Sweating The Pixel: Scaling Quality Through Critique

Joseph Meersman at UXDX EMEA. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2fFM_zi1Yc

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Introduction and my perspective on critique

[00:00:00] My name is Joe Meersman and I'm speaking about scaling quality through critique. I have over 20 years of professional experience working in design orgs of various sizes: in-house, consulting, digital agencies, freelance, you name it. My experience informs my point of view on critiques and I'm very excited about the opportunity to share it. I want to thank the conference organizers at UXDX EMEA for providing this opportunity.

[00:00:29] Over the next 25 minutes I'm going to tell you a quick story, introduce the drivers for critiques, the habits of effective critiquers, I'm going to introduce three scenarios with patterns and anti-patterns, I'm going to outline two important non-critique meetings, and wrap up with some practical tips. But before I get into that, what I'd like to do is take a moment and provide you with my perspective on critiques, which is that it's been part of my career since really before it began.

[00:00:58] I was one of those people that really enjoyed sitting in art school critiques. I always felt better that I was participating in part of the process and learning from the way other people created work, and learning about their approaches, than maybe actually doing the work myself.

[00:01:19] Early in my career I've got to tell you, I had a hard time taking feedback. There was a lot of my ego that I felt was wrapped up in the work. I was really passionate about the work, and what I really missed out on was the opportunity to take a moment out and interpret and internalize what other people were telling me.

[00:01:48] When I achieved a little bit of status in my career and was in a management role, I learned a lot about the practice of providing that feedback to others. What I learned was that there's a lot of care that goes into saying the right thing the right way for someone else to take something from that and to positively move work forward.

[00:02:14] And then 20 years into my career, what I can tell you is that I learned a lot about design owners when seeing the way that they're both giving and receiving feedback, and I find it's a useful way to gauge maturity and aptitude, and to keep an eye on both hard and soft skills.

[00:02:36] In critiques I've noticed that there's a lot to learn and a lot to learn from, and when done properly we break down silos and interpersonal barriers. When we do it right we support one another, we learn and we work transparently together. In this presentation I'm going to discuss how we do so.

What sweating the pixel means

[00:02:56] Before I get into how we critique, what I want to do is anchor my definition of sweating the pixel. To me what I mean is paying attention to the details of varying different interactions that are both on screen and with each other. It's really how we keep our eye on quality. It's not some sort of hipster Richard Simmons thing or a CrossFit for design program or anything along those lines. As far as cults go, many of us sport the all-black uniform and we're already three quarters of the way there. Critique to me is a way to maintain focus on the quality of our outcomes, and it is the way that we can sweat every pixel that goes into production.

[00:03:41] This isn't a unique or distinct idea that formed in my head by myself. As a caveat, this deck is a product of my collaboration with some of the wonderful people that are on screen above, and we iterated on the model together, whereby it was neither top-down nor bottom-up, it was really a partnership. And because this is a design conference, I'd be remiss not to highlight at least one doppelganger. I look forward to meeting one in person here in a few weeks.

[00:04:18] Before I go any further, now that I've anchored in my definition of what it means to sweat the pixel, I want to frame critiques by showing a definition that these wonderful people helped me come up with. Critiques can be defined in a few different ways, but I really like this one, so I'd just like to pause with this on the screen for a moment, before I get into a little bit of the why we critique.

Why we critique, and who benefits

[00:04:46] Essentially there are many different reasons why a designer goes in along with others and practices critique. It sharpens our skills, it elevates our craft, it demonstrates our strengths, it allows us to advocate for our work, it identifies areas for us to improve, and we grow as professionals. Some of you in the audience right now may be thinking, this is great, so why should I care?

[00:05:12] And the reason being is because the entire team benefits from critiques, and I would still consider a leader a member of the team. I think of a design team not monolithically but as a function of logical groupings, and in this case how they get value from critiques.

[00:05:31] So if I take a look at what I'll refer to as group one here, what we have are those with the hands on the pixels that are responsible for delivering the work, and it allows them to do a little bit of rehearsal, defend their decision making, and watch and listen to other senior team members do the same.

