Critique as a powerful tool in your design toolkit
9 tips on receiving and giving a design critique
Before I started my career as a UXer, my idea of design was - a single creative individual behind a fancy computer, responsible for a stunning presentation. In reality, I’ve discovered, a great design is a product of co-creation.
This article won’t cover the benefits of user critique or usability testing. Instead, it will focus on how to healthily debate about a design amongst coworkers and colleagues.
How to RECEIVE critique?
1) It is about the work, not you.
Receive the feedback objectively, and not subjectively. Keep an open mind, free of prejudice. Learn to hear the not-so-good things about your work. Invite the criticism, because it could lead to better outcomes.
Imagine this — You’ve put in a lot of hours, went through multiple iterations, and you’ve finally perfected the design. Sounds familiar? Well, the important unsaid words here are: it is perfect but from your own perspective.
Asking the opinion of someone who has a fresh perspective can be incredibly helpful to make sure that the design has fulfilled its intention, and therefore is a success.
2) Respect different point of views.
The whole point of receiving criticism is to consider and understand different opinions. Different doesn’t mean wrong, so don’t disregard people or their opinions that don’t match your own.
Focus on improving the design, be it because of your idea or someone else’s. Consider different schools of thought than your own, and be open to giving credit where its due.
Also, keep in mind, you don’t have to always do what the other person says. Your way could be better, as you might have more context about the project. Thank the other person for their input, and take an informed next step.
3) Detach from your own work.
Initially, it was hard for me to hear critical comments about my work (I thought I got it right the first time!). A strategy that I found useful was to never like your own work too much. Once you detach from your creation, accepting criticism becomes easier.
When I say detach, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about your work. In fact, a good design emerges from caring deeply about your users. However, don’t let your attachment to your work hold you back from making changes to it.
The best thing you can do is take a step back and be very open to the reactions of people around you. Being able to listen to the contradictory comments and absorb the feedback can help you produce more valuable work.
A lot of times project scope changes, strategies pivot and that impacts your design decisions. In such a situation, rapid changes are necessary. Being able to easily detach from your work comes in handy; carry the learnings forward and move on.
4) Ask lots of questions.
A lot of times when people make a critical comment, what they actually mean could be different. Try to get to the crux of what a person is saying. Ask follow up questions to find the WHY behind their criticism. Once you understand the actual problem, brainstorming for solutions becomes easier.
Ask the right questions to completely understand a person’s critical comments. Try to find the real motivation behind their criticism so as to design solutions to better tackle the problem.
For instance, I asked my friend to review a mobile app design project that I had been working on. She didn’t like the visuals of a checklist I had used for selecting different categories. When I asked her what she doesn’t like about it, she remarked the list only provided for a limited selection. I asked her why was that a problem and she argued that, that app screen needed more flexibility in choosing categories. I realized, her criticism wasn’t about UI of the checklist itself, but more about the functionality of it. I considered other selection methods and finally landed on a tag-like search since it allows for a more free form search. Overall, this workflow was a big improvement. Unpack the criticism to find the real problem.
5) Learn from others.
Every design critique presents a unique learning opportunity - treat it as such. Ask for help, of some with more experience to give you feedback. Ask them questions and pull out knowledge from them. Understand the shortcomings and identify action items to improve your work.
Always treat criticism as an incredible learning opportunity. Use it to your advantage, to improve your work and your skillset as a designer.
How to GIVE critique?
6) Critique the work, not the person.
Seems obvious, doesn’t it? However, a lot of times people end up criticizing a person on the pretext of criticizing their work. Avoid it. Focus on the work they’ve produced, and help the other person understand the problems with it. Instead of using statements like “You haven’t done…”, try saying “… doesn’t seem to be working.”
When giving a critical comment to someone, point to the flaws in design or a physical artifact that exists, instead of pointing to the person.
7) Tell what can be done instead.
When you offer a critique to someone, tell them what can be done as well. It is easier to simply point out things that aren’t working in the design, so work with them to come up with one or two potentially better solutions. You can leave a person in a much better state by offering suggestions to the problems you pointed out in their design.
Help a person understand what could be done better, and help them get there.
8) Walk through your thought process.
When you criticize someone’s work, explain your reasoning along with it. Help them understand why your criticism is valid, and how acting on it could actually better the design.
Sometimes a situation may arise when you don’t have much information about the project, yet you have to critique the design. In such a scenario explaining your perspective is helpful for the other person to understand your baseline knowledge, it allows them to fill in the gaps.
Break down your critical comments for the other person. Give them a chance to correct you and provide more context. Talk them through your thought process and the reason why you arrived at that particular conclusion.
For instance, I was designing a dashboard for a clinical application. There were some gaps in my knowledge, and hence my design wasn’t foolproof. I asked my friend, a biotechnician, to help me. She pointed out things that didn’t make sense to her and also the ones that did. I asked her to “think out loud” as she reviewed different parts of the dashboard. As she started doing that, I understood what information was important and critical in those different sections. Understanding her thought process helped me build a better mental model of the data and information I was trying to convey, and ultimately improve my designs. Even though she wasn’t a designer herself, simply understanding her logical workflow proved to be incredibly helpful.
9) Tailor your feedback for the person.
Every person is different, keep that in mind. When giving a design critique to someone, modify your communication style for that person. If you know the person well, deliver your feedback in a way that makes the most sense to them. In order for your critique to be effective, it needs to be received well. Be patient and empathetic, explain to them what seems wrong, and offer help if you can.
Understand that people don’t like mistakes pointed out to them. So when you criticize someone’s work do it respectfully, in a manner that will actually benefit them.
I have learned, grown and become a better designer by receiving valuable criticism and giving helpful criticism. It is a wonderful design tool which can be leveraged to produce top quality work. Use it!
What have been your experiences with design critiques? What did you learn? Share your stories!
