How to critique a design
Turn 'something feels off' into something you can fix. Four steps: describe what is there, name the goal, say what works, then name the one change that matters most.
THE MAIN IDEA
Describe before you judge
The most useful sentence in a critique is not an opinion. It is a description: what is on the page, at what size, and in what order your eye meets it. Describing forces you to look properly, and about half the time the problem becomes obvious before anybody has said whether they like it.
'I don't like it' can't be acted on. 'The phone number is the biggest thing on the flyer' can, and the person who made it usually says 'oh' and fixes it themselves.
A diagnosis, not a verdict
A doctor doesn't say 'your body is bad'. They ask what it should be doing, look at what it is doing, name the difference and suggest one thing to try first. A critique works the same way: it compares the design against its job, not against your taste. Where the analogy breaks: there is no single correct treatment. Two good designers will often suggest different fixes for the same finding, and both can work.
Check yourself
Sara shows her workshop poster to a friend, who says: 'Hmm, it doesn't feel right. Maybe try a different font?' Why is this hard for Sara to act on?
- The friend was not kind enough about it
- Sara should keep asking people until someone agrees with her
- Fonts are never the real problem in a design
- It skips the goal and the description and lands straight on a fix
Show the answer
It skips the goal and the description and lands straight on a fix
Yes. Without knowing what the poster is for and what is actually happening on it, 'try a different font' is a guess, and Sara has no way to tell whether it worked.
The four steps
- 1. Describe, with no opinions
Say what is there and in what order you see it: sizes, colours, alignment, what your eye hits first, second, third. Ten seconds of this is worth a paragraph of opinion.
- 2. Name the goal
What is this for, and who is it for? A poster read from across the street and a report read at a desk get different answers to every other question. If nobody in the room can state the goal in one sentence, that is already the finding.
- 3. Say what works
This isn't politeness. It stops the designer throwing away the good parts while fixing the bad ones, and it tells you which tools are already doing their job.
- 4. Name what to change first
One change, with the reason attached, chosen for how far it moves the design. 'Make the date level 2, because the reader's first question is when' beats a list of nine small notes.
THE FLYER (described)
A4, white. Top, centred: the word FOOTBALL at 60pt.
Under it, centred, eight lines all at 16pt bold:
club name, coach name, free, ages 7-12, Saturdays,
9am, the ground's address, a phone number.
A club badge at the bottom, 5 cm wide. Margins about 5 mm.
1. DESCRIBE
One huge word, eight equal lines, one large badge.
Everything centred. Text almost touching the edges.
2. GOAL
A parent walking past learns in two seconds:
free football for my child, and where to ask.
3. WHAT WORKS
FOOTBALL is a strong level 1 and reads from far away.
One typeface, one colour, nothing fighting it.
4. WHAT TO CHANGE FIRST
a. 'Free, ages 7-12, Saturdays 9am' to 28pt.
The parent's real question is answered eighth.
b. Badge down to 2 cm. It is the club's pride,
not the parent's need.
c. Margins to 2 cm and group the lines:
8 inside a group, 24 between groups.Four steps. Six sentences of description. Three changes, in order.
Nobody had to say whether they liked it.Step 4 is a short ordered list, not everything you noticed. Put the change that moves the design furthest at the top, and stop at three.
Check yourself
Which step of a critique does each sentence belong to?
- The date is the smallest text on the page
- This has to get students signed up before Thursday
- Make the date the second thing the eye reaches
- There are five text sizes and three colours
- A reader should walk away knowing the price
- Drop the background photo so the text can be read
Show the answer
Describe: The date is the smallest text on the page, There are five text sizes and three colours
Goal: This has to get students signed up before Thursday, A reader should walk away knowing the price
What to change: Make the date the second thing the eye reaches, Drop the background photo so the text can be read
Two kinds of feedback on the same slide
Vague
'It's a bit boring. Make it pop. The blue is depressing. Maybe add an image? And I'd centre the title.' Four opinions, no goal, no description. Whatever the designer changes, nobody will know whether it helped.
Usable
'The slide has to leave one number in the room. Right now my eye goes logo, title, bullet list, and the number is inside a sentence at the bottom. The typeface and the spacing are already clean. First change: pull the number out at 96pt and delete the sentence.'
Check yourself
When you give feedback, it is most helpful to list every problem you noticed, so the designer has the full picture.
Show the answer
False
A list of twelve problems is nearly as hard to act on as 'it doesn't feel right'. Most of those twelve usually come from one cause, such as no hierarchy or no shared alignment. Name what works, give the one change that moves the design furthest, and keep the rest for if they ask.
Critiquing your own work
- Leave it overnight. In the morning you see the page instead of your memory of making it.
- Shrink it or squint at it, as in lesson 1. The loudest blob should be your message.
- Look at it where it will be seen: on a phone, printed, projected, on a wall from three metres away. Not only on your desk.
- Turn it to greyscale. If the structure collapses, colour was doing a job that hierarchy should be doing.
- Read the words out loud. Clumsy titles and long labels are obvious in the mouth and invisible on the screen.
Check yourself
- 'The logo is too big.' The designer shrinks it by a tenth and asks again.
- 'The logo is winning the first look, but the reader needs the date first.' The designer shrinks the logo, enlarges the date and moves it up.
What makes the second piece of feedback more useful?
- It is longer
- It says what the problem does to the reader, so the fix can be tested
- It gives an exact size to use
- It is more polite
Show the answer
It says what the problem does to the reader, so the fix can be tested
Right. Naming the effect gives the designer a test: did the date win this time? 'Too big' only names a size, so nobody knows when it is fixed.
Check yourself
Omid is asked to review Negar's conference slide. His first sentence is 'the blue is boring, use our orange instead'. What should he do before saying anything about colour?
- Suggest three colours so Negar has a choice instead of just his opinion
- Rebuild the slide himself and send it back finished
- Ask what the slide must achieve, then describe what is on it
- Say only positive things so she isn't discouraged
Show the answer
Ask what the slide must achieve, then describe what is on it
Right. Until he knows the goal, colour is taste. If the slide has to land one number at the back of a room, the description will show quickly whether the blue is really what is in the way.
Lesson recap
- Describe before you judge: what is there, at what size, in what order the eye meets it.
- Name the goal. Every other question depends on what the design has to do and for whom.
- Say what works, so the good parts survive the fixing.
- Give one change first, with the reason attached, chosen for how far it moves the design.
- On your own work: sleep on it, squint at it, see it where it will be seen, check it in greyscale, read it out loud.