[00:05:54] The second group that benefits from critique is those that are guiding the work and managing the individuals. What they benefit from is watching and providing feedback, as well as seeing the balance of hard and soft skills of those members of their teams, and their peers of course.

[00:06:15] And then the third group is that leadership strata, and what they do is they can support and encourage critique, they can identify the potential and unmet potential of members of the team, and it also helps them to understand where they may need to augment the team or otherwise help to scaffold and build upon the skills that currently exist.

Habits and the three lenses

[00:06:38] Now that I've described the benefits of critique for different members of the design team, I'm going to get into some habits. What we want to take in mind is that there is no formula. This is not an equation. What we want to do is start with a few initial conditions and ladder from there. We want to start with a mindset and think about our behavior over time, which truly is a habit.

[00:07:06] When we think about behavior we might think about how we aspire to behave together, and I think these five items on screen really identify the way that we want to go into a critique and have a positive mindset. We want to be humble and bear in mind that modesty is a virtue. We want to actively listen to one another and stop thinking about what we're going to say and process what we're hearing in that moment.

[00:07:37] We also want to have gratitude. We want to thank others for their input, especially when it hurts. And we want to own it. We want to admit our blind spots and bear in mind that it takes a lot of time and effort to defend oversights versus taking in and acknowledging that we have areas to grow. And then as far as acknowledgment is concerned, if you see something you want to say something, because someone else is going to benefit from that.

[00:08:10] So if a habit is behavioral over time, practice can be defined as the repetition of doing something with a focus on learning. There are three lenses that I'm going to reference a few times over in this presentation that deal with the practice of critique. The first is giving, the second is receiving, and the third is observing critique. I referenced those earlier in the deck; you'll see this as a bit of a theme popping up here and there.

Scenario one: the iteration loop

[00:08:40] What I'm going to do now is place these lenses into three scenarios. Each of these scenarios acts as a miniature critique narrative, and each of these three scenarios represents a situation in real life that I went through along with some of my peers. What I want you to do is learn from some of my mistakes and the mistakes of others in order to propel yourself forward in terms of your practice of design.

[00:09:11] The first scenario I have I'm calling the iteration loop, and we've all been there. We've all had multiple options on the table and seemingly not known where to go, and we need the help of others to help us through the process of delivering design.

[00:09:33] In terms of the iteration loop, this takes place three days before a big to-do type of meeting, potentially with a client. There's a bit too much divergence late in the process. You'll see a designer that's working through wires with a high-pressure deadline looming, and what we have here are three designers embracing what I'll call an ad hoc critique. These ad hoc critiques happen so often most of us don't even realize it.

[00:10:13] We have the designer on the far left who's interested in receiving critique, saying: I keep going through different placements of body copy, H1s, H2s, as well as images. I keep moving things around and I've kind of lost the plot here, I don't even know why I'm doing it. And the senior designer looks at them and says: I understand why you're frustrated, this really isn't the best that I've seen you deliver. And another designer that's sitting in on the meeting chimes in, saying: you know what, you're right, I would do a lot of what it is you're talking about right now completely differently.

[00:11:03] If we take a pause and a time out here, what you can see is that the designer that's looking to receive the critique is failing to provide enough context around the conversation. They didn't start with the business goals or the user goals, and they're also not asking anything specific. They're throwing their hands up and saying I'm frustrated.

[00:11:30] And the senior designer is missing an opportunity to be constructive and say: I've been there before, I understand what it is you're trying to do, I've been frustrated, and here are some direct areas where I think you can improve things. And the other designer in the mix really is missing out on the opportunity to tune in to what the advisement of that senior designer is. They also have the opportunity to follow up at a later time and embrace the fact that someone else's approach being completely different than theirs may not be a bad thing.

[00:12:15] I'd say overall, if you're the receiving designer in this case, it's easy to let emotion get the better of you because you're trying really hard. I would say the senior designer here has a responsibility to help others grow the same way hopefully someone helped them grow. And the third designer is missing out on the opportunity to actively listen to the conversation that's taking place.

