Think Before You Speak

I recently told a vice president in charge of her company’s internet site that the design looked like information had been vomited onto the screen. Her eyes got wide and she said “Ohhhhh” in a very drawn out way. Luckily for me, the design was being phased out in favor of a new, more sophisticated one. One I liked. One I would not have so tactlessly insulted.

I wish I had better articulated my thoughts. What I should have said was that the new design gave priority to the various types of information on the page and that the color palette better segmented the different types of information. It was a more approachable, sticky design, compared to the original.

So the moral of this story is to think first and to articulate your thoughts in a way that can be taken for constructive criticism. Not rudeness.

PS - I later sent this VP an email with an apology and with the comments I really wanted to say. Thankfully, she replied that she took no offense at all, and that I should never apologize for being passionate about a topic. Very cool.