Hello everyone!
My name is Evgeny Skakunov, and I'm a product designer at the company Quadcode. Today I'll tell you how my team and I created, introduced, and have already conducted more than 50 Design Crit sessions, how it affected the process of creating a product (spoiler: it's positive), and how designers (and not only) learned to receive and give critical feedback.
We'll touch on the following points:
- How the processes of an individual team (design team) can affect the product as a whole.
- How to involve various specialists in solving design problems.
- How can a designer stop being afraid to get feedback and do it in a way that's fun and beneficial for everyone.
What's a Design Crit session? How the processes of an individual team can affect the product as a whole.
At my current company, the design team is part of the product branch. Over the past year, we've made many improvements within our design department, as well as focused on the development of the team as a whole and individual designers in particular.
What did we do? First of all, we built a new team structure (united all designers into one design team and divided them by contexts), introduced new team metrics, and launched a number of initiatives to improve processes. One of these initiatives was the introduction and conducting of Design Crit sessions.
Design Crit is a meeting for collecting feedback, searching for solutions, and proposing new and reviewing old hypotheses. Design Crit is not about evaluating work, but about finding and improving solutions. Here you can synchronize on current issues/tasks facing product designers/other teams, and get constructive criticism (critique) and help from colleagues.
Where did we start? It was necessary to organize the process of collecting feedback on design layouts so that the designer developed the skill of presenting their work, wasn't afraid to face different points of view and learned how to improve their UX/UI solutions based on the critique received. This became our starting point.
We managed to create a meeting where the designer can not only revise and improve a design, but also influence the development of the feature together with the Product Owner/Product Manager/etc. After all, on the basis of collected feedback, additional solutions may emerge and gain a foothold. Such sessions allow the designer or any other specialist to show additional activity and provide their expertise.
We moved the Design Crit meetings to an open format, i.e., the meeting focused not only on the needs of our team, but also on improving the interaction of other teams with the design team. We started to bring in different levels of employees who worked on features and had the necessary competencies to solve emerging difficulties. Thus, we created an additional point for synchronizing various specialists at a time when solutions may still be revised and improved, and, most importantly, when it's still cheap for the business.
Coming to the meeting as a presenter, a designer can count on objective criticism and new ideas from fellow designers, developers, testers, analysts and managers to clarify all the necessary points when developing a design. Over the past year, more than 50 meetings have been held. On average, 8–10 employees attend a meeting, and anyone can watch the recording of the meeting.
How can we involve various specialists in solving design problems?
We need to understand that in the process of developing features, as a rule, there are quite a lot of meetings as it is. And the goal was not just to make another regular meeting for synchronization, but to create a meeting that would be useful for the business and would be an additional opportunity for the designer to solve the tasks facing them.
Before a meeting, I always ask the designer who they need to purposefully invite as an expert to consult on the task. Most often, this is the Feature Owner - the person responsible for the implementation and having the broadest vision. We were pleasantly surprised that developers, testers and analysts also want to influence the design of the solution. And it was exactly the kind of meeting where you can collect feedback from everyone at once, get fresh, and sometimes unexpected, solutions. A designer may simply not have the necessary expertise in related fields, and the active involvement of other teams becomes a powerful incentive to improve design solutions.
What is the value of Design Crit sessions? They show and reinforce the fact that each team member can contribute their own idea that will lead to product improvement. This is what happens in our meetings. Generally, developers aren't asked much about their opinion of a feature other than a technical evaluation. Testers and analysts rarely participate directly in the development of the design. At any rate, this is sometimes the case in large companies. We must not forget to create conditions in which everyone can influence and complement product solutions. In our case, Design Crit deals with this perfectly.
