The document summarizes tips for effectively critiquing design work. It emphasizes that critique should have the goal of improving design, not just expressing opinions. The critiquer should understand the design goals and constraints before critiquing. When receiving critique, the designer should listen without defending their work and take detailed notes. Critique works best one-on-one and should ask specific questions rather than just saying "I don't like it." The goal is to have a constructive discussion, not just point out flaws.
Discussing Design: The Art of Critique - Web 2.0 Expo NY 2011Aaron Irizarry
In this presentation we’ll discuss the importance of critique and a language for discussing design. It can be easy to complain about the way things are and theorize on the way things should be. Progress comes from understanding why something is the way it is and then examining how it meets or does not meet it’s desired goals. This is critique. Critique is not about describing how bad something is, or proposing the ultimate solution. Critique is a dialogue, a conversation that takes place to better understand how we got to where we are, how close we are to getting where we want to go and what we have left to do to get there.
The contents of this presentation will focus on:
understanding critique
best practices for incorporating critiques into a design practice
identifying common challenges to critique and ways to improve our ability to deliver, collect and receive critique
In this presentation we’ll discuss the importance of critique and a language for discussing design. It can be easy to complain about the way things are and theorize on the way things should be. Progress comes from understanding why something is the way it is and then examining how it meets or does not meet its desired goals. This is critique. Critique is not about describing how bad something is, or proposing the ultimate solution. Critique is a dialogue, a conversation that takes place to better understand how we got to where we are, how close we are to getting where we want to go and what we have left to do to get there.
The contents of this presentation will focus on:
understanding critique
best practices for incorporating critiques into a design practice
identifying common challenges to critique and ways to improve our ability to deliver, collect and receive critique
Design critique - how can I make this better?Cameron Rogers
The ability to seek out critical feedback on your own design work is, unfortunately, an increasingly rare trait. It can be uncomfortable. Expecting a lone designer to understand all possible interactions, emerging design trends, cross-product dependencies and impacts of their product is unrealistic and places unfair expectations on designers to design amazing solutions in isolation.
Here's a design critique framework I've been pulling together over the last couple of years, some of the ideas will be familiar, some may be new, hopefully there’s a takeaway for everyone.
Discussing Design: The Art of Critique - ixdaNYCAaron Irizarry
By taking the time to examine critique and how it fits into the design process and both an activity and an aspect of any communication we can focus our conversations and improve our ability to collaborate. In this presentation we'll examine the language, rules and strategies for improving the conversations with teammates and provide attendees with takeaways that can immediately be put to work to create a useful, collaborative environment for discussing designs.
Critique is a vital skill for any good designer. Here we talk about it's application in everyday life as well as the formal work we do with clients as UX Designers.
This talk has been given at a number of conferences by myself and the amazing Aaron Irizaryy (http://www.thisisaaronslife.com/)
We'll be keeping the most up-to-date version of the slides uploaded here. If you'd like a copy from a previous iteration, please get in touch with either Aaron or myself, and we'll happily get one to you.
Updated 5/55 to the version used at WebVisions Portland in 2012.
7.5 Tips for Becoming a Brainstorming GeniusBrightEdge
Katie Fetting's sermon on why what you say is rapidly becoming less important than how you say it. Learn to brainstorm content that's clearer, wittier, and cooler than your competition.
We’ll explore critique as both an activity and an aspect of any communication or collaboration. Attendees will walk away with:
A clearer understanding of critique is and why asking for “feedback” is problematic.
Methods for gathering useful feedback from clients and teammates.
Ideas on how to introduce team members to the idea of critique and get everyone using it.
An understanding of where critique fits within the design processes and how to incorporate it into projects.
Discussing Design: The Art of Critique - Web 2.0 Expo NY 2011Aaron Irizarry
In this presentation we’ll discuss the importance of critique and a language for discussing design. It can be easy to complain about the way things are and theorize on the way things should be. Progress comes from understanding why something is the way it is and then examining how it meets or does not meet it’s desired goals. This is critique. Critique is not about describing how bad something is, or proposing the ultimate solution. Critique is a dialogue, a conversation that takes place to better understand how we got to where we are, how close we are to getting where we want to go and what we have left to do to get there.