[00:12:45] As far as an ad hoc critique is concerned, there are a few attributes to it that I want you to take away. The first is that, given the nature of them, everyone's guard is, and should be, down. These are more or less timely in nature and they're an opportunity to share work that really hasn't landed yet. Bear in mind you could never share too much, but you can share too little, and there are definitely some missed opportunities for iteration or improvement.

[00:13:20] If we think about it, this is an opportunity to get out of that mode of maybe being a lone ranger or doing solo work, and it is an opportunity to iterate faster with purpose, with a little bit of guidance and feedback from others.

Scenario two: the refinement compass

[00:13:35] So to step into our second scenario here, what we have is what I'm referring to as the refinement compass. As every project starts to come in for a landing there are certain details that will make or break a strong design. These important details aren't always clear and they often land just at the right time based on someone else's input. In this case this scenario takes place at a weekly critique at an agency with individuals from other accounts with varying levels of experience, and I feel like it's a great opportunity for input.

[00:14:16] What we have is a senior designer, an ACD or associate creative director, and a junior designer. The senior designer goes to the associate creative director and says: I could really use a second point of view on what I'm working on here. The associate creative director looks at them and says: you know what, all of these are fantastic, again, job well done, really really pleased with what I'm seeing here. And the more junior designer chimes in and says: I can see where you're coming from here, and this reminds me of a project I worked on a few years ago, it got me an award, you might have heard about it.

[00:15:03] Now if we pause this exchange real quick, what's missing is an opportunity for the senior designer to have maybe shared it a little earlier in the process, and again, they have the opportunity to be a little bit specific about what they're looking for feedback on. The ACD is getting a little personal here. "I love everything that you do" isn't really something that that senior designer can take and drive forward better work with, so it's a little too indirect and has a low impact outside of inflating the ego of the senior designer. And then the more junior designer in the mix has the opportunity to not make statements, but to pay attention, to be mindful, and to ask intelligent questions.

[00:15:55] When it comes to these informal critiques, a few things to keep in mind: they don't have to be regularly scheduled. You can easily just ping a few people on a group Slack or Teams, or, when we're back in the office, saunter up to a few other designers that happen to be there as well. I would recommend having a host or someone facilitating things. That might be a third, or in this case a fourth, party who may have a background in research or have very little context on the project in question.

[00:16:31] The topics here should really be seen as a rotation, and that could be something larger like search, browse or query, or something more specific along the lines of broadcast, breadcrumbing, competitor comparatives, objections, data density, white space, things of that nature. But what you want to do is treat these like a prototype and evolve them over time. We want to do a little bit of dogfooding as designers and try to think about how we can vary our approach.

Scenario three: the deep dive

[00:17:03] And then our third and final scenario here is the deep dive, and this involves some tense moments with leadership oversight. What you have is something that I feel is all too common when it comes to the nature of design work. We have a big bet that's taken too long to ship, we've had many, many intelligent debates about the work, and now what we have is the design executive leaning in.

[00:17:32] One thing to bear in mind when it comes to critiques is the fact that in a larger organization there may be moments where that senior leader wants to look in on the work and wants to bring a bunch of people together to see that work. There are different reasons for that, but in this case what we have is a designer, a design team lead, the director, and probably many other designers that are here.

[00:18:04] The designer may open up complaining a little bit about how they've waited for a really long time for their turn. It may be that the design team leader or the director goes along prepping everyone else for the work, or it may be that another critique runs over. In the case of the design team lead, after looking at the work they make the comment that they don't even know where to start, the work just feels a little bit off target, they can't really put their finger on it, but it seems to be everything taking place all at once. And the design director that's part of the conversation mentions: it seems like everyone's really had their guard up here, I'm a little disappointed at the back and forth conversation that's taking place here.

[00:18:57] Now if we break this down into its different components, what's happening is that the designer in question may have been over-prepared and forgotten that a critique is a bit of a conversation, and that context is going to be really important in order for everyone to give feedback in an informed manner. They all immediately come off a little defensive in nature. As far as the design team lead is concerned, they're not being calculated, constructive and considerate about the input that they're giving. And as far as the director is concerned, they're not helping to set the tone more positively, and if anything they're making it a little personal, and they're not creating an environment of psychological safety.

