Critiquing ‘user-centered’ design
User Centered Design is about creating interfaces and experiences the way the end users want them. But design decisions can’t be all left upon the end users, because more often than not people aren’t sure or aren’t right about what they feel they want.
That’s where the designer’s perspective comes in. Any design is largely influenced by its designer’s perspective. It is like a base on which the design is built. The designer created the base of the design using his own past experiences and the based on it, tries out various possibilities validating them through user research and thus completes the design. And as the designer gains experience, his perspective keep on getting better, thus improving the base on which the designs are based in terms of usability for UX designers and visuals in case of UI designers.
Thus this process largely consists of exchange of information between the designer and the end-users, in order to improve the design. So where does critiquing fit in? Well, critiquing helps the designer accelerate the process of improving that base. Instead of banking on just his or her experiences, the designer can take inputs from other designers. Thus, incorporating even their perspective, and coming up with a far better base for their designs, giving the end users something much better to build on and ultimately leading to creation of much better designs.
And this doesn’t always require taking critique from the more experienced designers. Even if the designers are at the same level of experience as you, everyone has had different experiences(both professionally, working on various projects, and in life) and thus have developed different perspectives, which provide you with a useful mix of inputs which can help you improve various aspects of your designs, something which you might’ve missed looking through just your perspective. Besides its always good to get some fresh eyes in, while you’re iterating your designs.
So, though getting critique from more experienced designers is a boon, getting your designs critiqued from your peers is equally important, since both of them contribute to building a more potent platform to base your designs on.