The contents of this presentation will focus on:
understanding critique
best practices for incorporating critiques into a design practice
identifying common challenges to critique and ways to improve our ability to deliver, collect and receive critique
In this presentation we’ll discuss the importance of critique and a language for discussing design. It can be easy to complain about the way things are and theorize on the way things should be. Progress comes from understanding why something is the way it is and then examining how it meets or does not meet its desired goals. This is critique. Critique is not about describing how bad something is, or proposing the ultimate solution. Critique is a dialogue, a conversation that takes place to better understand how we got to where we are, how close we are to getting where we want to go and what we have left to do to get there.
The contents of this presentation will focus on:
understanding critique
best practices for incorporating critiques into a design practice
identifying common challenges to critique and ways to improve our ability to deliver, collect and receive critique
Design critique - how can I make this better?Cameron Rogers
The ability to seek out critical feedback on your own design work is, unfortunately, an increasingly rare trait. It can be uncomfortable. Expecting a lone designer to understand all possible interactions, emerging design trends, cross-product dependencies and impacts of their product is unrealistic and places unfair expectations on designers to design amazing solutions in isolation.
Here's a design critique framework I've been pulling together over the last couple of years, some of the ideas will be familiar, some may be new, hopefully there’s a takeaway for everyone.
Discussing Design: The Art of Critique - ixdaNYCAaron Irizarry
By taking the time to examine critique and how it fits into the design process and both an activity and an aspect of any communication we can focus our conversations and improve our ability to collaborate. In this presentation we'll examine the language, rules and strategies for improving the conversations with teammates and provide attendees with takeaways that can immediately be put to work to create a useful, collaborative environment for discussing designs.
Critique is a vital skill for any good designer. Here we talk about it's application in everyday life as well as the formal work we do with clients as UX Designers.
This talk has been given at a number of conferences by myself and the amazing Aaron Irizaryy (http://www.thisisaaronslife.com/)
We'll be keeping the most up-to-date version of the slides uploaded here. If you'd like a copy from a previous iteration, please get in touch with either Aaron or myself, and we'll happily get one to you.
Updated 5/55 to the version used at WebVisions Portland in 2012.
7.5 Tips for Becoming a Brainstorming GeniusBrightEdge
Katie Fetting's sermon on why what you say is rapidly becoming less important than how you say it. Learn to brainstorm content that's clearer, wittier, and cooler than your competition.
We’ll explore critique as both an activity and an aspect of any communication or collaboration. Attendees will walk away with:
A clearer understanding of critique is and why asking for “feedback” is problematic.
Methods for gathering useful feedback from clients and teammates.
Ideas on how to introduce team members to the idea of critique and get everyone using it.
An understanding of where critique fits within the design processes and how to incorporate it into projects.
Hands on collaboration has become a dominant approach to designing new solutions whether they be for products, services, environments, etc. But bringing people who have different perspectives of a topic, ways of expressing themselves, and levels of comfort in working together can be tricky. Taking the time to think through why, how, and when to best bring people together and intentionally design your design workshops helps to ensure that at the end of your event you walk away with the information and answers you need.
A presentation for the Sydney MeetUp group: Sydney eLearning and Instructional Designers about how to apply design thinking concepts of product development to instructional design.
Our CEO, Oliver Kempkens, joined the Design Thinking Summit in Graz as a keynote speaker. Discover his insights and get to know what Design Thinking is about.
This presentation was given at a Design Thinking workshop as part of Philly Tech Week 2017. Topics covered include an intro to design thinking, a User Journey mapping activity, and a Team Design Challenge.
Embodied Critique: Design critique methodology for the whole team and the who...Billie Mandel
Bringing your whole self to your design critique practice is not only good for the soul, but good for the quality of a creative team's output. Resolve conflict, make awesomer work, and feel more satisfied and happy while doing it. Here's how.
