ISO50

What a great article indeed, I talk about this with my friends all the time. Also I can relate with Alex’s experiences as a student, I remember back in school countless times when I bit my tongue at critiques and equally I myself was left wanting criticism when when my work could’ve really needed it. In a school environment I think the problem is somewhat related to social relations, the people in your class are often your friends and you don’t want to alienate them and be known as the douchebag who always puts down other peoples work. Then again that wouldn’t be a problem if everyone was being honest with their criticism.
The place where I’ve found the critisism for my work that I’ve needed is on a few internet forums. I think it’s easier to criticize someone’s work when you don’t have to meet them face to face. Though that has a downside as well as sometimes people on the forums get spiteful just for the sake of it.

Scott-
That’s true, that’s the reason I nowadays post on a closed, invite only forum when looking for legitimate and usable critique. That way there are no trolls around. And as people there know one another or at least their work, you can have a sense of what kind of standpoint they are coming from with their critique. Also there’s a guy I know from school that hangs out there as well that I can always rely on getting honest and insightful criticism from, which is something you touched upon in your previous post.
Although now I can’t help but think of a hermit genius writing elaborate design critiques sitting in his basement while rocking out to Nickelback and consulting his Hulk Hogan bobblehead for advice on semiotics.

Alex-
I think you’re very fortunate to be involved with such a class, especially in this day in age, where everyone is faced with an overabundance of visual stimulants / eye-candy. I can definitely relate as well, when it comes to struggling to drawing the line between an objective critique, and a subjective one. In the end, I usually try to depend on history to point out what aspects of famous works truly stand the test of time, and which pieces are just catering to flash-in-the-pan trends. I suppose in that regard, only time can truly have the final word on what will transcend, and what will diminish. « (that, of course, is my subjective opinion). ;)

This site design is horrible!

J/K :)

yeah this is truly a great post indeed…I struggle with this almost everyday in all of my art classes and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s mainly because people are too afraid to say “it sucks” or “I don’t like it because…” due to the fact that they aren’t confident enough in their own work and don’t know enough jargon to rightfully critique your art. I also hate to say this, but most people’s work is crap at my school and I find myself biting my tongue as well and I can’t fully understand why. I always want to say something constructive that will be helpful, but usually that suggestion would just be to start over because what they currently have is no good. along with this dilemma, I of course need feedback for my work and I feel like critiques are just worthless when no one can give me some constructive feedback, besides the teacher.

I’ve come to find that the critique process for me has boiled down to saying nothing when someone’s work is straight garbage and I can’t stand to say it to their face or almost as a defense, if someone says something uncalled for about my piece, I’ll return that with some slightly harsher suggestion for them. so really the whole process is futile for me and I’m finding critique days harder and harder to stand.

I really think the problem isn’t about a lack of bluntness from peers but a lack of quality instructors. I have never placed much value on class critiques as it comes off as a “blind leading the blind” situation where your peers are usually as clueless as you are. The real value of educational instruction is in the instructor and if they aren’t being blunt, they aren’t a good instructor. I’d expect the likelihood of student critique habits to change as much as I’d expect worldwide human behavior to change.

I think it all breaks down when you translate this to internet communities where practically everyone is a peer in the middle of a significant learning process. Unfortunately these communities are largely void of seasoned professionals who have the decades of experience necessary to give a proper, valuable critique. So honestly I see very little value in online design communities for constructive criticism, also for the reasons Scott mentioned – you usually have no idea who’s on the other side.

I think a great practice is just to be more critical of your own work in the first place and educate yourself as much as possible.

To me a good critique should be pretty much self-evident. I think it’s a mistake to focus on the taste or credentials of the critic. It’s equally bad for a designer to blindly follow any and all suggestions from a teacher or boss as it is to ignore the potentially valuable input of the idiot with the nickleback posters. Often those dumb, seemingly unhelpful comments can actually point to a real problem that the critic was simply unable to express. It’s really important for a designer to learn how to say “ok, that was a dumb comment that makes me mad, but what’s the impulse behind that comment that has a kernel of truth to it?” Because the fact is the majority of feedback you’re going to get from clients in your career is going to be of the vague and moronic type.

I have a non-designer coworker who frequently gives me annoying unsolicited feedback in a rude and tactless way. And yet much of the time his complaints turn out to be valid. His specific comments and solutions are usually off the mark but they often point to an underlying problem that needs a solution. And when I bristle at his comments without stopping to think “is he right? what is making him say this?” I really just end up wasting time and energy fighting rather than working toward a solution.

I think the best criticism is the kind that can identify and explain the problem in a logical way while also pointing to multiple possible solutions. “I don’t like that font” is not very helpful and it’s easy to dismiss or ignore. What if the font is non-negotiable because it’s part of the corporate styleguide? “That font is hard to read” is somewhat better because it identifies the actual problem rather than being a declaration of personal subjective taste. The ideal though is something like “I think that the font and the background are conflicting with each other, maybe it’s the color, or maybe that background is too busy, maybe the text needs a box behind it.” I think this approach works the best because you’re not simply saying “use helvetica” or “that’s ugly” but you’re explaining why something is not working for you and opening up other ways to think about the problem but ultimately leaving the power and the decision in the designer’s hands.