Jeff Bridgforth :: Webcraftsman

A Well-Done Critique

October 17, 2008

Best Practices · Design (Web)

I also posted this on http://wearethelab.com

A cou­ple of week ago, I read Jared Spool’s arti­cle, What Goes into a Well-Done Cri­tique. One of Jared’s obser­va­tions is that teams that felt they go the most out of cri­tiques were those that con­ducted them the most. Cri­tiques have ben­e­fits for both the designer and those look­ing at his or her work.

I had already been think­ing that it might be help­ful for us to have reg­u­lar “pin-up” times where we can share our work. We could incor­po­rate cri­tique as part of that time.

Here is a sum­mary of Jared’s impor­tant points:

• Respect — the per­son giv­ing cri­tique under­stands and acknowl­edges the hard work that the design owner has put into the design. There is also an aware­ness that it is dififcult for any­one to receive a cri­tique of their work. Respect comes in offer­ing cri­tique when the design owner is ready for it. Jared does not men­tion this but I think respect also comes from the design owner being will­ing to come to times of cri­tique with respect for the other design­ers and that their intent is to help improve the design.
• Dis­pas­sion­ate — All those involved in the cri­tique must be able to step away from the design. the design owner under­stands he or she is not being judged but is help­ing the team to under­stand the jour­ney he or she has taken to get to this design solu­tion. The critic uses the cri­tique to explore the dif­fer­ent direc­tions the design could go. This cre­ates a learn­ing oppor­tu­nity for the team where every­one benefits.
• Lack­ing Author­ity — Crit­ics rec­og­nize that noth­ing they say will change the direc­tion of the design. Only the design owner can make that deci­sion. Jared observes that in the best cri­tiques he has seen, the critic never made a sin­gle rec­om­men­da­tion. The critic asked ques­tions and helped guide the dis­cus­sion. They focused on the big­ger pic­ture. Instead of mak­ing a rec­om­men­da­tion, the good critic might ask ‚“what alter­na­tives did you con­sider for …?” This keeps the con­ver­sa­tion on the big­ger pic­ture. And the design owner may have already thought through the alter­na­tives and deemed the one that he or she came up with as being the bet­ter of the choices. A great way to offer crit­i­cism is the phrase “have you considered…?”
• Jus­ti­fied Impres­sions and Con­cerns — Skilled crit­ics avoid hol­low com­pli­ments and share specifics on what they liked in a design and how it sup­ports the direc­tion of the design. And when offer­ing crit­i­cism, the skilled critic jus­ti­fies their con­cerns and show alter­na­tive exam­ples. This allows the dis­cus­sion to focus on the mer­its of the jus­ti­fi­ca­tions instead of opin­ions of taste. By com­par­ing design alter­na­tives, a team can look at the essence of the design issues.

Ques­tions to Ask Your­self dur­ing a Critique

• What did I like or enjoy about this design and why?
• What con­cerns me about this design and why?
• What does this design remind me of and why?

What I liked about this arti­cle is that it chal­lenges me to be actively involved in a cri­tique by know­ing what ques­tions to ask myself. Even if I don’t give cri­tique, I can actively engage in the process and lis­ten to what oth­ers might bring up.

I am also chal­lenged as a design owner. Like every­one, I am not a huge fan of cri­tique. It is hard to put a design out there in front of oth­ers when I have invested a lot of time and a lot of myself into the design solu­tion. This arti­cle chal­lenges me to rec­og­nize and remem­ber that the pur­pose of cri­tique is to make the design bet­ter and that I am part of a team that is “for me.”

Good cri­tiquing skills are some­thing that come with prac­tice. After read­ing this arti­cle, I can see why reg­u­lar times of cri­tiquing each other’s work is ben­e­fi­cial for the whole team.

If you are not fami­lar with Jared Spool and his com­pany UIE, I sug­gest you check it out. He sends out a reg­u­lar UIE Tips email that have great insights. I also enjoy lis­ten to their pod­casts on my com­mute. And if you ever get a chance, they put on a great con­fer­ence in Boston. I have attended it twice.