Critique Exercise

The goal of this exercise is to practice critique skills. Remember that critique is best when it is constructive; use non-judgmental questions–“What was your goal for this work?” “What do you want people to notice first?”, acknowledge positive aspects of the work, and provide concrete suggestions for improvement.

You’ll be doing this exercise in your note-taking groups, critiquing each person’s poster project as a group.

Process

1. Upload your own poster to your group’s Google Drive folder. (I suggest creating a folder for this purpose.) Make sure your name is in the file name.

2. Take ten minutes to individually review all of your group’s poster, taking your own notes on what you think is particularly good, unclear, and/or needs improvement. Make sure you write your thoughts down, since you’ll need to turn these notes in.

3. As a group, critique each of the posters.

   • Have the creator start with brief explanation of their goals and decision-making process for the poster, as well as any specific aspects of the work they’re unhappy with or would like feedback on.

   • Each member of the group should offer at least one positive comment about the revised version, and at least one suggestion for improvement. (You may also ask neutral questions about the work.)

   • The creator should avoid explaining or defending their design decisions; instead, focus on listening and understanding what people tell you. Ask clarifying questions if you want (e.g. “When you say you think it’s too dark, what exactly do you mean?”), and take lots of notes.

4. If you have time left after the critique process, you can begin work on your deliverables.

Deliverables

Create a process document that includes the following components:

• A description of the process you used to create your cover, make sure to address the design goals
• An explanation of how the critique process shaped your revisions.
• Your critique notes for each of the covers your group reviewed

Submit all of three files to the Exercise - Critique assignments dropbox in myCourses by the assigned due date.