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Fostering a Culture of Collaborative Design Through Crit

I take a lot of pride in developing DesignOps frameworks that foster a mature culture of constructive critique, collaboration and knowledge sharing and critique methods.  

Here is my particular focus on the approach to design critiques.

The True Purpose of Design Critiques

I view design critiques as much more than just a feedback session. While critique is certainly a crucial component, these sessions serve a broader purpose. They're an opportunity to share work, discuss blockers, and exchange ideas. Most importantly, they're a vehicle for sharing knowledge, including the small decisions that shape our product.

I believe that to be effective contributors, designers need to be subject matter experts on our app. How can they achieve this expertise if they don't understand the reasoning behind even the smallest feature decisions? Design critiques bridge this knowledge gap, ensuring that our entire team is aligned and informed.

Cultivating a Positive Critique Culture

When executed well, they foster collaboration, build trust, and drive continuous improvement in our designs. However, we're acutely aware that poorly managed critique sessions can lead to frustration and become "just another meeting" to endure.

To ensure our critiques remain valuable and engaging, we've developed three primary approaches: Weekly Crit Sessions, Silent Crit and Jam Sessions.

1. Team Critiques

For team critiques, I like to set a framework where we can submit sharing objectives ahead of time. This also helps create a meeting plan. Before diving in, we establish who will be sharing and what specific feedback they're seeking. This approach ensures that initial feedback is targeted and relevant, though we encourage additional ideas and questions after addressing the primary objectives.

Key tips for sharing:

  • Share relevant context ahead of time
  • Have a specific feedback ask
  • Be vulnerable
  • Share blockers or challenges.  It is okay to say I don’t know what to do…yet.
  • Ask specific questions

Key tips for giving feedback:

  • Encourage consistency when it comes to UI feedback
  • Ask probing follow-up questions
  • Be clear if you are giving general comments or concrete suggestions
  • Use the “I” perspective.  If you find it confusing, say that “I find it confusing” and not this flow is confusing.  Give the presenter a chance to share more context.
  • Crit can mean praising.   It doesnt need always need to be about the questions or concerns
  • Don’t multitask.  Be present or just let the team know that you need to miss this session to finish up work related to an upcoming deadline

Managing Crit is also really important.  Let’s check in on what was shared last week.  If someone mentioned they will look into an idea that was shared, let’s follow up to make sure feedback is heard.  It is also a great way to evaluate the type of feedback we are giving and how it is used.  

2. Silent Critiques

I’ve also embraced the concept of "silent critiques" aka commenting on Figma.

While it might seem daunting to log into Figma and see a flurry of comments before your morning coffee, I’ve found this approach incredibly valuable. It demonstrates that your teammates care deeply about the product and your work, offering insights, asking questions, and identifying potential edge cases you might have missed.

The Power of Constructive Feedback

It is important to emphasize that critiques are not about criticism, but about collective improvement. When a teammate takes the time to provide thoughtful feedback, it's a sign of respect and dedication to the product's success.

By fostering this environment of open communication and collaborative improvement, I’veseen remarkable growth not just in the quality of our designs, but in the strength of our team bonds and the depth of our collective product knowledge.

And make sure to Crit the Crit. The way we work can always be improved.

3. Jam sessions.

This one is simple.  If you don’t want to present a design challenge or ask for specific feedback but want to jump into Figma together, jam as if we were on a whiteboard in the office, just ask. 

Schedule a jam session and let’s design together on Figma.  Sometimes 5 minutes will go by in Silence but then the conversation can pick up to ask a question.  Silence is okay.

Jam sessions are different than a full workflow.Read more about a longer jam session: 4 Step Brainstorm

Brainstorming is one of my favorite activities to use during a project driven by design thinking. Brainstorming, in general, is always useful but having a solid objective makes a session much more valuable for everyone.

A well-planned brainstorming aims to generate more ideas, pushing past the obvious ones to develop new concepts and ideas. Wild ideas are always encouraged. It may not be viable, but it could inspire a more feasible option from a coworker.

Four Steps

  1. Insights: 20 minutes
  2. Ideas: 20 Minutes
  3. Crazy 8's: 8 - 16 Minutes
  4. Sketch Time: 30 Minutes