Don’t demand a solution when you design critique.
TLDR: Instead let the designer choose.
Common workplace sayings “focus on solutions, not problems” or “don’t bring me problems — bring me solutions”. While I could write a different article about how this is bad advice for all environments (read this), I’m going to specifically talk about it in the context of a design critique.
Over my career, I’ve been around designers with varying opinions on getting feedback from other designers. Some extremely attached to their decisions and not wanting to be challenged. Some only interested in getting feedback on things they’re having difficulty with. And others eager to get any type of feedback.
Regardless, an often compromise that is discussed to get everyone welcoming to a design critique is to only critique when you can suggest a solution. No one wants to feel like their work is challenged by someone that doesn’t know what they’re doing and that is often the perception when there’s no solution.
There are two things wrong with that previous sentence. First, the assumption of ignorance is wrong because everyone should be talented on the team (if not, that’s a bigger issue). Second, the ignorance is half true. While others don’t know the designer’s project as well, they do know the rest of the product and are craft experts. And what they don’t know allows them to see things that the designer can’t.
Even with the above arguments, it’s still a challenge for others to accept. That’s why I felt so vindicated when I was reading Creativity Inc. when Ed Catmull said,
“… a crude mock-up of the film, known as reels. Then the Braintrust watches this version of the movie and discusses what’s not ringing true, what could be better, what’s not working at all. Notably, they do not prescribe how to fix the problems they diagnose.”
Then later adds,
“Braintrust meetings are not top-down, do-this-or-else affairs. By removing from the Braintrust the power to mandate solutions, we affect the dynamics of the group in ways I believe are essential.”
The Braintrust is essentially Pixar’s design critique process.
Now, I’m clearly not the only person to have felt this way nor did I write this article to only convince designers to realize the benefits of having critiques without solutions. What I really wanted to say is how to resolve this problem.
It’s really quite simple. Put the decision in the designer’s hands. Let the designer decide if they want suggestions or not. If the designer feels like they have no idea where to begin they can ask, “What do you suggest?”. If the designer leaves the critique and becomes stuck, they should pull together the team to collaboratively try to solve the problem.
The other important aspect of this is your design team’s culture and it’s leadership. You must nurture a collaborative and healthy culture, so your designers feel empowered and willing to work with others.
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