Critique is a type of structured feedback that examines what works and doesn't work in a design from the perspective of the audience and goals. It should provide specific, actionable feedback. Incorporating critique into the design process provides benefits like new ideas, improved communication skills, and collaboration. Critiques can be done internally at different stages of a project or with clients. They work best with 3-6 diverse participants and last 30-60 minutes. Ground rules and clear goals help critiques run effectively. With practice, critique is a skill that can improve design work.

1. Ready, Set, Critique!
The Value of Critique and Integrating it into your Design Process
Adam Connor - Senior Experience Designer

2. ICE BREAKING
Let’s talk about…
 Part 1: What is critique
 Part 2: Integrating critique into your process
 Part 3: How to critique and run critique sessions

3. ICE BREAKING
Part 1: What is Critique?

4. Feedback is Important
Feedback is the mechanism by which we
understand the response, reaction or
impact what we do, or a product we’ve
created, has on a person, an environment,
a system, etc.
So why are so many people afraid of it?
 People take it personally
 No one wants to be wrong
 wrong = failure
 wrong = vulnerable

5. Why do we fear feedback?

6. What makes good feedback?
Good feedback…
 should identify where, and how a design is meeting it’s goals
 should identify where, and how a design is not meeting it’s goals
 should be delivered in a form in which the person receiving the feedback
understands it and can act upon it to make improvements.
This is critique!

7. What is critique?
Critique is:
 a “type” of feedback…
 focused on describing what does and what does not work, as well as how and why.
 delivered from the perspective of the audience/users and goals of the design.
 a activity used to collect structured feedback…
 in which participants give their feedback in the form of critique.

8. Critique vs. Criticism
Criticism… Critique…
finds fault examines structure
looks for problems looks for what does and doesn’t work
condemns what it doesn’t understand asks for clarification
is abrasive is honest and objective
is negative is positive even about what isn’t
working
is general and vague is concrete and specific

9. What is critique?
Ways in which we already collect feedback
 Reviews
 Focus Groups
 Surveys
 Usability Studies
* Image by smannion, from Flickr
Critique does not replace any of the tools
we already have.

10. The Value of Critique
For Designers
 Encourages Designers to “detach”
themselves from their designs and
examine them objectively
 Provides access to new ideas that
Designers may not have found alone
 Provides practice in listening to and
responding to feedback
 Provides practice in explaining the
thinking and rationale behind design
decisions

11. The Value of Critique
For Design and Project Teams
 Helps establish a common framework
for discussing designs and ideas
 Creates opportunities for more team
interaction, building collaboration and
trust
 Allows for a cross-pollination of ideas
for projects

12. The Value of Critique
 Learning to critique well makes us better communicators.
 Critiquing well is about understanding what makes for good
feedback, how to give it, and how to get it.

13. ICE BREAKING
Part 2: Incorporating Critique Into Your Process

14. Be Prepared
 Find a good room
 space to move around
 plenty of wall space for posting
designs
 whiteboard, projector/display
 Make sure you have the right materials to
communicate what you’d like critiqued
(sketches, wireframes, prototypes, etc.)
 Make materials available ahead of time.
 Bring lots of post it notes and markers.

15. Who to Invite
 Identify 3 - 6 people you want to invite
 Consider attendees based on the goal of your session
 Business Analysts
 Product Strategists
 Developers
 Other Designers
 Consider personality, not just roles
 Don’t use the same people every time

16. Traditional Project Lifecycle
Refinement
Wrap-up of Details
Early on in the Project
Middle of Project
End of Project
Discovery

17. Traditional Project Lifecycle
What You’ve Been Working On
 Reviewing/setting high level user/business goals
 User research, competitive analysis
 Initial concepts, blue-sky vision
Example Goals
 Get feedback about a set of different concepts / approaches
 Explore the designs of competing products
Early on in the Project
Discovery
What You Might Look At
 Competing products
 Conceptual models/sketches/flows

