“The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”➪ Norman Vincent Peale
A tool to improve design effectiveness
A design critique is a structured, collaborative session where designers, peers, and stakeholders evaluate a design artifact to provide constructive feedback and improve the design's effectiveness, quality, and alignment with user needs and business objectives. A good design critique is never about personal taste and should always strive to be as objective as possible.
Critiques as necessary collisions
A critique is not a governance mechanism, nor is it a group brainstorming session. It's a necessary collision. It’s the intentional application of adversarial thought to something that isn't finished yet. Its sole purpose is to pressure-test the underlying assumptions. Ultimately, critiques are about injecting constructive doubt into a designer's premature certainty before they build too much or go too far.