As designers, we don’t design in a vacuum. A good designer will need to learn to take feedback from their peers, clients, and bosses to solve a particular design problem. Critiques will also help you broaden your communication skills as a designer, as there is always the opportunity to articulate why you did what you did or to better explain your idea to the reviewer if they don’t see it as clearly as you do.
A good critique can involve both positive and negative feedback, which can be tricky to navigate. Here are some quick tips on how to give–and receive–good design feedback during a critique.
How to give a good critique: The love sandwich
The best way to approach critiquing someone else’s work is to sandwich the feedback with love. If you think of your critique as the sandwich, the bread would be what you “love” about the work and the middle—the fillings—would be what you didn’t like as much.
First, tell your fellow designer what aspects you like about the piece, whatever they may be. Be descriptive. Instead of just saying “I like it” explain why you like it while using specific examples from the design whenever possible.
Next, move onto the constructive criticism. If you think certain aspects of a design aren’t working, try to explain why or offer suggestions on how they can be improved. Asking the designer questions may help them to see problems in the execution of the design that they may not have seen on their own.
You may also want to limit your use of personal pronouns, like “you,” to make sure your critique is about the design work and not about the designer. We all feel personal about our work, but during a critique, it’s best to separate the person from the piece. For example, say you have a critique about a line intersection. You may want to say, “The way this line intersects with that line,” instead of “The way you intersected this line with that line.” This will help reassure the designer that the criticism is about the work and not about them, as designers.
You don’t have to agree or like the decisions of the designer but their work deserves honest feedback. Put yourself in their shoes. If they are brave enough to share their work and ask for feedback, then they deserve to get that, both the good and the bad.
Finally, don’t forget to repeat or elaborate on what you liked about the piece so that the critique ends on a positive note. This way, the designer knows the piece may need some reworking, but also that there are aspects of the design that work as-is, too.
How to receive critique well: A grain of salt
Hopefully, your fellow designer will follow the Love Sandwich guidelines and give you a great, honest critique. During a critique, It’s important that when you hear the good and the bad feedback to take it with stride. Design isn’t math. There are no right and wrong answers; only subjective opinions that may differ from one designer to another.
That being said, remember that a critique is about your work and making it the best it can be; it shouldn’t be about you. If you disagree with specific feedback, explain your decisions thoughtfully but also listen to what’s being said. Remember, those who are giving critiques generally do so because they want to help you grow as a designer, so try not to get defensive or take their criticisms personally.
And, if you don’t agree with specific comments you receive during a critique, it’s okay to ask for other opinions, too. Baltimore is filled with great designers who are willing to help and who love to give a good critique. There are also online resources like Dribbble or Behance that you can log into and share your work with others around the globe. Anyone, even a non-designer friend or coworker whom you trust to give honest and constructive feedback, can be a good resource. And, a good round of feedback is always better than no feedback at all
They’re not really sure where they should focus their attention. Should they focus on local business listings, reviews or leads? What about content, social media and call tracking – how much attention do they dedicate to those channels and tactics?
Local clients want the most bang for their buck, but most of the time, they don’t have a plan. They definitely don’t know which local marketing tactics will produce the results they want.
The worst part?
What works for one local business, may not work well for another.
There’s confusion about what works best for local marketing
Experts recommend a variety of different tactics.
“Focus on your local listings. No, no, no, you should be investing in Facebook Ads. If you’re focused on content marketing and SEO you’ll have lots of free traffic.”
The suggestions are typically very broad, incredibly vague and focused on the wrong things. Nine times out of 10, the advice from these “experts” misses the mark. This leads to a tangent of unfocused ideas that suck up a client’s time and budget, but fails to produce results.
Why?
Your clients are listening to the wrong people.
Listen to bad advice and your local marketing campaigns will fail
There’s a problem here.
What is bad advice? Where does bad advice come from?
A better question would be to ask where great advice comes from. The answer is simple and obvious. It comes from your client’s customers.
Does this mean their customers are experts?
No.
It means you’re able to listen to what your client’s customers say and you’re able to watch what they do. This is how you determine what matters most for your local marketing campaigns.
That doesn’t sound right, does it?
How are your client’s customers the best source for information? They’re typically the least knowledgeable group you can draw data from. Why would asking them for advice work?
Your client’s customers know what they want
They don’t have to be experts on your industry, business, product or service. They just need to know (a.) what they want and (b.) how they buy.
There’s a lot packed into that simple statement, what does that mean exactly?
It means you know your target audience / ideal customer. These are the customers who are both willing and able to buy. These are the people your clients want to turn into long-term customers. Your job as an agency or consultant is to learn everything you can about their customers.
This means you know…
1. The demographics and psychographics of their target audience.
2. Where to find customers that match the demographics and psychographics above.
3. Know the books they read, shows they watch, brands they buy/follow, etc.
4. Their fears – in the form of frustrations, problems, and objections.
5. Their buying process – what they want, what they look for, where they go to find answers, etc.
6. The authority figures they trust, follow or listen to.
Do these details matter all that much from a client standpoint?
Any experienced agency professional or consultant will tell you they understand the importance of these details. Here’s the surprising part about these details.
Most small businesses (and many medium-sized businesses) don’t have this data.
Most of the time, clients believe they already know the answers to these questions. Often times your clients are able to rattle off comprehensive details about their customers.
But, are they right?
The bad news about their data? It falls apart under close scrutiny. Their customer personas are often based on imaginary or non-existent data, they don’t have answers for their customer fears, and their buying process isn’t in line with what customers actually do.
Most businesses don’t know what their customers want
That’s a pretty bold statement to make. The bad news is that it’s true.
How do we know?
Research from CB Insights, found that most startups / small businesses failed because of “the lack of a market need for their product.” This is the number one reason, cited by 42 percent of the startups in their study, for business failure.
