Design Critique

The Best Approach to Design Critique

Tell me how you really feel

Image credit: Canva Pro

Have you ever sat in a design critique and thought:

“Wait! Are they suggesting I must change this, or just throwing out ideas?”

That moment of confusion when you’re not sure if feedback is a command or just someone thinking out loud.

I know, I’ve been there so many times in the past 15 years.

So if you or your design team is also drowning in ambiguous feedback, here’s an approach that can transform how you communicate about design work.

Be Clear About the Intent of Feedback

Feedback is a gift — you probably heard it way too many times already in your career.

But it’s true!

Design excellence and our work depend on getting feedback.

We’re constantly evaluating, critiquing, and refining our design in formal reviews, casual huddles, and those thousand-line-long Slack messages that somehow generate 37 replies before lunch if you ask for async feedback.

But not all feedback is created equal!