18. Traditional Project Lifecycle
What You’ve Been Working On
 Designing detailed interactions and product behaviors
 Identifying variations in flows
 Solving for technical and business constraints
Example Goals
 Compare how different components of a system are designed
 Discuss potential usability issues
 Get cross-functional team feedback
Middle of Project
Refinement
What You Might Look At
 Screen-flow diagrams, wireframes, low-fidelity prototypes

19. Traditional Project Lifecycle
What You’ve Been Working On
 Finalizing detailed design
 Solidify answers or solutions to issues
 Solving for technical and business constraints
Example Goals
 Analyze design details and the product’s full impact (beta)
 Discuss usability issues
 Get cross-functional team feedback
End of Project
Wrap-up of Details
What You Might Look At
 Hi-fidelity prototypes
 Beta/Pilot systems

20. Critique in Agile
Week 1 Week 2
Iteration N
Sketch
Plan For Critique
Recruit for Usability
Hold Critique
Make Updates
Conduct Usability
Create New Stories
Review Stories
Involve your team from the beginning
 Invite developers, customers and maybe even the
product owner
Complete at least one critique per iteration
 Depending on the goal, you can have it either in
the middle or end of the iteration
 Account for critique session during estimation
 Attach to specific stories as necessary

21. The Design Studio Approach
 Rapid design activity
 Cross-functional team
 All participants design solutions
individually for a set period of time
 Collectively the group critiques the
individual designs
 Individuals iterate on their design
based on what they learned from the
critiques
 Individuals collect to form larger
groups merging ideas over successive
iterations

22. ICE BREAKING
Part 3: How to Critique and Run Critique Sessions

23. Critique is a Skill
 You will only get better with practice
 Start small
 Internal only
 Think before you speak
 Choose clients you critique with carefully

24. Ground Rules
 Everyone is equal
 Everyone is a critic
 It will be up to the designer to decide
which feedback to act upon and which
not to
 Design decisions are not to be made
during critiques
Always make sure to review these (and any other) ground rules with clients to gauge how comfortable they are with
them before planning a critique.
Also, post the ground rules in the room where the critique will be held.

25. The Opening
 Clearly describe the goals of the
product but not how it’s intended to
achieve them
 Present the product quickly
 Be careful when talking about
constraints

26. Techniques and Tools for Good Critique
 Active Listening / Question for Clarity
 Moderators
 Quotas
 Round-Robin
 Direct Inquiry
 Feedback Frameworks
 Six Thinking Hats
 Expertise Specific Feedback

27. Things to Avoid
 Poor body language
 Preference based feedback
 Unqualified feedback
 Being overly defensive
 Problem solving

28. Follow Up
 Document the observations and open
questions that came out of the critique
and post/share them
 Follow up with individuals to for more
feedback or to go explore a proposed
idea
 Communicate next steps: what
activities will occur prior to the next
critique

29. Dealing with Difficult Individuals
 Set expectations at the beginning of the sessions
 Make sure everyone understands what critique is
 Ask quiet people for feedback directly.
 Use “Laddering” to provoke explanations.
 Use personas and documented goals to help ensure everyone stays focused
 Request specific feedback from people with regard to their areas of expertise
(development, marketing, etc)

30. In Summary
 Learning to critique well improves our ability to communicate with our teams,
clients and others.
 The ability to critique well will only improve with practice.
 Critique focuses on what works, what doesn’t and why, and is delivered from the
perspective of a well-defined audience and goals.
 Critique can be done both internally and with clients.
 Critique is best done with 3-6 people in 30 minutes to 1 hour.
 Be sure to clearly communicate the goals of a critique session as well as ground
rules to all participants.

31. Thank You
Documentation
 Slides can be found at:
http://www.slideshare.net/adamconnor
Adam Connor
Senior Experience Designer
aconnor@madpow.net
Twitter @adamconnor
More Thoughts on Critique
 Scott Berkun – How to Run a Design Critique
http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/23-how-to-run-a-design-critique/
 Viget Labs – Taming the Elephant: Design Critique with Non-Designers
http://www.viget.com/inspire/design-critiques/
 Digital Web Magazine – The Delicate Art of (Web) Design Critique
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_design_critique/
 Jared Spool - What Goes Into a Well-Done Critique
http://www.uie.com/articles/critique/