The critique’s importance in creative output is not a new idea; it is why design community sites such as Dribbble, Behance, and Forrst flourish. But embracing the critique depends on knowing your value to a project and understanding how to navigate process to achieve great work.
Critiques can help us navigate both complex processes and projects. The better we are able to do this, the more we can collaborate effectively, improve our creative output, and create original and engaging work.
Cassie McDaniel.
The idea that feedback is not fixed is a common thread in these scenarios. Our interpretations and reactions influence feedback. A critique is the beginning of this negotiation process, allowing the exchange of thoughts and opinions. Ultimately it is important that our designs accomplish business goals and engage our audience, but getting there is not always as straightforward as it seems. Every time project members exchange and share information or insights, the project value goes up. On the other hand, if communication isn’t adding value, ask whether it is important that you collaborate or if there is an alternative. Cassie McDaniel.
Sharing your work at any stage can make you feel vulnerable, but discussing it lends credence to the design process. Present a rationale for all design decisions you make. If that’s impossible, ask yourself where there’s room for improvement, and listen to suggestions. Cassie McDaniel.
The critiquing process is not an excuse to form a design committee, but designers must embrace collaborative efforts and act as stewards of design rather than dictators.
If the critique is to help us to collaborate, it must sound like a suggestion rather than an order. It should be conversational, both giving and taking, again in the interest of collaboration. When design critiques are one-sided—for example, when commands are issued without explanation—the result is like playing telephone: the message arrives diluted and insensible because the message bearer has no context or ownership over ultimate design decisions.
It’s important to remember that critiques are meant to improve output rather than hinder process.
Cassie McDaniel.
Work outside the box — literally! Do everything you can to end your complete dependence on your computer. Read books. Look around, figure out where it all came from and how it began. Learn to understand the world. Art Chantry.
Good lord, most of my corporate clients are the most challenging, not because the work is complicated or difficult, but because the corporate culture is so utterly awful and unable to make decisions. So, challenging would be surviving a corporate client intact. I always come out having been raped. Art Chantry.
The one thing I’ve learned to shove into my typographic treatments is PERSONALITY. That personality can be anything you want, but I try hardest to insert the spirit, the personality of that project. Today we call this branding, but that’s just a bogus word to refer to marketing practices that are as old as mankind. The bottom line is I have to get the client’s requirements across to the audience. I use the magic at my disposal to manipulate that viewer into changing their mind about something. It’s my job to use the language of graphic design to talk that viewer into «buying this product,» «attending this event,» or «voting for this candidate.» We’re quite dangerous in our actions, really. There is great power in our skills. Art Chantry.
The earliest work I was ever hired to do was little clever word drawings for friends in high school. As I recall, hand-drawn lettering was all I did in the earliest stages of my career. Eventually, I started to include imagery (found or created) and the larger design interest emerged from that.
I view typography as construction. I BUILD type forms. I’m not a calligrapher, but when I use calligraphy, it’s not drawn with a writing tool (like a pen), but literally constructed as built letterforms that just happen to echo calligraphy in visual form. It’s a trick. As a kid, I collected comic books. I built monster model kits. I watched a lot of pop television. That is where I was initially exposed to typography. The idea of “fine” typography is something I was exposed to decades later as a student. Then I just gravitated toward that look because it was what I was told was «good.» But as I got older and wiser, I walked away from what academia told me was acceptable, and just did what my clients wanted.
I no longer consider myself a typographer. Computers changed the rules so much that everybody could do adequate typography with little or even no training, so I stepped back in time to building letterforms by hand with found materials and imagery. I enjoy saying I no longer «do» typography, I do LETTERIN’!
Art Chantry.
Once you create a side-project, and finish it—you absolutely must finish it—you realize that these things aren’t that hard. Most importantly, these projects are incredibly fun. That’s why I don’t work at a big company. I want the time to do my own stuff—even if it isn’t necessarily that profitable. Side-projects are intoxicating beyond compare. No other act can fill you with as much energy and joy, as making your own things will.
So, don’t wait. A mediocre side-project today is better than an amazing one that you never get to. Go to your kitchen table—right now—clear off the mess, and plan it out.
When you create interesting things—even small ones—people tend to notice. This is because you’ve leveraged the power of attraction. You’ve given them something to talk about—and we all are drawn to that. Maybe you create an educational initiative that helps prison inmates express their creativity. Maybe you collect forgotten technologies and write about them on a blog. Maybe you create a podcast in which you interview octogenarians about their lives. Any of these will get you more media attention than the average social media marketer can muster. Forget shortcuts and gimmicks. Do something interesting and people will take notice. Eric Karjaluoto.