An end to end design thinking exercise. An inclusive activity for the whole team to participate. From designers, to researchers, to engineers and product managers.
Discuss Design Without Losing Your MindAdam Connor
This is an updated version of Discussing Design: The Art of Critique.
We’ve all struggled at times in sharing our designs with teammates and stakeholders and collecting feedback on them. The comments we receive can seem to more about personal preference or indicate some misalignment of goals and vision for the project.
Our ability to critique and to facilitate critique with others speaks directly to the quality of these conversations. Designers frequently complain about the quality and uselessness of the feedback they are given, but we rarely take a step back and examine how to collect useful feedback and make our discussions around our designs more productive.
With this talk we look deeper into the various aspects of critique, not just as an activity for collecting feedback, but as a key skill in our ability to communicate and collaborate. We examine the language, rules and strategies for critique and provide participants with takeaways that can immediately be put to work to create a useful, collaborative environment for discussing designs.
Design Thinking to Co-Design Solutions: Presented at ACMP 2018Enterprise Knowledge
This presentation from EK's Rebecca Wyatt and Claire Brawdy details how the Design Thinking process can be applied to facilitate sessions and engage end users in the design process. Originally presented at the ACMP Change Management 2018 Conference in Las Vegas.
In the technical feverish world every one become a techie by using mobile or other electronic gadgets. Though we promoted as a techie we should not loose our creativity and innovation skills.
The process of design thinking starts with Empathy. This presentation aims to give an overview of the process, a few tactics and ideas to help learners understand what design thinking is, and why it can be so powerful.
Design tenets: One Step closer to a pixel perfect experiencePetr Stedry
This presentation will tell you:
- what design tenets are
- when and why use them
- how co create your own tenets
This version was user on the UX Camp Europe 2011 in Berlin at June 11.
Hands on collaboration has become a dominant approach to designing new solutions whether they be for products, services, environments, etc. But bringing people who have different perspectives of a topic, ways of expressing themselves, and levels of comfort in working together can be tricky. Taking the time to think through why, how, and when to best bring people together and intentionally design your design workshops helps to ensure that at the end of your event you walk away with the information and answers you need.
A presentation for the Sydney MeetUp group: Sydney eLearning and Instructional Designers about how to apply design thinking concepts of product development to instructional design.
Our CEO, Oliver Kempkens, joined the Design Thinking Summit in Graz as a keynote speaker. Discover his insights and get to know what Design Thinking is about.
This presentation was given at a Design Thinking workshop as part of Philly Tech Week 2017. Topics covered include an intro to design thinking, a User Journey mapping activity, and a Team Design Challenge.
Embodied Critique: Design critique methodology for the whole team and the who...Billie Mandel
Bringing your whole self to your design critique practice is not only good for the soul, but good for the quality of a creative team's output. Resolve conflict, make awesomer work, and feel more satisfied and happy while doing it. Here's how.
An end to end design thinking exercise. An inclusive activity for the whole team to participate. From designers, to researchers, to engineers and product managers.
Discuss Design Without Losing Your MindAdam Connor
This is an updated version of Discussing Design: The Art of Critique.
We’ve all struggled at times in sharing our designs with teammates and stakeholders and collecting feedback on them. The comments we receive can seem to more about personal preference or indicate some misalignment of goals and vision for the project.
Our ability to critique and to facilitate critique with others speaks directly to the quality of these conversations. Designers frequently complain about the quality and uselessness of the feedback they are given, but we rarely take a step back and examine how to collect useful feedback and make our discussions around our designs more productive.
With this talk we look deeper into the various aspects of critique, not just as an activity for collecting feedback, but as a key skill in our ability to communicate and collaborate. We examine the language, rules and strategies for critique and provide participants with takeaways that can immediately be put to work to create a useful, collaborative environment for discussing designs.
Design Thinking to Co-Design Solutions: Presented at ACMP 2018Enterprise Knowledge
This presentation from EK's Rebecca Wyatt and Claire Brawdy details how the Design Thinking process can be applied to facilitate sessions and engage end users in the design process. Originally presented at the ACMP Change Management 2018 Conference in Las Vegas.
