Discussing Design

by Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry, Aaron Irizarry, Russ Unger (Foreword)

Real critique has become a lost skill among collaborative teams today. Critique is intended to help teams strengthen their designs, products, and services, rather than be used to assert authority or push agendas under the guise of "feedback." In this practical guide, authors Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry teach you techniques, tools, and a framework for helping members of your design team give and receive critique. Using firsthand stories and lessons from prominent figures in the design community, this book examines the good, the bad, and the ugly of feedback. You'll come away with tips, actionable insights, activities, and a cheat sheet for practicing critique as a part of your collaborative process.

Genres: Design, Business, Communication, Nonfiction, Art Design, Collections, Reference

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book inspired me to use a more structured approach wehn giving and receiving feedback on UX design projects. The vocabulary of critiques vs reactions and direction is useful, as well as the definition of a critique being to measure a design against agreed upon objectives. Perhaps the biggest message for me is to get better at defining clear objectives and use cases for each feature with the project tema and reviewing those regularly.

The book became a bit repetitive in later chapters, as the authors iterated on the main idea and branched into general information on running meetings. I may go back and review those sections later, but I found I began skimming as the same ground was being covered in several different ways.

I recommend this for people who give or receive design critiques as a part of their work.

[Nabil · Rating 4 out of 5]

For people who work closely with designers, this book gives great practical advice on how to properly 'critique'.

The first half of the book is useful, while the second goes into granular details of some 9-5 basics, e.g. "be sure to take notes"

Would recommend for anyone who collaborates with designers sometimes, and mandatory for people who are responsible for designing (or approving designs) of user facing products.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of padding around common sense or sometimes stuff which wasn't applicable to me. Mostly common sense. There was too much "this is what we'll tell you, this is what we're telling you, this is what we told you" (and a case study which usually didn't add much if anything).

[Sangeetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connor puts forth a concise guide for working with ux/ui designers. I found it accessible as a non-designer. The examples of conversations were really helpful, indicating common pitfalls and ways to work around them. I wish this were a little more technical, driven by data or psychology. The advice does feel really subjective, and your mileage may vary depending on your organization.

[BAM who is Beth Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

my copy has about 1000 little post it tags in it.

enough said

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another design book with a premise that seems noble--critique is a universal part of design organizations that's perpetuated with much complacency. Time for a shake-up, or at least a critical eye, right? The most memorable parts of this book are the definitions to commonplace terms, like critique, facilitation, active listening. The definitions seem more human and eloquent than the typical textbook glossary. Unfortunately, the rest of the book feels like a regurgitation of design books being published by the big publishers today. If based on design books alone, and specifically the profiles of designers included in design book sidebars, people working 100 years from now will think there were only 5 designers in our century!

[Sashko Valyus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Дизайн ніколи не створюється в вакуумі. Його завжди потрбіно валідувати, покращувати, тестувати і часом навіть продавати. Ця книга чудесно описує частниню цього процесу, а саме як організовувати, давати та отримувати критику на дизайн. Дуже практична і чітка.
Головне в критикуванні — шукати рішення, чому щось працює, чи не працює, а не придумувати нове, яке вам здається кращим.

[Kira Laktionov · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot of water in this book. Same basics are repeated over and over again. If you work in a product company, you might have already learned it within the first few months. I think this book should have been better published in the form of the podcast or a video lecture.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

it sheds light on our current team design critique sessions, and enpowered the better team communication:
- how to provide and receive critiques,
- how to cope with difficult people,
- what principle we should keep
- what methods (4 charette, 6 hats, design studio etc.) we can apply to the daily business

Among all the tips, I found these particularly mind-blowing:
- avoid problem-solving (analytic thinking instead of creative thinking)
- don't rush to make decisions
- always keep consensus on the design objective

These can also be the life hack, not only used in design.

[CalebA · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never knew there was so much to say about critique.
The author focused on the definitions of the different ways we critique and provided some methods on how to get better critiques. While the topics were encouraging to hear, nothing was relatively earth-shattering. I feel the book could have been much more condensed into an instructional pamphlet, or even a blog article, etc. I didn't take too many notes here. I'm still looking for a better read on this topic.

[Anton Nikolov · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers a lot of basic critique techniques that you probably know if you have read some articles on the topic. That said I think it is still a nice book for any Designer and product person that participates in the design process.

It is a good collection of practical tips on how to do good design critique.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of best practices for critiques in a design and product context. The writing could use more editing to tighten it up, as there were a lot of "(as we'll explain in chapter 7)" type notes or things that felt kind of handwavey. Would still recommend as required reading for anyone in the industry.

[Ricardo Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good guide to have proper feedback sessions.

An interesting detail which weirded me out is that the writers mostly used “she” “her” (female pronouns) in negative examples of bad habits during critiques.

[Maria Arce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended!

If you find yourself struggling in a design environment you should read this book. You will be able to understand how to participate of a collaborative and balance critique oriented workplace and take all the positive outcomes.

[Lewis Ngugi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Came in handy when I had a challenges in a project around communication and collaboration. The shared feedback is now tied to product objectives and scenarios. Love the guide it also offers towards the end on how to remember about participating in a great critic session.

[Diego Pacheco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Books even for those who are not designers. It talks about creating a culture of high feedback but also explains why feedback is, in the author case *critique* There are some interesting insights on what exactly matters and why.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This provides framework for anyone who gives or receives feedback on products created by a team. It will be useful for me to refer back to when developing environments conducive to collaboration, and to achieve consensus while maintaining team harmony and my own sanity.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good foundational book on getting feedback on design or more specifically critique (why the design doesn't work and how it can be improved). This is different from feedback that is based on reactions or preferences (like "there are too many fields to fill out" or "those colors are ugly").

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was great.

[Andrew Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So practical and so useful. Feel like this has been sitting right in front of my face.

[M Pereira · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice engagement of how freelancers in creative roles deal with clients in the to and fro. An education to read about this.

[Rachel Nouvellon Maltas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some common-sense discussion about communication about UX design. Didn't really learn a lot that's new but always good to revisit and reflect on productive professional speak.

[Colle Owino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say it a book full of concrete and actionable insights on how to go about critiquing design.
The main point is that its about collaboration and helping the design improve and meet its objectives.
Even going as far as detailing how to make it possible through facilitation.
The overall tone is reminiscent of a design critique workshop but quite digestible to even those who are not designers.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important principles about differences between types of feedback. IMO this can be easily digested quicker in a talk, podcast or an article. I skimmed the book heavily because I realized after the first two chapters how much of the content is drawn out way too long. Unfortunately I've read a few similar books recently which didn't need to be written as books (if that makes sense).

[Ethan Petuchowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty quick read and makes some good points about what it means to ask your colleagues to critique to work, and how to facilitate the session to gain maximum value and minimal hurt feelings. I am a software engineer working with UI designers, and recommend this book to others in that same position.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just saw Aaron speak at an event and I was so impressed that I ordered this book immediately. The structure he proposes will undoubtedly help me in better conveying customer needs and sentiment to our designers and hopefully help us build an even more fantastic product and harmonious company.

[Nika · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a UX/UI designer, this was such a useful read & I'm looking forward testing some of the strategies for communication listed in the book. Would also recommend it to PO's, scrum masters, developers etc. It's useful for a whole team!

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is nice for continuing to improve on giving and receiving feedback. It does seem repetitive with each chapter and goes a bit in circles. The cheat sheet provided is okay. I expected more in depth methods on giving critique

[Delhi Irc]

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[Vlad Golovach · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely nothing conveyed in so many words.