Tips for Critique & Feedback
A collection of notes for quick reference.
Asking for Feedback
- Ask for feedback before you finish something. In my experience the best moment is when you reached 80% of the work done.
- Always start by explaining the goal and context of the project.
- Be clear about the kind of feedback your looking for (editing? visuals? structure?) and for which parts of the project and what is excluded from feedback.
- Never attempt to solve a problem in the meeting. Take the feedback back to your desk and do the work there.
Giving Feedback
- The best feedback comes from being invested in the goal of the project and trying to earnestly help someone achieve that goal.
- Try to understand the purpose of an element before giving feedback. What’s the goal and does it fullfill that goal? Talk about things that work and don’t work and why.
- Focus on the outcomes not the process of a person.
- Be as precise and concrete as possible in your feedback.
- Always ask first before giving subjective feedback (the stuff you “like” or “don’t like”).
- Give pointers (“you could explore X”) but don’t attempt to solve a problem in a meeting. (Follow-ups exist for a reason.)