In the technical feverish world every one become a techie by using mobile or other electronic gadgets. Though we promoted as a techie we should not loose our creativity and innovation skills.
The process of design thinking starts with Empathy. This presentation aims to give an overview of the process, a few tactics and ideas to help learners understand what design thinking is, and why it can be so powerful.
Design tenets: One Step closer to a pixel perfect experiencePetr Stedry
This presentation will tell you:
- what design tenets are
- when and why use them
- how co create your own tenets
This version was user on the UX Camp Europe 2011 in Berlin at June 11.
Our ability to critique speaks directly to the quality of the conversations we have with teammates, whether they be designers, developers, stakeholders or whomever about the ideas and designs we have for the services, products and websites we’re creating. We need to work collaboratively with our teams and in doing so, each team member needs to have an understanding of the goals we’ve set for our design.
Discussing Design Without Losing your Mind [Code and Creativity 10/7]Aaron Irizarry
Getting feedback from clients, teams, and stakeholders can be terrifying. We’ve all had our designs berated during painful meetings that result in nothing actionable or useful.
This presentation provides tips and techniques for improving the conversations you have surrounding design with your teams, clients, and organizations.
Design Thinking for Startups - Are You Design Driven?Amir Khella
This presentation provides some best practices and tools to help small business entrepreneurs and startup founders in creating a culture of innovation.
Whether you're working on a web 2.0, iPhone or a physical gadget, these simple practices are universally applicable.
***Note****
I will be running a webinar in October 2009 to expand on the points mentioned in this presentation, study design thinking use cases and stories and answer questions. Please leave a comment and follow the discussion, or follow @amirkhella on twitter to get notified about the webinar.
The elements of product success for designers and developersNick Myers
All software, whether it's for consumers or workers, needs to meet the ever growing demands people have in today’s world. Greater user expectations and influence are forcing companies to create and deliver better products, but not every organization has a rich heritage in software creation like tech giants Apple and Google. Most companies need to be more customer-focused, become design specialists, and transform their cultures as they shift to become both software makers and innovators.
Myers, head of design services at Cooper, will share the elements of product success that companies need to possess and be market leaders: user insight, design, and organization. Myers will share principles and techniques that successful innovative companies use to truly understand their customers. He’ll also discuss the methods effective designers use to support their customers and create breakthrough ideas and delightful experiences. And he’ll finish by sharing the magic formula organizations need to deliver ground-breaking experiences to market.
This talk was given at UX Day.
Critique and The Design Process: Facilitating Better FeedbackAaron Irizarry
Conversations about the quality and effectiveness of your design work can be challenging. In this presentation, Aaron Irizarry, author of Discussing Design, examines the language, rules, and strategies for critique. You’ll learn takeaways to immediately put to work for creating a useful, collaborative environment for discussing design.
An understanding of where critique fits within the design process and how to incorporate it into projects.
Methods for gathering useful feedback from clients and teammates.
Filtering solid critiques from personal opinion.
Critique and remote teams, how to make it work.
Challenges to critique and the path to better conversations.
Design thinking myths - valuing terrible ideas doesn’t mean all ideas are sam...Stephanie Beath
No matter how well you know one another, I have yet to be with a single team where people had clarity about language without first directly addressing it in a workshop.
Take any word and ask people what it translates to in terms of activity – what it looks like when you see it in life.
1. When is something ‘complete’, ‘high quality’, ‘innovative’?
2. What does it look like when you have ‘trust’, ‘integrity’, ‘empathy?
3. How about being ‘bold’, ‘unique’, ‘professional’?
The variation is huge. Unless you nut it out, people agree to something with different expectations of what it means.
An Introduction to Design ThinkingPROCESS GUIDEWHAT is t.docxgalerussel59292
An Introduction to Design Thinking
PROCESS GUIDE
WHAT is the Empathize mode
Empathy is the centerpiece of a human-centered design process. The Empathize mode is
the work you do to understand people, within the context of your design challenge. It is your
effort to understand the way they do things and why, their physical and emotional needs, how
they think about world, and what is meaningful to them.
