Giving and Receiving Criticism

Why
Understanding how to give and recieve criticism is important because it will create more useful design critiques and will allow you to offend less people

What
Giving and receiving criticism is the set of a rules and customs that should be observed when giving feedback during  a design critique. It is to know how to give good and bad criticism.

How
We should first start out by noting some assumptions that bad critics have and these we should fervently avoid

Bad Assumptions
Below are the set of rules that good critics should abide by
 * There is a way to objectively measure everything. The universe is not objective, and the people in it certainly are not. Therefore, there is no way to expect that there can only be one way to measure the design being proposed. However, it is possible to measure how good the design is with respect to its purpose.
 * The critic is in possession of the ability and rights to make the objective measurement. This is a contradiction because that means that the sole good perspective is held by the critic, but yet we know that perspective is simply a way of looking at something and there is no good nor bad way of looking at something.
 * Anyone that doesn't possess the skill is an idiot and should be ridiculed. Giving criticism is an act of respect, and so adding ridicule completely negates this idea.
 * Valid criticisms should always be resolved. Fixing something may lead to creating a problem in something else. It is better to wait until all the alternatives have been explored before committing to a change that might lead to a local max.

Giving Good Criticism
So we've outlined good practices for giving critique. However, it should be noted that giving is much harder than recieiving criticism so below, we have an outline of how to receive criticism well
 * Before speaking, know the goals. Before forming an opinion, make sure that this opinion is set relative to the goal of the design.
 * Separate good and bad from what you like and dislike. Good is not always what you like and bad is not always what you dislike. Separating these will allow you to bring much more information to the critique.
 * Talk as much about what it is as what it isn't. Make sure to show the designer what is broken but also what is great about the design. Balancing these two will allow for a better criticism.
 * Try the PNP sandwich (Positive Negative Positive). This technique can be useful when criticizing more sensitive people about their work and will get you more comfortable with them.

Receiving Criticism Well and Gracefully
Now that we've seen the practices we can maintain to establish good design critiques, we should talk about some ground rules on how to get good criticism
 * Shut up. Do not try to defend your design. Simply listen and think about what's being said and let your design stand for itself. The critique is a criticism of what the design is, not what it looks like in your head.
 * Ask clarifying questions. If you feel that the critique is not specific enough, feel free to ask any clarifying questions. For example, you could respone "when you say my design is sloppy, do you mean the lines are not sharp enough or the layout isn't clear?"
 * Refer back to goals. When the discussion is not providing any useful feedback, make sure to refer back to the goals of the critique
 * Ask for what changes can be made to satisfy a critique. If you agree with a criticism but don't see the direct path to make the change, ask for one. Most of the time, the critic will not have an answer but it moves the discussion forward

Ground Rules

 * Take control of the feedback process. Get feedback on your own terms and seek it out so that you can frame it in a more constructive light. However, if you wait for the feedback deadline, it has a bit more edge and you can see it negatively.
 * Pick your partners. Make sure that you pick people who understand the critique process and who gives good constistent and honest feedback.
 * Strive to hear it all. The earlier you hear feedback, the more chance you will have to make changes to the final project.