How a specialist can stop being afraid to receive feedback and do it with pleasure and benefit for everyone
The first thing that happens with a designer (and others too) when their work is critiqued is the desire to justify their decisions. This happens when the designer doesn't develop their communication skills (as part of soft skills), or when the critic gives biased or non-constructive feedback regarding the design task. One way or another, we need to learn to accept criticism and be able to work with it. This is precisely what forms the basis of our initiative and is a powerful tool for the development of the designer and the product they are working on. Below I'll tell you more about the method of interaction between the critic and the presenter and share examples.
So how do you become a bold designer resilient in the face of any criticism (and not only)? First of all, it's necessary to create harmonious conditions and a professional atmosphere. People may often want to speak out about someone else's work, simply because they have relevant experience in it. But many won't speak out, because they have an opinion that may offend someone. Let's turn to a particularly common opinion about the creative nature of all designers and their eternal desire to resist the "inappropriate" desires of customers who supposedly don't understand UX/UI at all.
Fortunately, I have the privilege of debunking this myth. Based on my accumulated experience and my conducting of many Design Crit sessions, I can confidently say: one of the signs of a strong designer is that they gladly accept critique. And they will even ask the opinion of everyone they can reach, because they know how to work with this critique.
In addition to the obvious conclusion that this makes it possible to come up with a more balanced solution when working with the interface and graphics, it also excellently develops the designer's communication skills, bolstering the designer in the eyes of teams as being interested in the successful implementation and attaining the best result for the task. Therefore, this opportunity shouldn't be avoided, and I recommend that any team implement the practice of Design Crit sessions. After all, in reality, this can be applied in any team. We all do our part, and we're all in constant search of optimal solutions.
What conclusions can be drawn?
Constructive criticism will be useful for all participants in the process. It gives an opportunity to take a broader look at the tasks at hand and, if properly organized, can become a powerful tool in solving tasks, becoming an integral part of the Delivery process.
In conclusion, we'll reinforce the difference between everyday criticism and professional (constructive) criticism/critique:
- Everyday criticism makes judgments - Professional criticism/critique poses questions
- Everyday criticism finds flaws - Constructive criticism/critique opens up possibilities
- Everyday criticism is personal - Constructive criticism/critique is objective
- Everyday criticism is vague - Constructive criticism/critique is concrete
- Everyday criticism destroys - Constructive criticism/critique accumulates experience
- Everyday criticism is egocentric - Constructive criticism/critique is altruistic
- Everyday criticism is hostile - Constructive criticism/critique works toward cooperation
- Everyday criticism humiliates - Constructive criticism/critique improves design
That's it for me. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer in the comments!
Bibliography and resources
- Allen Gannett, Currency, 2018. "The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time"
- Alexandre Brito, Toptal. Tips for a Productive Design Critique
- Center for Creative Leadership, 2019. "Feedback That Works: How to Build and Deliver Your Message"
- Center for Creative Leadership, Karen Kirkland, Sam Manoogian. Jossey-Bass Inc., 2012. "Ongoing Feedback: How to Get It, How to Use It"
- Dr Therese Huston, Penguin (Cornerstone), 2022. "Let's Talk: Make Effective Feedback Your Superpower"
- Liz Lerman, John Borste, Wesleyan University Press, 2022. "Critique Is Creative: The Critical Response Process in Theory and Action"
- Patrick King, Pkcs Media, Inc., 2020. How to Listen with Intention
- P John Williams, Kay Stables, Springer Verlag, Singapore, 2017. "Critique in Design and Technology Education"
- Sarah Gibbons, Nielsen Norman Group. Design Critiques: Encourage a Positive Culture to Improve Products
- Thomas Erikson, Vermilion, 2019. "Surrounded By Idiots: The Four Types Of Human Behaviour"
- Timothy Koschmann Routledge, 1st edition, 1999. "Meaning Making: A Special Issue of Discourse Processes"
Illustrations by Ramy Wafaa, Iconfinder.
About the Author
Evgeny Skakunov, Product Designer with practice experience in IT / Fintech.
Working with specialized domains and contexts, complex interfaces, and process improvement.
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