Client feedback meeting made our designer want to quit

I’m a junior project manager and I recently had a situation I’m not sure I handled well.

We were delivering design work for a difficult client. I don’t really like being just a messenger between the client and the team, so my instinct was to bring everyone into the same meeting. My thinking was: why should I collect feedback, rewrite it, and pass it to the designer later, when the designer can hear it directly from the client?

So I invited the designer to present the first iteration directly to the client.

Personally, I thought the work was good. It was not final, of course, but for a first iteration it made sense. The designer was also experienced and definitely the right person for the job.

The problem was the client side.

There were several senior managers in the meeting, all quite assertive. Everyone had an opinion. Some comments were useful, but a lot of it felt subjective or emotional. Things like “this is not modern enough”, “I don’t like this”, “this doesn’t make sense”, etc.

The designer tried to explain some decisions, but the meeting became pretty uncomfortable. It didn’t feel like structured feedback anymore. It felt more like multiple senior people reacting to the design at the same time.

After the meeting, the designer told me he didn’t want to continue on the project. He was frustrated, and honestly, I understood why.

Now I’m wondering whether I made a mistake by putting him directly into that situation.

On one hand, I still believe direct communication is usually better than playing telephone between the client and the team.

On the other hand, I can see how unfiltered client feedback can demotivate people, especially when the client is very senior, assertive, or not good at giving feedback.

What should I do now?