Not criterium, but critique design sessions (or whatever you call them).

Does anyone have any advice/guidelines for running them in an educational environment? There is some useful stuff on a couple of blogs i’ve seen, but any tips would be gratefully received.

Dunno but deffo run a ‘check your ego at the door’ policy.

Oh yes, that will be made clear. Hopefully it won’t be too much of an issue as none of the students are experienced at design, so will all be in the same boat.

Buff up your prejudices and work out your favourites then make sure that your butcher’s knives are sharp.
Realistically try and be objective, remember that just because YOU don’t like the the work that it’s not bad, and that constructive criticism is the objective, not just destructive… Oh, it’ll take some time to get up to speed with running them.
This might be of interest

Cheers aP, that looks a useful link. I think your point about getting the student warmed up is important. Caffeine could well prove crucial.

Well, this is what i’ve come up with:

Guidelines for participating in a supportive critique session:

When providing critique:

1. Listen before speaking

– allow the designers to introduce their work before you judge it

2. Immediate thoughts are incredibly useful, but consider them further before sharing them

3. Always start with positive critique

– and alternative positive and negative feedback

4. Give constructive and useful feedback

– this means going beyond ‘I like that,’ or ‘That’s good.’ That is praise, and there isn’t much you can usefully do with it.
– offer reasons for why something is good by explaining how it works, e.g. ‘That layout works because you know the sequence of where to look,’ or ‘The headings are clear, I immediately know what the topic is.’
– likewise, insults aren’t useful either. If you think something needs improvement, explain why and how you think it could be changed.
– offer alternatives – if you can’t, you’re not being constructive

5. Remember you are presenting your own point of view

– always place your comments in this context
– don’t speak in absolutes

6. Separate good and bad from what you like and what you don’t like

– personal preferences can obscure useful analysis
– criticism isn’t about you

7. Ask questions if you want something clarified

– when doing so, consider what it is about the design that has led you to ask for clarification, this could be a crucial insight.

Receiving Critique

1. Explain your ideas briefly

– if you can’t do it briefly, what does this tell you about your visualisation?

2. Listen, listen, listen…

– it is important not to speak for the visualisation, let the viewers judge it on its own merits, if they want clarification on something they will ask for it.

3. Feel free to ask clarifying questions

– if after receiving comments you want more detail or clarification, ask for it
– critique should be a dialogue

4. Remember feedback is a gift, embrace it

– You’ll likely have been working on your visualisation for weeks and won’t be able to get critical distance from it – you may not notice problems. Others will be able to provide this.
– It is very hard to improve without listening to the views of others.

5. People are providing you with their own opinion, and only that

– you need to decide what to do with those opinions

It’s been a while since I’ve done them, but I’m led to believe we don’t call them crits any-more as even this is deemed negative! Think they’re called reviews now.

As above be positive, encouraging and constructive and try to find different things to say to each student – this get’s harder at the end of the day after seeing 30 variations on a theme!

I find it most difficult if they really haven’t done any meaningful work or have any opinion – once had a student who had just got a book from the library and bookmarked interesting pages using post-it notes…