Running Effective Design Critiques Remotely
Design critiques are an integral part of design collaboration. Our Product Design team at SmartRecruiters is split between San Francisco and Berlin, so we have a lot of practice running these sessions remotely. I will primarily focus on synchronous feedback as this is our typical format for design critique, but will also offer some advice on asynchronous options in case your team can benefit from this as well.
Our design critiques are weekly 45 min sessions, during which one designer presents their work. This works well for us with a smaller team. Your team should go with what works best for your process and feel free to experiment until you find a comfortable approach. We also manage all logistics and feedback on a Slack channel specifically dedicated to design critiques (separate from our regular team chat).
Synchronous design critique
Before the critique time, the presenter and facilitator should be assigned. We recommend setting a cadence for both determining these roles and for the critique time itself. The presenter is expected to share both the context and a link to their relevant work prior to the session. The facilitator’s role is to keep time and take notes for the presenter. The rest of the group will give active feedback during the session.
The presenter should cover the following points when providing context for the team:
- Design goals: What problem are you trying to solve? Who is the user you are serving? How are you solving the problem in this design? What stage of the design process are you in?
- Challenges: What are any constraints that the team should be aware of? Are there any pending decisions?
- Feedback: What would you like feedback on? What would you not like feedback on?
The presenter starts off the session by walking through the work context in more depth and clarifies any questions from the group before diving in. Once this introduction is complete, the presenter then starts a walkthrough of their work. If your team works in Figma, it is great to open up the same file and “follow” the presenter for this.
The participants should take active notes during this walkthrough, but wait until the presenter has completed their sharing process before vocally delivering the feedback. We use a sticky notes plug-in to leave notes on the associated screens rather than comments so they stay visible. There’s something satisfying about seeing the virtual post-its (plugin link here) add up throughout the session!
🌈 Tip: Make sure each designer claims a unique sticky note color, this makes it easier to locate and associate feedback!
Once the walkthrough is complete, we open up the floor for a discussion of the design and refer back through the notes left throughout the file. The facilitator steps up for this period to ensure the conversation stays on track, time is managed well, and the presenters’ thoughts are captured. All designers are expected to be respectful, constructive, and supportive with their feedback.
Asynchronous design critique
Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of meeting together as a group for feedback, for this we lean on the asynchronous design critique process. The designer shares a link to their work on our design critique channel where peers can check-in and provide feedback on their own schedule. It closely parallels the usual format, but with some key changes.
- Share more details: The presenter should add in some extra context details that they would otherwise share verbally at the start of a critique. This could be a few extra lines or maybe even a voice note!
- Clarify your workflow: The presenter needs to make sure the workflow is clear for designers to click through the prototype or they should provide an additional flowchart to make this crystal clear.
- Set a deadline: The presenter should clearly specify a date for feedback to be received by. This will clearly set expectations from your peers and ensure that you can incorporate their feedback into your next iteration.
After refining our design critique process, designers gained more confidence in presenting their work and team collaboration increased. While the remote version of this can initially be more challenging, teams will comfortably adjust to it sooner than you may expect. The design critique is such a critical piece of the Product Design team experience that it is definitely worth investing some time in to getting this basic right.
Curious about design at SmartRecruiters or have thoughts on Enterprise UX? Reach out to us at design@smartrecruiters.com
