Updated June 14, 2026
You spent time finding the right designer. You filled out the creative brief — all those questions about your company, your audience, your goals, your taste. You paid the deposit. And now you’re looking at the first presentation thinking: is this it?
Don’t freak out.
First things first
It is completely normal, particularly on first glance, to not be wowed by any of the initial concepts. Your mind needs time to adjust to seeing something new before you can evaluate it without prejudice. Before you do anything else, follow the review process — sit with the work, come back to it fresh, ask a trusted few what they think. The full guide to reviewing creative work is here.
Nine times out of ten, what feels like a miss on first presentation looks different after you’ve lived with it for a day.
I did all that and I still don’t like it
Now it’s worth digging deeper. Go back to the creative brief and ask yourself honestly: did your answers give the designer clear direction? If your goals have shifted since you filled it out, or if you were vague about what you wanted, that’s worth acknowledging. A revision to the brief may be needed — and if the designer has already spent significant time going in a direction you steered them toward, that may affect the cost. Time is money in this industry too.
If you feel you were clear but the designer missed the mark, that’s a different conversation — and a more common one than you might think. It doesn’t necessarily mean you hired the wrong person. It may just mean the two of you haven’t found your communication groove yet. That happens, and it’s fixable.
How to move forward productively
Here’s a practical approach for getting back on track:
- List what is working — and be specific about why. This gives the designer something to build on rather than starting from scratch.
- List what isn’t working — and again, explain why. “I don’t like this” is less useful than “this feels too corporate for our audience.”
- Ask for specific fixes — if something is clearly off, say so directly. Designers would rather hear it plainly than try to read between the lines.
- Find a different way to describe what you want — if your first attempt at explaining something didn’t land, try a different approach. It can feel like over-explaining, but it’s better than taking another round in the wrong direction.
- Show visual examples — a printed piece, a website, a logo you admire. Designers are visual people. A reference image can communicate in seconds what a paragraph of description can’t.
What if round two still misses?
Look carefully at the second presentation. Has the work moved meaningfully closer to what you’re after, even if it’s not there yet? If yes, keep going — you’re probably just working through the natural learning curve of a new collaboration. Use the same steps above and go into round three.
If the work hasn’t moved — or if you have a clear sense that the designer isn’t listening, isn’t responding to your direction, or is pushing an approach you’ve already said isn’t right for you — that’s a different situation. Not every designer-client relationship is the right fit, and there’s no shame in that.
If you’ve reached that point, have an honest conversation with the designer. A professional will typically charge only for the time already spent, which lets you part ways without it becoming a bigger issue than it needs to be. Then you start fresh with someone who’s a better match.
A word of reassurance
A good designer builds several rounds of revisions into their process. You’re not being difficult by asking for changes — that’s the job. The goal is to get to something you love, and it usually takes more than one round to get there. Work with your designer, be clear about what you want, and trust that the process is working even when it doesn’t feel like it yet.
If you’re still looking for the right designer, here’s how to choose one. And if you want to understand more about how the creative process works from the designer’s side, this post on creative collaboration is worth a read.
Ready to start fresh with a designer who listens? Let’s talk.
