Join over 30,000 designers! Learn to advocate for your ideas, influence your team–and step up your product design career with Femke ✨
🤔 Unlock the Art of Feedback – Transform Your Design Talks!
| I'm Femke – a senior product designer helping designers level up their design careers. |
Hey Reader,
Let's dive into the world of design feedback, shall we? I know, I know – it can feel like wading through murky waters at times, but let's clear things up.
👉 First up: Design crits. These informal, no-stress, all-chill sessions with your immediate design team are where the magic happens. You rock up with your work – messy, raw, maybe a bit of this, a bit of that – and just lay it out there. No prep needed. It's about bouncing ideas around, not a polished pitch!
We ran these twice a week at Uber, super consistent-like. Twenty minutes, three slots, short and sweet. You claim your spot, you show your Figma file, and boom – you're getting the kind of feedback that's like gold dust.
Now, remember, crits are for designers by designers. This is not the place for cross-functional feedback. Keep it cosy, keep it constructive, and keep it within the family of design folks.
👉 Moving on to design explorations – oh, the playground of creativity! Got a sandbox of ideas? Perfect. Organize that Figma file so it's not a wild maze for your PMs and engineers. Give 'em the context, the concepts, the rationale, and your recommended solution. Make it a story they can follow.
As always, context is queen. Share the stage of your design, the problem you're tackling, and lay out your explorations. Then, hit 'em with the rationale – your design decisions aren't just pretty pictures; they're thoughtful solutions.
Whether it's live design jams with your team or presenting high-fidelity flows, it's all about clarity and collaboration. And hey, if you're doing something different with your team, I'm all ears! Drop your experiences in the comments; let's chat about it.
Until next time, keep creating, keep critiquing, and most importantly, keep the feedback loop spinning.
- Femke
🔊 Spotlight: Design Leader Insights
I spoke with Fuego UX earlier this month and chatted about starting a successful side hustle in design while maintaining work-life balance, the importance of design having an influence on product, and more!
| Watch here |
🌟 Work Smarter, Not Harder
🧠 Mastering the Mindset of Feedback
Now that we’ve mastered how to approach design feedback, let’s deep-dive into feedback psychology. We've compiled some resources that will transform the way you give and receive design critiques.
Courses to Course-Correct:
- Jump onto LinkedIn Learning for the "Giving and Receiving Feedback" course, where you'll hone the art of effective communication.
- Learn how to test your concepts both solo and as a team with Into UX Design
Podcasts for Your Commute:
- Tune into "WorkLife with Adam Grant" where you'll find episodes dedicated to making feedback a breeze and not a blizzard.
- "The Feedback Loop" podcast is your go-to for a deep dive into the nuances of feedback – all in bite-sized, commute-friendly episodes.
- Lastly, Charli and I had a great podcast on “Collaboration with Senior and Junior Designers.” Learn how to make designing in a team seamless!
💎 Gems of the week
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🙌 Such fun things in this gift guide!
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🤩 Such a fun coffee table book idea! Adding it to my wishlist.
Have a topic you'd like us to chat about? Reply to this email and let me know!
Level up your product design career!
Join over 30,000 designers! Learn to advocate for your ideas, influence your team–and step up your product design career with Femke ✨
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