Critiques Explained

12 Aug 2016

tl;dr: Critiques are often use in creative fields like art, architecture and design. They're a facilitated review of projects where you get feedback on your work from peers and instructors alike.

What is critique?

A critique session is an in-depth review of one or more creative projects. It typically involves multiple people (either experts or non-experts) who will examine and respond to the work. It’s a dialog that takes place between a presenter and a set of critics about the project. The goal of a critique is to generate thoughtful reflection on the direction, implementation and success of a project through this conversation.

Formats

Critiques can follow many formats. They’re wide and varied; there’s no set format or timescale for a critique. Some may be very informal while some can be highlight moderated. Some can be 10-15 minutes while others can last for hours.

Sidebar: You’ll experience a few different ways of doing crits in this class!

Purpose

Regardless of the format,

The purpose is to make your outcomes better

This is important to remember this. At times it can feel harsh, embarrassing, stressful and many other things to present and get feedback on your work as part of a critique. But everyone’s goal is to help you make better work.

So, what takes place

1. Normally the creator of the project (the presenter) will give an introduction or presentation of their work
2. Then they’ll step back and invite comments
3. The comments could be from anyone in the room - instructors, guests, other students; everyone is an equal participant and everyone’s opinion is equally valued.
4. The comments culd be specific or open ended. Comments might pose questions about the work, tackle shortcomings, or offer suggestions.
5. The presenter will then have a conversation with the critic. Sometimes this is short (a quick response) or it can be a back and forth.

Generally speaking, there’s a lot of thinking out loud.

Being a presenter

For someone not familiar with critique, this is really tough. It’s asking you to be vunerable and present your work (probably early stage) to a room of people. This isn’t an easy thing to do.

To get the most from your critique:

• Present your project as clearly and succinctly as possible. Be quick too, value the time of people giving feedback;
• Take ownership of the feedback. Close your summary of the project by acknowledging what you want feedback on or what you don’t want to spend time on too.
• Ask the questions you want answers to. Prime your critics and define how you’d like them to review the work.
• Be direct and direct action (e.g. it’s perfectly ok to say ‘actually I’d like to talk more about…’ )
• Be polite - thank the critics for their feedback;
• Avoid being defensive. It’s easy when your project is being picked apart to loose sight that people in the room are generally trying to help you. If that happens, take a breath!
• Listen - even if you don’t agree with the point being made, hear the critic out and don’t dismiss it!
• Most of all be forgiving. It’s raw, rapid, and people are responding to your work on the spot. You mightn’t get the most focused or well conceived feedback. People might misunderstand your project. All sorts of things can happen. It’s not your critics fault!

… And don’t forget to take notes! Not only is it useful for later but it shows the critics you’re prepared and engaged with what they have to say.

Being a critic

Above all else your goal is to give constructive feedback. This means being thoughtful in your remarks and reflecting on the project. Avoid harsh critism, hostility, and all that bad stuff.

Here’s some tips:

• Try to identify some strengths of the project before you highlight weaknesses. What have they done well and what are their successes? Acknowledge them.
• Make shortcomings actionable. While big audacious next steps and potential directions are great, it’s much more helpful to have a suggestion for something concrete that could be implemented in a next revision of the work. If you call out weaknesses, you should try to offer ways to quickly overcome or solve them. Explain how your suggestion would improve the outcome and why its important to do.
• Match intent: Make sure your feedback and criticisms match up with the goals of the project. Have you spent the time listening to the creator and what their goals are or have you dug into the project text to find out what they are articulating as their project’s goals? Think about how strengths, shortcoming, and next steps relate to the intentions behind the work - are they connected or peripheral?
• Share what you know. Point out connections to work they might not know about that relates to their project. Are their relationships to ideas, theories, technologies that they might have missed? What examples might help them focus their direction or goals?
• Be professional. Above everything else, this is key. Remember the critic is vulnerable when getting feedback. Make sure you’re being helpful not harsh. It’s OK to be critical - this helps the work get better and us to learn - but there is a line. You don’t want to be hostile, argumentative, or aggressive. In other words, make your point but don’t force it!
• Be forgiving: Sometimes the person getting the critique won’t hear you or fully understand what you’ve said. Be patient! They’re fielding a lot of feedback and sometimes things slip through the net.

An Excerpt from ‘The 4 essentials of a design critique’

Design critiques are guided group discussions used to elicit useful feedback.

Here are the four essential steps and key questions to consider in a design critique:

1. Overview

• Initial reactions: What is your first impression of the design?
• Content: Is everything present that should be included in the design?
• Aesthetics: What is the total overall effect? Does it feel right?
• Style: Does the design style seem appropriate for the stated goal or purpose?

1. Analysis

• Layout: Does everything seem to be in the right place?
• Flow: Does the content appear in a natural and logical progression?
• Usability: Is it easy to use or interact with the design solution?
• Typography: Does the type feel appropriate in tone?
• Color: How is color used? What effect does it have in terms of conveying the desired message?
• Completeness: Is anything missing? Conversely, is anything there that shouldn’t be?

1. Interpretation

• Audience: How do you think the target audience will respond to this solution? Why? Why not?
• Details: Is the use of these particular graphic elements consistent with the goals of the project? Why? Why not?
• Problem areas: What things in this solution are not as effective as they could be? Why do you think that?
• Appeal: Is this an effective and appealing design for the context it will live in? Why? Why not?

1. Evaluation

• Brief: Does this design fulfill the creative brief. If not, why not?
• Judgment: Given the answers to the above, does this design work?

Learn more

Scott Berkun’s essay #35 – How to give and receive criticism - a highly recommended read which covers exactly what you need to know to be a great critic / presenter! Summarised as follows:

How to give critical feedback: a) Before you speak, know the goals; b) Good and bad, is not the same as what you like or don’t like; c) Talk as much about what it is, as what it isn’t. d) Try the PNP sandwich (positive negative positive)

Receiving critical feedback: a) Shut up. Just shut up and listen; b) Ask clarifying questions. c) Refer back to the goals. d) Ask for what changes you can make that will satisfy the criticism.

Also great Scott’s #23 – How to run a design critique

Learning Environments Lab in the School of Design has a number of resources and worksheets which can help you prepare for a design critique

Other articles

• Steve Fisher offers some tips for giving and receiving criticism on your work
• ZURB has a briefing on Critiquing from a UX perspective
• Boundless Communications has two articles on Techniques for Accepting Criticism and Giving Effective Criticism which are pretty good.
• Teaching Students to Critique provides a sample set of focus questions for an art critique related to four major areas of art criticism. This PDF has a much more detailed guide.
• And have a look at these two perspectives on surviving an art critique