Hi Lisa,
Very good question. Some thoughts.
1. What is the goal of the critique? Are you using it to teach
people about design (I've always felt that user interface inspections
are a way to do some indirect training)? Are you using it to examine
competing designs? Are you using to examine specific objects or the
overall flow?
2. In inspections (the term I'm more familiar with), there should be
an explicit way to record/track/address issues that are tangential to
the primary purpose with a clear rule about how tangential rules are
dealt with.
3. Strong comments are welcome ("there is a serious gap here that
needs some major attention") but offensive comments are not ("this
just sucks").
4. Chose people who you respect and who don't always agree with you.
Have reasonable diversity.
5. Be explicit about what kind of feedback you want. If you are
doing this early in design, you may not want feedback that objects in
a flow are a bit out of alignment.
6. Prepare some background information about who will be using the
design and make that explicit. You may get feedback that you are
missing a particular category of person.
7. Provide (brief) rationale for your comments. Like Jeff Howard,
saying that you like or dislike something is not useful. Does the
design violate a human factors principle, an aesthetic principle, or a
interaction principle. There is research around that validates the
importance of even a few words of rationale when doing inspections or
critiques.
8. The members of the audience should be told to keep their comments
brief and not tell war stories which waste time and often do not add
much (if it is a really good story, tell it later).
9. If there is a global problem (one that occurs in multiple places)
consider a guideline about how to address that. The same problem or
flaw might be manifested in a slightly different way so you might
bring that up but if the design flaw is the same on multiple
artifacts, then you might just note that this is a global problem and
not bring it up.
10. Note conflicts -- one person states that something is a delightful
elements because.... while someone else feels that it is a major
flaw because.... Ask a question if you get serious diametrically
opposed feedback. You might find that there is a bimodal distribution
that would yield different feedback.
11. Some articles I've read state that the designer who is being
critiqued should run the session; others recommend a facilitator. good
arguments for both.
Good topic to discuss at The Asgard next week.
Chauncey
On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 4:42 PM, Lisa deBettencourt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> To distract you all a moment from the current frenzy of posts, I am looking
> for your input on a very specific topic: the Critique.
>
> The Critique is an art in and of itself. It is an opportunity for designers
> to get feedback on their work, to illicit suggestions and to uncover areas
> that need refinement or alternatives. However, not all of those who attend
> critiques - or who are considered designers (IxD, UI, UE, UX, whatever) -
> these days have had formal art or design training, and who therefore have
> not been taught the fine art of how to effectively critique or how to be
> critiqued. Currently, I have a working set of guidelines that I go by from
> my education and experience, but I'm looking to hear from you all and learn
> from your experiences running successful critiques.
>
> If you wouldn't mind, during a critique of a designer's work, what are your
> tips/guidelines/rules (do's and don'ts) for:
>
>
> The audience members:
>
>
> The designer:
>
>
>
> (I considered seeding these to give them a start, but changed my mind to
> leave it open and see what I got back instead.)
>
> Cheers,
> Lisa
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>
________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
