.
  • Turn off distractions. If you’re working from home, make sure your family or pets won’t distract you and others during a meeting. Shut down all notifications on your laptop and smartphone too.
  • Close all unnecessary tabs when sharing your screen. Keeping only the necessary tabs open reduces the likelihood of accidentally displaying unnecessary notifications, personal photos, or YouTube recommendations.

🧠 Pro Tip: Check out our Remote Workshops lesson that provides tips for facilitating remote design workshops that might be useful for design presentations.

Establish a positive persona

When a designer comes to a design meeting, they often anticipate the worst, prepare for battle, and might get too defensive. The truth is that stakeholders are unlikely to support you if you appear grumpy and aggressive. Instead, you can present yourself as an approachable and flexible person who listens to others and is open to feedback. The following behavioral tactics can help you set the right mood:

  • Don’t confuse confidence with arrogance. Speaking arrogantly as if you already know you’re right won’t gain the trust of your stakeholders. Instead, be yourself. It may sound cliché, but people can tell when you act unnaturally, and it won’t bring you their support.
  • Don’t take yourself too seriously. Designers tend to get attached to their work and often take their projects too seriously. Relax and cool off. It's challenging for participants to focus on you and engage when you have an uptight attitude, even if the topic is of high priority.
  • Feel the room. You aren't there to brag about your skills or talents in the meeting. Listen to what others say, pay attention to how people react to your words, and orient yourself toward their needs and expectations.
  • Use humor when it’s appropriate. Humor helps break the ice and disarm awkward situations. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a joke - a lighthearted comment in itself is a great way to comfort everyone. But read the room and know when saying something funny is inappropriate.

Change your vocabulary

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The words you choose when speaking in a meeting are a powerful tool to repel or gain the support of a group. Reconsidering your vocabulary might help you maintain a positive mindset and set the right mood for your conversation.

Phrases and words to avoid when presenting to stakeholders:

  • “You’re wrong”: People get really defensive when they’re told they’re wrong, even if they really are. Express your disagreement in a different, more polite way. Instead, say, “I see your point, but…”; “I’m afraid that is not quite what we're looking for”; “I’m sorry to disagree, but…”; or even “There are a few small bumps for us to look at.”
  • “From a design perspective…”: By saying this, you are intentionally placing your opinion above that of others who are not experts. Although your expertise is essential, you shouldn’t behave arrogantly. Instead, provide user research evidence or gain support from other designers to reinforce your perspective. Consider saying instead, “The reason we did it this way…”; or "We used this approach because..."
  • “I like/I don’t like”: Design shouldn't be based on personal preferences. Focus on what works and what doesn't work for your project specifically. It’s hard to apply this rule when reviewing visual design, but you still should find ways to say why you think some visuals are effective or aren't enough. For example, try saying, “These colors greatly highlight/don’t highlight a brand personality”; or “This imagery evokes positive/negative emotions.”
  • Sprints, accordion, CTA, snackbars, hamburger icons, etc.: Avoid too much jargon in your speech. Many stakeholders are not design experts and may not be familiar with design terminology. Instead, use common language to define terms or adopt the vocabulary of stakeholders. Listen to what words they use to name certain design elements, tools, or processes and inject them into your speech.

Remember, effective design presentations hinge on preparation, empathy, and clear communication. Tailor your approach to the needs and perspectives of your stakeholders for a productive dialogue that supports your design objectives.

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