Design Critiques for Non-Designers

February 15th, 2010

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You may have noticed that our society is becoming increasingly driven by visual communication. From billboards to magazines to websites to computer applications, people are more tuned in than ever to the aesthetic of the designs they encounter. Most of the time this visual processing is done sub-consciously, to the point where you might think that every day people aren’t sensitive to good and bad design. However, there is definitely a proven correlation between good design and the resulting trust and love of your product or service. This is why it’s important that people learn how to think about and talk about design to others even if they’re not a designer themselves.

If you’re hiring a designer to create visual communication for your product, you owe it to them to learn how to successfully critique a design. You’ll end up with a much better result if you critique kindly, understand some basic design vocabulary and concepts, and respect them for their expertise.

Before I happened upon my current employment, I had my fair share of troublesome clients and bosses. So please, if any of this or this looks familiar to you, I beg you to read ahead and save the sanity of your designer and be happier with your deliverables.

(Image used courtesy of theoatmeal.com)

Attitude

Don’t use vague qualitative statements. Simply saying something “sucks” or is “awesome” helps no one.
Do follow most of your comments with “because ____”. If you can’t explain why you feel a certain way then you’re operating purely on gut instinct and not logic. Design is subjective, but with enough explanation, there are usually right and wrong choices.

Don’t give hard instructions on how you’d like to see something changed such as “make it green” or “make it bigger”.
Do preface your advice for improvement with “I’d like to see ____” or “maybe we should try ____”. Pair this with your “because” reason for added clarity. This opens it up as more of a discussion instead of a command.

Terminology

Want something to “pop”?
Ask for more contrast, whether in hue, saturation, brightness, text weight, space, or size.

Things feel too dense or crowded?
Ask for white space or negative space. White space is actually a very positive thing in design, allowing objects to hold more emphasis and allows for better legibility. Although western culture has a tendency to avoid negative space, eastern culture has historically heavily embraced it in their art and philosophy (the Japanese term is Ma). If you’re talking about type, typographic color is the overall density of type in a space.

Speaking of type, do you need to express concerns with the typography?
Vertical distance between lines of type is leading, spacing between groups of letters is tracking, spacing between specific characters is kerning. Serif typefaces have little bits hanging off at the ends, like Times New Roman. Sans Serif fonts don’t have these bits, like Helvetica. Typefaces are Bodoni and Futura, fonts are 16pt Bold Bodoni and 24pt Futura.

Things don’t seem to be lined up right or seem kinda off kilter?
The design might require a stricter grid. Most designs use vertical and horizontal rules so that elements line up with each other. Though not everything has to be aligned, it’s usually a good idea to have the grid inform the design initially before you can decide when it’s okay to break the grid.

Other terms that can help your critique…
• If design elements draw your attention immediately and in an uncomfortable way (maybe elements are too close together and too varying in contrast), this is called tension.
• Elements that need more emphasis should be given precedence in the hierarchy or dominance, meaning they might work better in a top left position or in a larger size.
• If a design isn’t matching the color scheme or treatments that are in your head, you might need to redefine the mood of the piece. Try making a list of keywords that represent what you’re going for, this will aide your designer in his/her research.
• Certain bright colors paired together cause a visual vibration. If you’re just getting started with color theory, you might want to refer to a color wheel to make palette decisions.
• To create timeless and clever design, you may need to employ established visual principles that have historically yielded successful results. Look into Gestalt Principles such as similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, and figure ground.

Respect and Trust

While it’s true that visual designers vary when it comes to their skill sets, a successful visual designer holds a lot of power when it comes to how products are used and loved. If they have the right experience and credentials, you should trust their decisions and let them do what they do best. You can usually ask a designer why they made the decisions they did, and they’ll be able to reference research, inspiration, and/or studies. On the contrary, if they can’t back up their work and techniques, it’s up to you to critique their work properly and know when it’s just not going to work out. Also, keep in mind that designers have a wealth of knowledge about things that you might not. If you’re using someone only because they can use design software, but not for their expertise, you’re treating them like a production monkey and that’s not fair to them.

Tagged with: design, designers, typography, critiques, creativity, terminology, communication, tips

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