The Best Approach to Design Critique

Have you ever sat in a design critique and thought:

“Wait! Are they suggesting I must change this, or just throwing out ideas?”

That moment of confusion when you’re not sure if feedback is a command or just someone thinking out loud.

I know, I’ve been there so many times in the past 15 years.

So if you or your design team is also drowning in ambiguous feedback, here’s an approach that can transform how you communicate about design work.

Be Clear About the Intent of Feedback

Feedback is a gift — you probably heard it way too many times already in your career.

But it’s true!

Design excellence and our work depend on getting feedback.

We’re constantly evaluating, critiquing, and refining our design in formal reviews, casual huddles, and those thousand-line-long Slack messages that somehow generate 37 replies before lunch if you ask for async feedback.

But not all feedback is created equal!

Here’s a trusted framework with 3 distinct categories, which has been used in the consulting world and design agencies, and what I like to implement in my product design teams in tech.

1 — Direction (The “Please Do This” Feedback)

This is the non-negotiable stuff.

When someone gives “Direction,” they’re effectively saying, “This needs to change.” It’s specific and actionable, for instance:

• “The spacing between these cards creates too much dead space. Let’s reduce it to 16px.”
• “Users are missing the confirmation step here. We need to add a visual indicator before the submit button.”

2 — Feedback (The “Please Solve This” Feedback)

This is where you identify problems but leave the solutions to the designer, for example:

• “Hm, I have a hard time understanding the hierarchy on this dashboard. What’s most important here?”
• “The onboarding flow feels super disjointed. I’m concerned that users might get lost between steps 2 and 3.”

3 — Thoughts (The “Just Musing” Feedback)

These are observations that require no immediate action but might inspire future iterations, so it’s good to note them in Figma. They could be:

• “Something about this reminds me of that travel app we looked at last month.”
• “I wonder if this layout would work as well on really large screens.”

Why This Framework Works

This approach is effective because it eliminates guesswork.

As a designer receiving feedback, you immediately understand what’s expected from you:

• Do I need to incorporate this exactly as suggested?
• Should I find a solution to this problem myself?
• Is this just something to consider for the future?

It also empowers the entire design team to be more intentional.

Before speaking, feedback-givers must decide:

“Am I directing, suggesting, or just thinking aloud?”

Even though we are designers and should live and breathe feedback, some designers do struggle with receiving or providing feedback (or let’s be honest, sometimes both aspects).

However, this framework helps everyone involved to feel more comfortable giving critical feedback, even those who struggle with it, because they can frame their concerns as “Feedback” or “Thoughts” rather than “Direction,” inviting collaboration rather than dictating solutions.

So next time you’re about to drop a “that button feels off” comment in a design review, take a second to clarify:

Is it direction, feedback, or just a thought?

Your designer peers’ stress level will thank you.

If you prefer an audio version of this article, watch the video on YouTube: