Mastering Design Critiques

At every company I’ve been a part of, design critiques have been the cornerstone of our design process.

Seeking input from fellow designers and team members is not only vital but also incredibly enriching. Design is a collaborative endeavor, drawing insights from diverse perspectives such as customer success, marketing, sales, and development.

Use this template to help organize your design critiques! They make use of best practices to keep critiques collaborative & focused.

Feedback Types

Conversations matter. Collaboration matters. But to ensure value, it is essential to receive the RIGHT kind of feedback. There are three different types of feedback:

Reactive

An immediate reaction to what is presented.

Directive

Telling the presenter what they should be doing.

Critical

Determine if the objective of the presented critique has been met.

During a design critique focusing on Critical feedback will help to identify what doesn’t work and why it doesn’t work. Reactive or Directive feedback can lead to focus being diverted from the objective, hurt feelings or spontaneous feedback directed only by a hunch.

It is important to focus on the current design and not the designer! The design should be kept separate and the designers skills should not be called into question at this time.

Constructive Critique Process

To make sure critiques are useful, the presenter needs to clarify the type of feedback they want and what stage of the design process they are in to provide context to the attendees.

Here are three easy steps to offer constructive critiques:

Identify

Highlight a specific aspect of the design that you are critiquing. Make sure not to comment on something that the presenter mentioned was unfinished or they did not want a critique on just yet.

Relate to Objective

Link the identified aspect to a design objective, such as a chosen heuristic or a usability principle, like learnability or memorability. This can be a objective specific to this project, or related to the company mission statement.

Evaluate Against Objective

Assess the aspects effectiveness against the stated objective. This could be identifying if something was done right, or if something needs to be improved.

Let's Break Down the Critique

Consider these key points to help you follow the three steps above and provide useful, actionable critique!

Objective of Design: Ask what is the primary objective of the design? Secondary?
Relevance of Elements: Determine which design elements contribute to the objective? Are there any that are purely aesthetic?
Anticipate Challenges: Consider potential problems that arise from certain design choices. Is there something that makes it harder for your users to achieve their goal? Any friction points?

Use this structured format to frame your feedback:

“If the design objective is [OBJECTIVE] then [design element] is/is not effective because [justification].”