Participating in design critique sessions.

Week 4: Participating in design critique sessions. Giving, receiving, and implementing feedback is a necessary part of the UX design process. In this part of the course, you’ll explore effective methods for giving and receiving feedback. You’ll also learn about design critique sessions, which will be an important part of your first job as a UX designer. Finally, you’ll learn how to turn feedback into actionable steps that you can take to revise designs.

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Design critique sessions

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A design critique session is a planned period where UX designers present their work to team members and listen to feedback. Critiques are a great opportunity to practice giving and receiving feedback to and from fellow team members.

During a critique, your team gathers to explore new ideas and possible directions for a design. These are planned ahead of time with an agenda and set objectives, so you’ll have time to prepare and bring fresh ideas to the table. Gathering together, whether in person or virtually, builds rapport and encourages collaboration across teams.

Design critiques roles

A design critique session is made up of three groups of participants:

Facilitator

Presenter

Reviewer

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The facilitator of a design critique is in charge of running the critique session and guiding the feedback process. They may keep track of the time and create the agenda and goals for the meeting.

The facilitator is also responsible for ensuring everyone in the meeting is included and gets to share their ideas. Whether it’s because of a personality trait of an individual or a bias of the group, some people are going to be left out of the process if they’re not directly engaged. The facilitator makes sure each person gets an opportunity to share. Not all design critiques include a facilitator, but in many cases, especially when working with a large team, one can be very helpful.

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The presenter is the designer sharing their work with the team throughout the session. This could also be a group of designers who worked together. They might share their designs directly from Figma or Adobe XD, like a screen share, or they might create a presentation in Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint with images of their designs. As a designer, you’ll often take on the role of presenter. Make sure you engage with others in the meeting and prepare to ask questions and offer feedback.

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The reviewers offer feedback on the designs presented and what steps are needed to improve the designs. There are often multiple reviewers and multiple critique sessions to look at the design from different perspectives.

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Additionally, there may be a fourth role of notetaker, who documents the ideas and keeps track of all the feedback so the conversations can flow without interruption. The notetaker will likely record notes in a digital document so the notes can be shared with the entire group later.

Together, all of these roles work to create effective solutions to strengthen your designs. Throughout your UX design career, you’ll get the chance to facilitate, present, and review in a critique session.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mf0Yx1bVNGVHlmR3AS8vqzPaoxK9TPgMZa4vB5AbJk0/template/preview⁠

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