Discussing Design

“What the hell is this?”

“Make it pop some more.”

“Can you make it look like Apple?”

You should move that text to the top “

In many organizations, design reviews are a painful experience. The design is criticized, the designers are insulted, and people walk away in disagreement. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this post, I review Discussing Design, by Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry. This topic is close to my heart, because my team and I are often in situations where we need to share a design and get feedback.

The book examines the good, the bad, and the ugly of feedback in 180 pages. It provides an excellent framework for design discussion, and after reading the book, I’ve incorporate the guidance it into the way we work.

In chapter 1, Connor and Irizarry describe three forms of good and bad feedback, and then explain why critique is an important part of the design process.

In chapter 2, they describe how to give and receive critique effectively on an individual level.

In chapter 5 and 6 they present a framework for group level discussion.

Start with why

So what is design critique and why is it important?

The word “critique” is synonymous with assessment, analysis, and evaluation. In a design critique, we analyze, assess, and provide thoughtful feedback on a design.

A design critique can occur at almost any point or multiple points in the design cycle, as long as you have something tangible to analyze. It could be a napkin sketch, a storyboard, a wireframe, an interaction design, or a visual design.

The authors identify three reasons to include critique in the design process:

1. To create a shared vision and understanding of the design across a team of stakeholders.
2. To collect critical feedback on the design and improve it iteratively, before it needs to be signed off.
3. To build a shared vocabulary for the discussion of design and design rationale.

In other words, this is a great way to lead and develop knowledge across an organization.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The authors of this book describe three different types of good and bad feedback:

Reaction: “Good Lord! That’s ugly”

This type of feedback happens quickly and instinctively, and is driven by passion, personal expectations, desires and values. Unfortunately, this type of feedback is too vague to be useful by itself.

When this occurs, we need to pause, think, and then explore the underlying cause of this reaction.

Direction: “You should have made all of those radio buttons a dropdown”

This type of feedback typically begins with an instruction or suggestion, and in many cases, that’s where it ends. It doesn’t help us understand why we need to take a different approach.

When this occurs, it’s important to slide the suggestion gently to the side and ask if there any problems in the design proposal itself.

Thoughtful analysis:

“I really like [some design element]. The [position / structure / interaction / style] should make it very easy for [the user] to [fill in the blank].

“I’m concerned about [some design element]. If you want [the user] to [fill in the blank], [putting / using / doing something specific] may not be effective, because [reason].

This type of feedback is good.  It helps us identify specific elements in the design, confirm that the design is working well, and understand where the design can be improved.

At the same time, I find it difficult to get my mouth around this sentence structure. It’s something that needs improvement.

The Bigger Picture

One line statements like those above should be delivered within a framework, where everybody has a clear understanding of the design objective and the design critique process. Connor and Irizarry develop this process in chapter 5 and 6. Here’s a brief summary:

Start with what and why

Share your your design objective with the group. Talk about your design hypothesis and success metrics, if you have them.

Tell them why we do reviews, and how they can help.

Tell them where you are in the design process. Comments on the colour of a widget are useless in the wireframe stage.

Talk about good and bad critique

This is your opportunity to demonstrate what good feedback sounds like.  Refer to the section above.

Talk about the user, their goals, and the steps they would normally take to achieve their goal

This framework forms the basis for good design, so the people in the room need to understand it.

Walk through the design

Start with the user perspective. Tell your audience what the user wants to do, and how they will do it. Identify the elements in the design that make it possible.

Encourage them to ask questions first

This gives you an opportunity to help them understand the design direction you have take, before they start throwing rocks at it.

Open the door for feedback

This is where you examine whether the elements in the design are effective. Do they help achieve the design objective. Why or why not?

There are two participants in this interaction: the giver of feedback and the receiver.

As a giver,

1. Seek first to understand
2. Identify the elements within the design that you feel are ineffective. Tell us why.
3. Give positive feedback too

As a receiver,

1. Listen and think before you respond to feedback
2. Return to the foundation: the user, the persona, the scenarios, the goals
3. Participate in the critique yourself. This is easier when you bring more than one design option to the table.
4. Use thoughtful questions to unpack reaction and directive
   • Can you be more specific?
   • What element of the design are you concerned about?
   • Can you help me understand what the problem is?
   • Why do you think there is a problem?
   • How serious is this problem?

The authors recommend that you focus on problem discovery in the critique and defer problem solving. These are two different types of thinking, and it takes time to create better designs.

Record the issues and follow up

It’s easy to forget what was said in a meeting. To avoid this, record any concerns, issues and ideas when they occur, and summarize them in an email after the meeting.

The Results

I’ve used this framework in half a dozen different design reviews over the last quarter. It seems a bit stiff at first, but over time I’ve seen my team warm up to it. It provides a safe, thoughtful environment for constructive feedback. It’s also a great forum for a designer to develop their communication skills.