Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Ritchel V

When we focus on design the purpose is typically for another person and very rarely just for ourselves. As a visual designer, I’ve come to realize that is the fine line between art and design. Although a piece of artwork can be critiqued, essentially it’s purpose is to express an emotion or tell a story. However, design is built for the betterment of someone. Whether that person is yourself or someone else, design is functional — and that is were critical feedback divides the two.

Users depend on designs to solve an issue. With that comes questions and problems. Design will always be problematic while art will always be expressive. Since we are giving another person a tool, feedback is vital. We ask questions about usage, functionality, and dependability. This resource must now conform to the users needs.

So why do critiques go hand-in-hand with design? Design can be understood as either a solution or foundation, both of which need tweaking and constructive criticism. Get it? Constructive. Anyway, I’ve learned that design is more of an going process of creation and in order for a design to continuously exist, critiques will be inevitable. Design gives us windows of improvement.

I do believe there is a huge difference between criticism and judgement. Criticism focuses on the topic at hand and ways to improve the product or service. For example, an application is released and there are on going fixes to maintain it. If every tech industry pointed fingers to the flaws of an application, it’s merely judgement and no solution or alternative action is suggested. However, criticism comes with suggestions — solutions to take the design a step further.

Design Goes Hand-In-Hand With Critique was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Design Goes Hand-In-Hand With Critique

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