WHY empathize
As a design thinker, the problems you are trying to solve are rarely your own—they are those of
a particular group of people; in order to design for them, you must gain empathy for who they
are and what is important to them.
Observing what people do and how they interact with their environment gives you clues about
what they think and feel. It also helps you learn about what they need. By watching people,
you can capture physical manifestations of their experiences – what they do and say. This will
allow you to infer the intangible meaning of those experiences in order to uncover insights.
These insights give you direction to create innovative solutions. The best solutions come out
of the best insights into human behavior. But learning to recognize those insights is harder
than you might think. Why? Because our minds automatically filter out a lot of information
without our even realizing it. We need to learn to see things “with a fresh set of eyes,” and
empathizing is what gives us those new eyes.
Engaging with people directly reveals a tremendous amount about the way they think and
the values they hold. Sometimes these thoughts and values are not obvious to the people
who hold them, and a good conversation can surprise both the designer and the subject by
the unanticipated insights that are revealed. The stories that people tell and the things that
people say they do—even if they are different from what they actually do—are strong indicators
of their deeply held beliefs about the way the world is. Good designs are built on a solid
understanding of these beliefs and values.
HOW to empathize
To empathize, you:
- Observe. View users and their behavior in the context of their lives. As much as possible
do observations in relevant contexts in addition to interviews. Some of the most powerful
realizations come from noticing a disconnect between what someone says and what he does.
Others come from a work-around someone has created which may be very surprising to you as
the designer, but she may not even think to mention in conversation.
- Engage. Sometimes we call this technique ‘interviewing’ but it should really feel more like
a conversation. Prepare some questions you’d like to ask, but expect to let the conversation
deviate from them. Keep the conversation only loosely bounded. Elicit stories from the
people you talk to, and always ask “Why?” to uncover deeper meaning. Engagement can come
through both short ‘intercept’ encounters and longer scheduled conversations.
- W.
An Introduction to Design ThinkingPROCESS GUIDEWHAT .docxdaniahendric
An Introduction to Design Thinking
PROCESS GUIDE
WHAT is the Empathize mode
Empathy is the centerpiece of a human-centered design process. The Empathize mode is
the work you do to understand people, within the context of your design challenge. It is your
effort to understand the way they do things and why, their physical and emotional needs, how
they think about world, and what is meaningful to them.
WHY empathize
As a design thinker, the problems you are trying to solve are rarely your own—they are those of
a particular group of people; in order to design for them, you must gain empathy for who they
are and what is important to them.
Observing what people do and how they interact with their environment gives you clues about
what they think and feel. It also helps you learn about what they need. By watching people,
you can capture physical manifestations of their experiences – what they do and say. This will
allow you to infer the intangible meaning of those experiences in order to uncover insights.
These insights give you direction to create innovative solutions. The best solutions come out
of the best insights into human behavior. But learning to recognize those insights is harder
than you might think. Why? Because our minds automatically filter out a lot of information
without our even realizing it. We need to learn to see things “with a fresh set of eyes,” and
empathizing is what gives us those new eyes.
Engaging with people directly reveals a tremendous amount about the way they think and
the values they hold. Sometimes these thoughts and values are not obvious to the people
who hold them, and a good conversation can surprise both the designer and the subject by
the unanticipated insights that are revealed. The stories that people tell and the things that
people say they do—even if they are different from what they actually do—are strong indicators
of their deeply held beliefs about the way the world is. Good designs are built on a solid
understanding of these beliefs and values.
HOW to empathize
To empathize, you:
- Observe. View users and their behavior in the context of their lives. As much as possible
do observations in relevant contexts in addition to interviews. Some of the most powerful
realizations come from noticing a disconnect between what someone says and what he does.
Others come from a work-around someone has created which may be very surprising to you as
the designer, but she may not even think to mention in conversation.
