03/07/2026
“People love the strong colours, graphic style and layout. There’s a huge amount of information in it, but it’s easy to digest.”
Receiving feedback like this for the Sustainable Spaces Playbook has been such a joy.
Created by in association with the The Sustainable Restaurant Association Association and launched at Tate Modern last month, it’s a project I’m incredibly proud to have been part of.
But the initial concepts didn’t get quite the same reaction.
The feedback was more along the lines of:
“It’s good, but it doesn’t feel like the publication we’re trying to create.”
A few years ago, that would have knocked my confidence and sent me spiralling. The imposter in me would have started whispering all sorts of nonsense: maybe I’m not good enough, maybe I don’t know what I’m doing, maybe I should pack it all in and do something else.
Or I’d have gone completely the other way and become defensive because, honestly, there wasn’t anything wrong with what I’d presented. One of the team even said as much. And they were right.
But here’s what I’ve learned after years in this industry:
Feedback like this isn’t a sign that the work is bad. It’s a sign that we haven’t uncovered the right solution yet.
So instead of defending the work, I got curious. I asked more questions, gathered visual references and spent time understanding the vision behind the brief.
Once we aligned on the direction, everything changed. The project flowed, decisions became easier and the final result became something we’re all incredibly proud of.
A reminder that good design and the right design aren’t always the same thing.
Swipe to see the before and after ➡️
And I’m curious – which version would have caught your eye first?