Criticism: Stop Taking it Personally
Becky: We found an article about criticism and how most people usually suck at receiving it and we thought it’d make a good topic for today’s discussion.
Sarai: I was very impressed with this article. It was well written, well thought out, and it brought up some really great points. It’s a bit lengthy, but I figured we can discuss it and dumb it down a little, see what other people think.
Becky:
I read a recently published article where the author took issue with someone’s criticism of a few websites, saying that it was unfair to judge the quality of the design because the critic didn’t know what constraints or pressures the designer was under. In other words, the author believed that excuses, which had nothing to do with the quality of the result, somehow mattered and mitigated what was otherwise a poor design. Excrement.
I immediately thought of Is It Fair To Criticize Bad Design? by Christian Watson when I read that.
However, I’m generally wary about writing posts that are critical of other web sites because I know how difficult it is to develop a web site in a corporate environment — there are simply too many cooks in the kitchen.
I’m not saying that Mr. Rutledge is referring to that article, though I suspect he is, it’s just what popped into mind when I read that paragraph. And what Mr. Rutledge had to say is true: Intent doesn’t make a whit of difference when someone is judging a website. Neither does time, for that matter.
Here at Internet Police we hear our fair share of “I spent hours on that design!” It’s not an argument easily won because to the designer time does matter. After all they’re the ones who used their time to make the layout. To say that the design is flawed is to say that it was not worth their time to make and they, of course, take this as an insult. The most important part of the design process is separating yourself from your layout and realising that an “attack” on the design isn’t really an attack on you.
One lesson to take away here is that design criticism is about THE DESIGN. It’s not about the designer or the agency or the company who owns the site. Design criticism is about the results. Period. Too many people mistake criticism of the result with criticism of the people involved.
[…]
I’ve got news for you: design criticism has nothing to do with you, you childish egotist. It’s about the design. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Sarai: 92% of the webdesigners in the web today, anyone? How many times have owners whined and complained about how someone was mean to them just because of a comment made on their layout? Or how “disrespectful” it was for them to even say such a thing? When you tell someone their layout needs work, all of a sudden the owner feels attacked, becomes defensive, and before you know it the drama llama has arrived for some lulz.
Becky: If more people realised that an attack on their website isn’t necessarily an attack on them we’d probably be out of business.
Sarai: Oh totally. We wouldn’t have anyone to talk about.
Becky: I find the most sensitive topics are font size and colour schemes. What people don’t seem to realise is that there isn’t a lot of wiggle room available for personal taste and experimentation within the basic rules of design. Such as having a legible font size and not using light grey text on a white backgorund.
Sarai: I agree, some things are just fixed when it comes to design. You never use illegible text (for obvious reasons), you make sure your color scheme is easy on the eyes, use contrast, etc. Some things are not up for debate.
Design criticism is a helpful lesson; nothing less. When your own ego distorts facts so that you begin to take design criticism personally and you begin to see design criticism as negative, this is a personal flaw that you possess and has nothing to do with reality. In short, your personal problems are no concern of others, especially those working to help you. So do the world a favor and don’t put forth ideas that suggest that your own self-pity somehow matters in qualitative evaluation …or anything else, for that matter.
I like how he ties in design with real life. If you can’t take criticism for a layout, and act so irrationally when someone gives you advice, god help you when you step out into the real world. Especially if your career choice has anything to do with graphic design, as the author explains.
Becky:
Professional design is big boy and big girl stuff. There’s no room for childish notions or irrelevant sensitivities in professional ranks. Criticism and critical evaluation are what teach us and allow us to do our jobs well. But in order for you to properly evaluate design and design criticism, you must work to ensure that you possess sufficient understanding of your craft and that you do not hold with relativism or other childish notions.
Replace “professional” with “e-popularz” and “jobs” with “hobbies” and it fits our little community. You can’t possibly expect people to praise you for your wonderful design based solely on the amount of time spent creating it. That’s no way to judge anything. You have to accept that there are rules that you have to follow and not following those rules, such as legible font sizes, for example, will earn you some much needed criticism.
Sarai: And hopefully more people will put down their ego and accept said criticism and curb their tantrums. There are certain rules in design, for a reason, and the earlier you learn these designs the better.
I know some say it all depends on the type of criticism you give someone. Being rude and disrespectful is not the way to go, and I agree. However, most webmasters don’t care whether the criticism is rude or kind — they’re still defensive, they still see it as a personal attack on themselves, and they still lash out. It’s a lose-lose. That’s not an excuse, it’s just the truth.
Becky: I really hope that just a few of them don’t learn anything from this. That way we can keep IP alive.
Sarai: Well we don’t only discuss people who have bad design. Otherwise we’d post every day. Most of our posts have to do with webmaster’s attitudes and personal (ridiculous) opinions. When it comes to a message board or something like that, where someone asks for an opinion on their design, I won’t reply with a joke or bring up their lulzy thoughts on a particular subject. So I don’t see it as the same.
Becky: Yes, but a ridiculous attitude towards design goes hand-in-hand with a ridiculous attitude towards pretty much everything. You don’t usually see someone who takes criticism towards their layout personally making rational designs regarding anything else. And that is what keeps us going.
Sarai: Well, that’s true.
Becky: So to finish it off, just take a page from our book. Approach criticism as though you aren’t the one being criticized, especially when you aren’t and your design is. Keeping a level head and an open mind is critical if you want to come across as a mature individual worthy of praise.
Sarai: That’s a good way to sum things up. Try to take criticism in stride, put down that ego, and just strive to get better. Otherwise don’t expect to be taken seriously.
Comments
It was such a long comment too… took me about 10 seconds to type. Hmpf! XP
Anyway, the gist of it was that
1) Your tone can easily be considered as offensive, which is why most people end up taking things personally
2) I don’t think you wasted your time even if your layout didn’t end up good (enough). It’s practice and you’ll know better next time… unless of course you’re one of those people who never try to better themselves and always does the exact same things, the exact same way.
It’s one thing to give constructive criticism to a professional web designer/developer.
To criticize someone who’s just doing this for fun, who doesn’t really want to know what people think of their design, to me, is rude. I think such a person would have every right to get upset. It would be the same thing if a stranger in the street came up to you and said, “OMG, your outfit is so ugly!” And then went on to give unsolicited fashion advice. No one does that and for good reason.
Unless the person is in fashion or a celebrity, they shouldn’t give a crap about what some stranger says. Still, they’ll feel hurt that someone thought they were so fashionably challenged that they felt compelled to say something.
What a great article! I really agreed with what you two and Andy had to say. I’ll keep these notes in mind when I recieve criticism (and dish it out myself!).
Addison · May 19, 11:49 AM · · Permalink