This post is a continuation to my previous post Thoughts from a UX mentor (part 1). This will list will likely grow.

Critique: Give and accept

Critique is a integral part of the design process. As a UX designer you will need to effectively and receive critique. This can be tough, especially if you are on the receiving end of things. When I was in Architecture school the ‘unofficial’ objective of students in the class was to deliver such harsh critique that other students would eventually drop out. The logic was this led to less competition that way. Yeah, we were young. Looking back this was all wrong and we really didn't understand the role of critique in design. Today, I view Critique as a type of critical thinking. It is a way of determining the direction of a design and how well the design meets the goals.

Four years ago, I went from being a lead designer in a product company to be a manager of the UX team. I started to divide my time between ‘doing the design’ and everything that went in to that, to making sure and motivating others to ‘do the design’. My role developed into more of a coordinating function. In addition to this, one had to make sure each designer delivered at a uniform quality level (more or less). The more I thought about this, the more I found myself discussing what the appropriate level of UX quality was for each product and the business. Turned out this definition was different for different groups of people.