Introducing Design Critique at Immediate Media
In the Immediate Media experience design team, we’ve recently introduced formal critique sessions.
- A critique session is a dedicated time and space for sharing work.
- It follows a defined structure that aides open and constructive feedback.
- It’s about embedding sharing and feedback into our process, with the aim of improving output and learning from each other.
WHY WE INTRODUCED CRITIQUE
To make time for feedback
Critique sessions ring-fence time to give and receive feedback. This way, designers don’t have to feel like they’re asking a favour when getting feedback; and conversely don’t feel like they’re letting people down when they’re too busy to give feedback.
In the new world of home working, hybrid working and hot desking this is even more vital. The opportunity for informal ‘what-do-you-think-of-this’ conversations is rarer so building it into our schedules ensures designers are getting the chance to share their work.
To make feedback more structured
Although critique is a conversation around design, it’s not a free-for-all. There’s a defined structure to the conversation to ensure it remains focused and positive.
Furthermore, by pre-planning the session, we ensure that work is shared cross-team and cross-discipline as much as possible, so feedback doesn’t come from an echo chamber.
To learn vital skills
The process of critiquing work is a really great learning experience for both the presenter and the audience. It helps us develop skills in presenting our work, gives us time and space to look at design approaches and consider problems, and lets us see how other people approach problem-solving and design.
To improve our products
Critique isn’t just a feel-good, team building exercise. Ultimately, it’s about improving our product design. Design isn’t a one-person job and as designers we should invite feedback and collaboration. At Immediate, cross-team critique groups also makes us more aware of what each other teams are doing.
HOW WE INTRODUCED CRITIQUE
1. Created a structure
In planning the structure for our critique sessions, I leaned heavily on the work of others and would advise you to do the same. I’d recommend the following reading:
- Four Things Working at Facebook Has Taught Me About Design Critique on Meta design blog
- Design Critiques on NN Group
- Mastering Design Critique on UX Collective
2. Shared the purpose
When introducing critique, it’s key to share the purpose of the session. It’s highly likely that designers will have had sessions where they present their work for the sake of communication or to receive sign off. Critique has a different purpose so it’s important to differentiate it.
I ran intro sessions with the experience design team. In these I tried to highlight how critique sessions differ from meetings or presentations:
- It’s not a meeting for communicating work > It is part of your design process
- It’s not a formal presentation > It is a chance to share work in progress
- It’s not a teardown > It is focussed and constructive feedback
- It’s not about taking control away from you > It is insight from your peers, but you decide on the final direction of your work
3. Critiqued the critique
As part of the intro sessions, I ran a pre-mortem with the UX and UI designers. Stealing from the agile playbook, I used the sailboat activity to see if we could pre-empt what would and wouldn’t work. And, taking on the feedback, I tailored the process and I’m tracking these issues closely as we go.
4. Addressed the main concerns
Critiquing
For our team, the biggest area of anxiety was around giving and receiving critique. This is unsurprising as critique isn’t just about throwing in your 2 pennies worth. Although the sessions are structured to aide positive feedback, critique is still a skill that needs to be learned. There were worries about upsetting teammates or, conversely, being upset by feedback you’ve received.
Like with any skill, the best way to achieve it is through practice. However, there were a few things I did to help the first session.
- Reiterated the importance of following the structure.
- Ran a session with further guidance on how to critique, starting with the mindset of working together to solve the problem.
- Set up reciprocal sessions where everything gets a chance to present and critique.
- Ran a test critique session to get used to the format and collect early feedback.
Prep time
The second biggest problem raised, was around time to prepare. This had a simple solution: don’t prepare. Again, critique isn’t a presentation. People should be encouraged to share whatever they are currently working on – or just talk through the problem without any visuals.
I think this can go against our tendencies as designers, because we’re often used to ‘delivering’ projects. However, critique is about sharing work with peers. You wouldn’t tidy up a Figma file before you showed the person sitting next to you, so don’t tidy it up for critique either.
HOW’S IT’S GOING SO FAR
We’ve only run a few sessions so far and generally the feedback has been positive and the team has seen it as a valuable use of their time. I’m aware, however, that initial enthusiasm can wane and that sacrificing 90 minutes in busy diaries is a big ask.
I’m therefore keeping track of feedback via a survey after each session so that we can address any problems and ensure it remains useful and relevant. And I also plan to run a feedback session after 6 months – similar to the pre-mortem I ran before we started – to see if there are any major concerns that need addressing.
As UX and UI designers it’s vital that we get used to explaining our design decisions, taking feedback on board and giving constructive critique. This will not only make our work better, but also develop us as practitioners. And I hope by introducing formal critique sessions, these skills will become second nature and far more embedded in our process as designers.
