When you're working in a team setting, it can be tempting (and very easy) to ask your peers for regular critique as part of your braid pattern. However, this is a slippery slope. On the one hand, you trust your teammates and want their opinions; on the other hand, you can sometimes get a little bit lazy and overlook obvious blunders. It's very important to have your own methods of self-critique to keep the work evolving.
Here's a link to a piece I wrote last year about setting up your own process of self-critique. Even when you're leaning hard on your teammates to help you through a tough project, running down this list can really help you nudge a good design into great territory when you've factored in the feedback from your team.
Glenn Sakamoto, a great designer, added a few questions to the above list that you should also consider: Does it draw me in emotionally? Does it have significant contrast? Does it communicate clearly? Does it transcend fashion, fads, or trends? All good stuff!
Looking forward to seeing you all in class on Thursday!
This last series has come at a great time as the lessons from the first week are past and now I'm starting to think about how to apply them.
This particular post really came at the perfect time. As we are now re-proportioning the in-class vs. take-home exercises, I felt like I had a lot of time for 2 projects. A dangerous amount of time, really. I know the goal of this class is not to make perfect comps, but they need to be at least good enough to sell the idea, and I want to improve my speed there. So while I might have an optional direction or 2 for the next crit, I hope they are equally presentable that they will be judged by the merits of the concept.
Posted by: Mark Notermann | 01/19/2009 at 08:45 PM