Design Critiques
How to best run and structure them

Introduction
Having recently moved jobs and been subject to a variety of design tasks, which I will hastily say I am opposed to (More on this another time) I was asked to share my experience in how Design Critiques should run.
Having taken the time to step away and actually think about them, I thought I would share what I have learned and what has worked for me.
This article primarily focuses on creating a template and role structure for Design Critiques. It’s important to note it’s not a one size fits all affair, so this template might not work for you. The main takeaways should be trying to create something that works for you and your team.
If you are open-minded in your approach and allow change organically, then naturally good work will happen and you’ll have happy collaborative people.
As a Head of Design, I’ve always been an advocate for designers in my team presenting their work at a very rough conceptual stage, as well as more polished work. Most designers in my experience only want to show pixel perfect work (including myself in the past). I personally think the less precious you are, the better.
Design Critiques have always been an important part of the product design role. I have always felt the value Critiques have on my own work and to the product squad.
I will admit, when I first started out in my design career I found Critiques pretty daunting. I had a fear of my pixel-perfect designs being scrutinised and torn apart and not being able to talk through my decision making concisely. Over time they have become a great go to tool.
A well-organised session can benefit everyone involved in the project and setting some simple ground rules and structure will lead to great outcomes.
What are Design Critiques?
Critique: a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory.
For designers, this means something like this.
Critique: Gain feedback on specific areas on a design which is currently in progress.
Things you can and should critique: User journey, UI interface, Content design, Brand design, Interaction design, Journey maps, Personas and much much more.
In my experience, Critiques work well for both product designers and brand designers alike. Showing work earlier means work can progress quicker and not go off brief.
Set up
- Optimal group size: 3–8 People
- Frequency: Once or twice a week
- Duration (30–60 mins)
Let’s look at the roles…

A Facilitator
The facilitator is someone who will organise the actual session. Good facilitators can be anyone who is well organised. A facilitator should work with the presenter to invite the right people.
The facilitator should understand what is being shown and why so that everyone is on the same page. This is crucial in time-efficient and productive sessions
The facilitator responsibilities are:
- Sending a pre-read and agenda of the session. What work is being shown and why. What hurdles or pain points the meeting aims to resolve.
- Ensure the right members are present. Setting the agenda and what is to be shown. They need to ensure the session is not a brainstorming session or a free for all for opinions.
- Set the meeting etiquette.
- Ensure others attending understand their roles and the Dos and Don’ts of the session.
- Ensure the meeting stays on track by timeboxing the agenda. Making sure the session moves forward positively.
- Wrap the end of the session up, and what the next steps are.

Presenter
The presenter is the person who is doing the work. They need to give context on the work being shown, who it’s for, the project’s goal and what problems they may need help with. If you have analytics, display them so everyone has a clear picture of the current solution.
I personally love using a large scale printer (A0 if possible) and promote teams to use it during critique sessions, especially journeys and flows. Printing work is especially useful as it allows people to see designs flows and great for amalgamating comments with Post-it notes.
Of course, interaction design and detailed UI designs are best off being shown on a specific device with the designs in a prototype so that it can be passed around and viewed in context.
It’s up to the presenter to choose a format of presenting that works for them. Sometimes not giving too much detail may result in more valuable feedback that is not biased. I personally find showing work early, approx 20% through the project and at 80% completion. Again this is just a guide.
The presenter’s responsibilities are:
- Help the facilitator organise the pre-read and agenda.
- Explain what they are showing and why, and what they need help on.
- Show reference material as well the current solution if relevant. Showing exploratory work as well once you’ve set the scene.
- The presenter should work closely with the facilitator to make sure all of the above is at the session.
- Get the room prepared before the session starts to make sure things run on time.
- Bring along plenty of post-it notes and marker pens available so people can add their critiques to specific areas.
- Work with the note taker to decide on the best way of documenting and moving things forward.

Critiquers
This could be anyone in the product squad, design team or a random member of the company (for a fresh perspective).
If it’s work that is to be developed, it is essential developers and QAs attend. I actively promote other designers, both brand and product designers attend these sessions. If the work needs a broader viewpoint or perspective, then project/product managers should be present.
It is essential to invite people who can help the project move forward. I am always aware of the teams time so be conscious on who to ask and when, checking with them if they can attend before hand. Critiquers should be specific about what they think works or does not and discuss why.
Sometimes people are not forthcoming with comments or observations, as a critiquer you are there to question and interrogate. A good facilitator will probe into questions and gather themes making everyone feel welcome.
The Critiquers responsibilities are:
- Come open-minded and ready to question
- To have read the pre-read or agenda
- Be prepared to participate
- To be present and not distracted by other work/mobile phones emails etc.

Role 4: Notetaker
This is an integral role as it leaves the rest of the team to concentrate on the critiquing. A Notetaker speeds up the process, so after the meeting, action points can be shared while it is still fresh in people’s minds.
This role can be merged with the facilitator’s responsibilities if the session is small and they are confident they can keep things on track as well as take notes.
The Notetaker should also outline things that worked and parts that still need refining. Pinpointing and highlighting any risks raised.
I and the teams I have worked with use Notion to document all our meeting notes and share the link out afterwards, tagging the relevant people. I like the Notetaker to write a brief overview/conclusion to summarise the results.
Notetakers responsibilities are:
- Observing the session.
- Documenting questions, ideas or potential risks.
- Collate the documentation with the presenter/facilitator.
- Go over what was discussed at the end.
- Hand over the documentation and share to the wider group.

Learning and evolving
Regular reviews on how Critique sessions are working and what parts could be improved. A retrospective or team discussion is a great way to surface what works and what does not.
If running a Retrospective, invite the same people who were involved in the Critique sessions.
Alongside Critiques, design feedback sessions can be run. These differ slightly to Critiques, feedback sessions are a chance for designers to show other designers work that is either still in concept or in the exploratory stage. Normally at 20/80 completion, however this is a rough guide.
These sessions differ to critiques as they focus more on particular areas such as brand or component library elements. But the roles above can be also applied to them.
I’d love to know how others run or organise sessions. What do you differently?
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