Design Critiques:

Design critiques – The moment you actually see what was produced by your students, classmates and peers. The moment of truth, when you can reveal your work and take pride in what you’ve accomplished. All of your hard work – now on display and open for feedback (and criticism.) When I started design school back at Ohio State I was terrified of critiques. They could be volatile and spark all sorts of debate. The class could digress into arguments based on content choice, and subjective viewpoints. They could be very frustrating. After a few semesters I developed a thick skin, and the ability to trust my classmates and teachers.

As an educator and designer I know how important design critiques are to the design process. They establish if a concept is communicating, they pinpoint areas that need revision and they assist the designer in improving the end product. Critiques are distinct moments of learning and collaboration. Students learn from each other through dialogue. Critiques can be exciting, interesting, and if you’re lucky – entertaining.

Any sophomore design student can tell you that critiques can be slow, painful and exhausting. After several hours in a studio class the tension can be draining. Recently I began exploring ways to improve and diversify critiques in my classroom at Kent State University.

I am testing out several of the following methods:
1. Post-it note critiques – students comment via post it note on the projects of their classmates
2. Essay question feedback – having students answer essay questions based on the project their classmate is designing.
3. Critiquing via our Ning classroom community – a good way to handle remote critiques.
4. Partnered (in progress) critiques – have students partner up and discuss their project progress with a classmate.

Some Resources I have gathered:
How to run a design critique
Critique Your Design

I’m always looking for more ideas. Please post any suggestions.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Design, Teaching, Writing and Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.