- Engage. Sometimes we call this technique ‘interviewing’ but it should really feel more like
a conversation. Prepare some questions you’d like to ask, but expect to let the conversation
deviate from them. Keep the conversation only loosely bounded. Elicit stories from the
people you talk to, and always ask “Why?” to uncover deeper meaning. Engagement can come
through both short ‘intercept’ encounters and longer scheduled conversations.
- ...
Design Zen – Improving your designs by staying curious longerPetr Stedry
Open curiosity is a powerful force. The art of asking questions helps me to stay focused on needs and goals longer before plunging into solutioneering. And the Open Questions document helps me crowdsource getting the answers.
This is my initial talk about the topic from the 2017 UX Camp Europe, that took place on 3rd and 4th of June in Berlin.
Myslíte si, že UX je jen o Photoshopu?
Že je to jen o návrhu UI – nebo taky jinak interakčním designu? Že UXák, který nerozezná zelenou od červené nebude úspěšný?Nebo, že by to bylo všechno trochu jinak? ;)
Tuhle řeč jsem měl 5. prosince 2015 na Barcampu v Ostravě.
Velké díky organizátorům za TRUE BARCAMP TRACK! YES!
Jak poznám dobrýho designéra, když ho chci najmout do týmu?Petr Stedry
Jednoho dne zjistíte, že potřebujete designéra. UXáka, digital product designéra, interakčního designéra nebo jak se mu teď moderně všelijak říká. Dáte si inzeráty, najmete headhuntera nebo to zkusíte svépomocí. Sejdou se Vám kandidáti a Vy se chystáte na pohovor. Na co se zeptat? Jak se připravit? Jak vybrat toho nejlepšího?
Ve Zlíně jsem se nasdílel své tipy, jak si urovnat myšlenky a upřesnit, koho vlastně potřebujete.
A ukázalo se, že designéři si to přišli poslechnout i z druhé strany - jak se lépe prodat.
Have you ever thought how the tools you use in your job as a UX Designer apply to your life? That they could be used to design a different kind of experience?
These thoughts crossed my mind and this is the second iteration of the idea as presented on Saturday June 7th 2014 at the UX Camp Europe in Berlin.
Hello everyone! I am thrilled to present my latest portfolio on LinkedIn, marking the culmination of my architectural journey thus far. Over the span of five years, I've been fortunate to acquire a wealth of knowledge under the guidance of esteemed professors and industry mentors. From rigorous academic pursuits to practical engagements, each experience has contributed to my growth and refinement as an architecture student. This portfolio not only showcases my projects but also underscores my attention to detail and to innovative architecture as a profession.
PDF SubmissionDigital Marketing Institute in NoidaPoojaSaini954651
https://www.safalta.com/online-digital-marketing/advance-digital-marketing-training-in-noidaTop Digital Marketing Institute in Noida: Boost Your Career Fast
[3:29 am, 30/05/2024] +91 83818 43552: Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida also provides advanced classes for individuals seeking to develop their expertise and skills in this field. These classes, led by industry experts with vast experience, focus on specific aspects of digital marketing such as advanced SEO strategies, sophisticated content creation techniques, and data-driven analytics.
Visual Style and Aesthetics: Basics of Visual Design
Visual Design for Enterprise Applications
Range of Visual Styles.
Mobile Interfaces:
Challenges and Opportunities of Mobile Design
Approach to Mobile Design
Patterns
Between Filth and Fortune- Urban Cattle Foraging Realities by Devi S Nair, An...Mansi Shah
This study examines cattle rearing in urban and rural settings, focusing on milk production and consumption. By exploring a case in Ahmedabad, it highlights the challenges and processes in dairy farming across different environments, emphasising the need for sustainable practices and the essential role of milk in daily consumption.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
White wonder, Work developed by Eva TschoppMansi Shah
White Wonder by Eva Tschopp
A tale about our culture around the use of fertilizers and pesticides visiting small farms around Ahmedabad in Matar and Shilaj.
1. My designer “career” started about ten years ago as a professional JAVA developer.
I quickly moved from programming to design, from startup to a corporation, to an agency and
finally to another startup - GoodData, where I work now.
Hi, my name is Peter.
