Sometimes, for some designers, it is important to point out what isn’t working and why. I’ve art directed several young designers, and I am always amazed at the arrogance they operate under. It is my job as AD to get them to understand that, while their design may be lovely, the clients needs must be met in order for the design to be successful.

The ability to accept critique is a skill every designer must have (actually, this is true in any profession). This seems to be something that is not taught in design schools, but it is essential. A lot less ego and a lot more humility goes a long way in building a career. And the path to that is critique.

Excellent contributions, everyone. Although absent from the chat, I’ve certainly been following your conversations.

That said, my professors actually utilized the method you proposed, David. One professor in the Art department let the class critique each student in front of the room, but he also gave his opinion by focusing on the positive aspects of the design. And briefly, he would tell us the possible weaker points and how to improve upon them. I found this much more effective than other classes that were in my own department. However, I should also mention that he didn’t just give glowing remarks to all students. If someone clearly spent 30 min. on a month project, he or she would definitely hear about it. He definitely was honest, but like I said, if he could see that we put in the work and effort, he normally gave more positive, encouraging comments rather than negative ones.

Am I able to take heavy criticism? Absolutely. Do I think the negative should greatly outweigh the positive? No way. I’m definitely not saying we should do away with negative criticism. Without it, people would not have any input on how they could improve their work. Like my art professor said, “Our designs can be very personal to us, so when they are critiqued, you need to be able to take the negative comments into consideration with the positive ones. But ultimately, the artwork is yours, and you choose what the final design will look like.” I do agree with others here, that you do have to be able to take that negative criticism. But if a designer has clearly worked on this design and put their heart and soul into it, I don’t think negative criticism should outweigh the positive. Critique isn’t meant to be a proverbial firing squad to help you form some elephant skin. It’s supposed to encourage an artist to grow, learn, and feel good about themselves and their artwork.

Now, real-world clients can be a little different than school projects. If you are working with real-life clients and you truly believe in a design, you have to have the balls to stand up for your design. I normally just always did everything they told me and added whatever they suggested after the first few rounds of design changes. One of the main and only criticisms I got from my internship from my boss was that I needed to learn when to stand up for my design. You always have to remember to trust your instincts, because ultimately, you decide how the finished piece will look. If the artwork is bad and you let the client use it, not only are you building a portfolio that makes you look bad, you might also be hurting the client’s business by providing them with an ineffective design.

But you know what happens? They learn. Concepts they couldn’t grasp over their college career suddenly make sense. They can recognize what makes something good, and they put more thought into their work. The students who don’t want to hear a serious critique continue without fail to produce work that’s mediocre at best (usually it’s dreadful) and I don’t think they have any hope of making it.

I teach in a very small program that’s terrified of losing students and telling people that they might want to consider another profession when they just don’t have what it takes. But all of my students who are willing to endure the criticism come out as better designers than they started. They may not all win awards or even get jobs in the industry, but it’s by learning **why** their designs are successful or not that they grow.

As a design professor myself, I was interested to read each response. I especially took notice of those like Victoria, who felt that negative comments “almost drove her from the course, as [she] no longer had confidence in [her] abilities or [her] work”. I don’t think this is something instructors willfully intend to do. I think most instructors in design try to keep it positive and not put the designer on the defense. However, there are times when I might intentionally challenge a student or give one or two students a tougher time of it in order to give them a taste of what might be expected in the workplace, ala future interaction with tough art directors and clients. (But I always tell the students that I was playing devil’s advocate after the fact.) Because not every design position students take after school (or in an internship) will be managed by benevolent, patient types of people who tender their thoughts or soften the blow with their comments. In my work experience the studio was always about business, and conflicts arose when time sheets & profit margins hit head on with the search for the perfect solution & designers agendas or egos. So how can instructors prepare students for this side of reality if we always ‘massage the message’?

Also, I would suggest that some students respond to feedback differently. Some prefer comments to be given bluntly—like a football coach approach—and some like comments to be phrased or spun in a positive manner in all instances. This is ok, but the problem instructors have is deciding which students like which style, and the short time frame we have in which to deliver our thoughts. Usually we are trying to evaluate 15 students or more. At 5 minutes apiece, that’s 75 minutes of class time. There isn’t always time to point out all the positive aspects, as well as hit on the ones needed to be improved upon. Instructors try to say both pos an neg things, but it’s hard to nail the crux of each student’s problems quickly and efficiently, while also trying to be encouraging and nurturing. When I crit, I’m just going to tell you things you can try, as quickly as I can, and in the process try to reinforce what seems to be working already. Students are funny people. Sometimes I will say “Why not try and different typeface?” and the student will toss the piece entirely, and completely start over. So listening is important in a critique. Suggesting different type doesn’t mean you failed or to start over. It just means try other typefaces.

As many have pointed out in responding to this posting, you need tough skin to be involved in the classroom experience, just like you will in the workplace. Telling a student to go back to the computer and try again is sometimes the only recourse in a crit. Do they take this personally? Sure. Should they? Not really. Is this considered “negative feedback”? If you ask me, no, it’s not. Getting a student to the point where they keep trying on a concept execution, again and again, to strive for the best solution, is the best experience for them in gaining independence as a designer. Many students come to class wanting the instructor or other students to give them ‘golden advice’ that will solve all their design issues quickly. This isn’t possible, or even desired. The instructor and others can and should only suggest paths to try and ideas to explore. It is up to the designer to explore and experiment with the advice, to prove or disprove its validity—visually. You have power as designer, then, to prove any advice given to you as worthy or unworthy, by testing it and trying it against other solutions. If the advice was given harshly, so what? Try it out. If you disprove it as bad advice, you win. If you prove it was good advice, you win with a stronger piece!

So getting back to David’s question about advice (“that’s no good, here’s why, and how you can improve it”), I would say it’s more like “that could possibly be done better, and here’s what you can TRY to see if it improves”. In the work world the only thing that stops a project from continuous never-ending revisions is the client runs out of time and money to explore. So we need to learn to explore as much as we can in the shortest time possible. Feedback can help us to do that.

Therefore, IMHO I don’t think the choices David presents (1. all negative comments or 2. all positive comments) are the only selections possible. How about a combination of the two?

Thanks for this forum, David. Great question.

However, it must be based on the truth and never drown out the positive. It should also be given in the spirit of kindness rather than an evidence of some bad attitude. If feedback first encourages and highlights the positive then any negative comments that follow, if given in the right spirit, will be more readily accepted. Your balance criticism will spur on the recipient to keep going and improve without making him feel like he’s drowning in a vat of golden syrup or that he needn’t have bothered getting up this morning!!

Great question by the way… M

On one hand, you want to offer as much positive reinforcement as possible. On the other, what’s going to happen when they get out into the real world and the only feedback they get it “I hate it?”

Personally, I feel that criticism is incredibly important, as long as it remains constructive. There is a thin line between constructive criticism and straight up bashing someone’s work. As long as you carefully walk that line, I don’t see a need for 100% positive reinforcement. After all, if you don’t explain why something doesn’t work, how will the person know?

Tessa Carroll
http://www.blogs.vbpoutsourcing.com