A Few Bullet Points on Design Criticism by Frank Chimero

As always, great thoughts from Frank. Everything in this article is great. I could’ve copy/pasted the entire article, but instead I tried to practice some constraint and only copy/paste the stuff that really stuck out to me (honestly though, it’s all good, go read it). Emphases are mine.

On feedback being an art:

clients, co-workers, and bosses aren’t practiced in analyzing design, and designers, while well-versed in giving feedback, are often less experienced in how to productively receive it. Feedback should be a liberal art for everyone.

On gut reactions:

One particularly tricky aspect of criticizing design is that a lot of the work is meant to be quickly read (like logos) or intuitively understood (like interfaces and websites). Does this validate gut reactions or hot takes? I’m uncertain, but it can shift power towards the people who are the least invested in the process.

On design ridicule:

Any defining characteristic of the work will probably be the subject of ridicule.

On the need for specificity:

Praise is meaningless without specificity...A robust feedback process must be specific in its praise, because succeeding is enhancing good choices as well as fixing mistakes.

And a great quote from Michel Foucault on “scintillating” design criticism:

Criticism that hands down sentences sends me to sleep; I’d like a criticism of scintillating leaps of imagination. […] It would bear the lightning of possible storms.