UX Playbook

Design Critiques for larger teams

The purpose of these critiques it to get detailed and constructive feedback on design specific solutions for a specific client or purpose. We get a select team of designers in a room with a designer to look at their solution or design and give constructive feedback on it. This will help designers gain insight in possible other solutions they might not have thought about till now. Helping them to improve their designs.

So in order to make this a pleasant and useful experience for everyone we need some rules. On presenting the work but also on the feedback that is given. Here’s some structure and rules for the Hike One design critiques.

Roles:

Creating an agenda (for the facilitators)

For the facilitator

Your role is an important one! It’s your job to make sure the presenter receives the right sort of feedback. Both actionable and honest. Making sure the work does not get ‘burned’ but rather improved by the input from the group. Rotating this role helps to create a different outcome or focus every time and gives the team the possibility to try different roles.
Make sure the critiquers ask the right questions and don’t shoot from the hip. Don’t allow people to just give their opinions about, let’s say; layout. But help them ask about how this layout helps the user achieve their goals(s). Or if there might be other forms of layout that better serve this goal. Create order from (possible) chaos. Keep a focus on the feedback that is issued. Good feedback sits in the middle of being too kind and too harsh. Have a look at this model:

Too negative← Just right:) Too positive→
resources provides no additional resources or pointers suggests reference resources and pointers provides no additional resources or pointers
purpose serves the critic’s ego serves the needs of the other person and the needs of the project neglects the other person’s need for constructive feedback
tone grumpy respectful overeager
mode of address telling questioning fawning
expectations too high for the other person’s level of work and the stage of the project matched to the other person’s level of work and stage of the project too low for the other person’s level of work and the stage of the project
content all negative identifies both good and bad all positive
focus personal(“you’re terrible at design”) focused on the objective qualities of the work personal(“you’re great at design”)
judgement harsh fair uncritical
effect dispiriting encouraging bewildering
attitude unkind empathetic sycophantic
strategy destructive: finds fault everywhere constructive: forms judgements against a brief or criteria requested by the other person unhelpful: superficial, concealing shortcomings
moral “mistakes are bad” “mistakes are information” “what mistakes?!”

For the presenter

Set up the context around the specific problems you are solving with the design(s).

This does not need to be a super neat and shiny presentation, it's not a pitch it's asking for input. Creating 5 or 6 slides that frame your design solution and include the above mentioned topics, should be ample.

Rules for critique

Good critique is not just about finding faults. The judgements we form can and should cover both positive and negative aspects of the work. As critics, we should strive for fairness, honesty, and empathy. With this attitude, critique starts to look like more of a creative task rather than a destructive one.
When critique is done well, it 1) identifies the strengths of the work; 2) helps to improve the weaknesses of the work; 3) helps our professional development; 4) enhances mutual trust and collaboration, and 5) ultimately helps entire professions like design to advance and grow.