Comments on: Dealing with Design Critiques

By: Jacob Gube

Jacob Gube — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:52:52 +0000

Thanks Louis! But I can’t take most of the credit since most of the advice come from the designers featured in this piece — I just pieced them together and helped narrate their story.

By: Louis

Louis — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:08:47 +0000

Great article, Jacob.

I love the honest statement: “If you are having a difficult time explaining it, or if your design choice was arbitrary, then your client may be right.”

By: Jacob Gube

Jacob Gube — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:28:13 +0000

@Jeancarlo Zelaya: As a person who’s done both freelance and in-house, I want to first say that you’re not alone in all the things you’ve said. You want to just get it done, but at the same time, eventually you want to end up in a situation where design takes a front seat towards speed and appeasement.

By: Jeancarlo Zelaya

Jeancarlo Zelaya — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:29:28 +0000

I currently work at a Sign Shop, it’s alot different from my impression of the way I thought the industry ran from reading so many articles and websites related to the graphic design industry as I love design, but it’s a different industry, it’s the sign industry.

The attitude at the sign shop is just do what the client asks and get the design approved as fast as possible. When I can I do try to guide the client but that’s against the philosophy where I work which is “Get it done, do the changes requested, get it approved fast”
I don’t have much of a say. But in the future I don’t plan on having a job that runs the way it’s running now.

By: Jack Rugile

Jack Rugile — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:12:44 +0000

I am in the middle of it as we speak! Tutorial writing is way more time consuming than I expected ;) Very fun though.

By: Jacob Gube

Jacob Gube — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:23:52 +0000

John, thank you for your wonderful advice.

By: John

John — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:25:38 +0000

One of the best tools for design critiques that I learned in design school was that we were never allowed to use the word “like.” We couldn’t say we “liked” someones work, we had to state why it was good or bad, and what could be done to improve it. When you remove subjective words from the conversation and focus on the objective goals of the work, the crit is more successful because the designers are taking it less personally.

By: frank

frank — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:46:42 +0000

Thanks for posting this – I need to hear this. Nice work Jacob.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:59:57 +0000

I could have done with this article a few weeks ago! Sometimes it really is hard to just sit there while your designs are slated – but it really does help in making you have a tougher skin, as Eric said. Great article – it’s nice to have some insights from some top designers on this subject as well.

By: Jacob Gube

Jacob Gube — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:41:31 +0000

Nice — that’s an excellent strategy; I’ve never thought of looking at it that way.

And we hope we can see your tutorial published here soon too Jack!