What a formal critique is

[00:19:58] Having gone through three scenarios describing what critique is, what I'm going to do is transition here in a moment to talking about what critique is not. Before I get there, I'd like to wrap up talking a little bit about what a formal critique is. It's set by leadership, it's meant to look at work in progress, and a benefit that can be shared by all is an understanding of similar use cases, other domains, constraints, channel challenges, as well as varying levels of detail. What this provides everyone is a line of sight into work that's being done in different areas. It allows people to advocate in front of a different audience, and it definitely has some broader implications.

What critique is not: design shares and playbacks

[00:20:48] As I mentioned, we're going to talk now about things that are not critiques. I do feel like it's important to set the table by talking about what something is as well as what it isn't. So if a critique focuses on craft and the iteration of a designer's work, a design share doesn't do that. What I mean by a design share is it's a cross-team opportunity to see a final project presentation. These are typically client pitches versus work in progress. These are outcomes and not iterations.

[00:21:30] These aren't sharing of work for feedback, but it might be a dry run asking for input on flow, or it can be used for practice for one of those big client pitches or important meetings. What we want to learn from a design share is that it's a great opportunity to learn other approaches and styles. It's also good to see how someone talks about their process to a non-design audience. A design share might take place in a town hall, for instance, where someone has the ability to showcase work that they're really proud of, or to celebrate a big win.

[00:22:15] So bear in mind that a design share is really an opportunity to see how others are approaching creative problem solving. It's good to learn how design is packaged for different audiences. And what you want to remember here is that critiques and design shares drive toward different outcomes, but they can both prepare you for what I'll refer to as a playback, which is also different from a critique.

[00:22:41] Something notable about a playback is that your audience here may be the stakeholders or the buyers. It may be a client or someone that's the patron of the work. The work's already been done, as in the work is past tense, and this is a great opportunity to sell without selling and to tell a story. What you want to achieve in a playback is getting the buy-in from the business or from an internal partner, and to be able to showcase the results, the outcomes, and a little bit of how you achieved them.

Practical tips and takeaways

[00:23:21] So we've talked at this point about critiques, we've talked about design shares, we've talked about playbacks, and what I'm going to do is talk to you a little bit about how you can take this home. When you start to critique yourself, or when you continue to critique in your teams, here are some things that you might want to keep in mind.

[00:23:47] The first is that not being dogmatic is really important. I don't advocate for a singular approach to critiquing. I think it's all about initial conditions and the application of the framework that we've been discussing here today. I feel like a good critique is kind of like a prototype that keeps resetting itself every time you do it, and you want to trust your team to set the tone and drive the cadence thereof.

[00:24:13] There are five takeaways from this deck about how you critique. The first is to think about the type of critique you're going to have. Don't worry about mixing and matching the different styles; think about how you want to set up a critique based on the goal or the objective. The second is really just starting now. Don't wait until things get slow, or for whether or not there's a part two of a project, or whether or not there's a leader that should set up the critique in question.

[00:24:50] The third has to do with hosting duties. Ideally in a larger setting, for any sort of formal or even informal critiques, you do want to have someone that's more of a conductor than a referee. Researchers and workshoppers are great at this. I would also say being inclusive is really important: invite everyone, don't be upset if everyone doesn't show up. And you want to show your best work in progress, and bear in mind that if you show too late you can't act on great input.

[00:25:24] So bear in mind that you can bring critiques to Zoom, WebEx, Teams, pick your poison there, but also they're going to work great in person. And if you're going to take one screen capture throughout this presentation, it's going to be at the end of the build.

[00:25:40] Bear in mind that when you're receiving critique, we want to do so with humility and we want to own the decisions that we've made as designers. We want to think about what we're hearing in that moment. When we're giving critique, we want to acknowledge what someone's doing well, maybe what they have to improve upon, and we want to think with care about how we're packaging up what it is we're saying to our audience. And when observing critique, we want to think about the exchange of the words that are taking place and where there's opportunity for improvement, and we always want to be intellectually curious.

[00:26:22] So in closing, go forth, sweat the pixel, improve your craft together by using the three lenses: giving, receiving and observing feedback. Thanks so much for your time here today, I really appreciate the opportunity.