2003 2012
2. I don’t like your design!
I’ve been hearing this statement quite often.
That’s because I lead UX design workshops, trying to educate web designers, product
managers and fledgling UX designers to respect the human who will be using their software
3. I always tailor the contents of the workshop to the needs of the people that attend it.
There’s one single theme, that I did not anticipate.
Something I did not know was a part of the UX designer’s skill-set.
4. Critique isn’t it?
It’s easy,
Most people severely underestimate how important it is and how much a proper critique can
improve their design skills.
Most people also think critique is easy. But good, meaningful, productive critique is very hard
to master. The Dunning-Kruger effect does not help either.
5. Raise your hands ...
‣ Who criticised
someone else’s
design?
‣ Who used:
I don’t like it.
Wow! That’s fantastic!
6. I don’t like it.
Wow! That’s fantastic!
This is not critique
7. You can agree or disagree with an opinion
But that will not make it more useful to you as a designer.
8. So what what is critique?
Well, wikipedia will give you a definition.
But the connection to design might not be immediately clear.
What is critique?
9. Critique is about a systematic and detailed analysis.
Critique is about critical thinking.
About not accepting the world as it is, challenging the status quo.
10. Argument
Argument
Argument
Argument
Argument
Argument
At the heart of critique is an argument.
But not all arguments are created equal.
11. < Opinion Strong Critique >
There are weaker arguments, based on inductive reasoning, consensus or analogies.
12. < Opinion Strong Critique >
A strong critique in design is always based on research or results of usability testing.
l always think more about arguments based on research, usability testing and user
observation in general.
I’m interested in good psychology and design research papers. E-mail:petr.stedry@gmail.com
13. Ouch
Receiving critique
There are two sides in every critique. The giving and receiving end.
Let’s start our exploration with your work being criticized. This part is more personal and
definitely harder to handle.
14. It’s important, that a designer knows how to receive critique. Why?
There might not be enough time to educate the critics on how to perform the critique properly.
15. Even other designers are not very trained in critique.
And thanks to the Dunning-Kruger effect, they might not be aware of it.
16. Intent
Let’s start with intent, the hidden motivation behind critique.
Why have you asked for critique?
Did you decide you want to hear it?
Has it been forced upon you?
17. Do you need a hug? Then go to your mom.
You should not invite critique when you just want a pat on your shoulder.
18. Did you just want to show off your supreme design skillz?
Well, why not, but it won’t work as a critique session.
Only call for critique if you want your design improved. This has to be your main motivation.
19. Information
The critics need information to base their reasoning on.
You should present as much information as needed for an effective critique to take place.
But there’s constraints you should be aware of.
20. First you need to define the scope of the critique.
Without it, people will pick what they want to shoot. Err ... criticize.
21. It’s good to share Personas, Scenarios and basically any other user research you’ve based
your work on.
22. But you do not want the critics to follow you in your footsteps.
Just show them where did you intend to go - what were your design goals and constraints?
It’s a good idea to stop them (show your failed designs) if they’re headed in a wrong direction.
23. You need them to form their own opinion!
It’s those aha moments, that provide the most valuable insights.
24. This means, try not to explain your design decisions!
I know this sounds hard. And it is, but try it.
25. Emotional
Attachment
This is urge comes from your emotional attachment.
You invested a lot of effort into the design.
You have the right to be emotionally attached. It’s natural.
26. Your first reaction to critique will probably be defensive. It’s extremely tempting to rationalize
your design decisions – to explain why you did the things the way you did.
This is a mechanism to protect your mind from the cognitive dissonance.
Look for it and counter this reaction with the conscious mind.
27. Back off and act as if you are not around when critique is given.
Let the design fight for itself. Putting the design away for a month does wonders.
28. You won't be around when real people see and use the design.
30. Think about it and if there is anything, you don’t understand, ask why.
Your goal is not agree or disagree with the critics, but to understand where do their arguments
come from.
31. And even if you understand everything perfectly now, you won’t remember much of it in a few
days.
Human memory is not a good tool to hold potentially dissonant information.
According to research, you will continue to warp everything you remember so it conforms to
your beliefs.
32. You need to write everything down.
If you are not able to take notes during the session, ask someone to do it for you.
33. Need
help?
Giving Critique
On the other side of the spear, things look differently.
People think they help you, by expressing their opinion.
But it looks differently on the other side, doesn’t it?
Design critique needs to follow certain rules to be effective.
34. Intent, again
And we’re at the intent.
Again, because your motivation to critique is crucial.
Everything else follows it.
What is it you want?
Help improve the design or your reputation on twitter?
35. Imagine your reaction to these two statements.
Which one would you likely respond to?
On one side is a offer to help. On the other something entirely different.
Congratulations on your OMG! They redesigned their
redesign! I love the site. site, again. What a #ux #fail
When you get a chance, I
would like to give you some
feedback.
Can I buy you a beer or send
you an email?
36. So don’t be selfish.
Wake the altruist in you.
There is something for you too.
37. Your observation skills improve.
And you will learn to better differentiate between the good design and bad design.
And by doing it, your intuition will get better too.
38. The critique has to come at the right moment.
Is the designer ready to reflect on the design?
Is he prepared to what you have to say?
Right moment
39. Throwing an email in the general direction of the designer usually does not help anyone.
How would you personally respond to such a message?
Critique without a discussion, does not make sense.
40. Don’t assume, know.
When criticizing someone’s work, you should to know their design goals, constraints and
target audience.
Without it, you cannot objectively evaluate the quality of the design.
Yet it happens to be done this way so often.
41. It is as if you were wandering around city on a foggy day, unable to see most of its beauty and
flaws. When in doubt, ask.
If you do not know what to ask to break that “I’dont like that” feeling down, we’ll come to that
in a few moments.
42. I’ve seen this so many times. The critics want to help by proposing a different solution.
That’s not a bad thing per se, but don’t force it.
Mention the idea and only explain more if the designer is interested.
Proposing solutions
43. Be sure that the solution you propose is aligned with the design goals, personas and
everything else the designer told you.
Handle it carefully. Or there might be unpleasant surprises :)
44. The Critique Session
So the time is right and you would like to discuss your design with people.
45. ?
How many people should you aim for in a critique round?
How many people did you have the best experience with?
46. I had the best experience with one on one type of session.
Even if it is more time consuming to go through the design with multiple people this way.
They are far easier to moderate than group sessions.
Some people behave very differently when in a group.
47. If you have to do a group session, invite 4-6 people at most.
And it’s a good idea to appoint a moderator, that will keep the discussion civil and on topic.
Other helpful tools are - round robin (ask them in sequence) or directly ask questions.
48. What to ask?
Sometimes it may happen, that you do not know, where to start.
Or you just have a feeling you can’t really pinpoint. You can’t tell, what you like or dislike.
These two emotions are just signals from your subconsciousness.
This is your intuition speaking.
49. Who?
‣ Does the design solve a specific
problem they have?
‣ Does it speak to the customer or just
to the designer’s ego?
50. How?
‣ How can you simplify the concept?
‣ How does your solution meet a
specific need of the Persona?
51. What?
‣ What is the main argument?
‣ Is it strong enough to satisfy
the design goal?
52. Why?
‣ Why is the other person approaching
the problem in this way?
‣ Use the 5 Whys to dig deeper.
Why had the designer used this particular design element?
But use it sparingly. Why questions might provoke the designer to defend himself and start
rationalizing. Or the people really might not know why :)
53. If you want to critique visual design, then this chart from the book by Stephen Anderson
might come handy.
from Seductive Interaction Design by Stephen Anderson
54. To sum up ...
‣ Be humble
‣ Detach yourself emotionally
‣ Be specific
‣ Learn to listen
Accept the critique without defending yourself.
Get some distance between yourself and your design.
Try to get to the point.
And learn to listen and understand.
55. You can reach me at
petr.stedry@gmail.com | @vorkronor | delicious.com/vorkronor
GoodCamping :)
I mean it with the research papers.
Thanks for sending me some :)
Source for all images - internet