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The Art of critiquing takes some practice to master. In this video we will go over what a critique is and how to implement it in your future designs.
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Now that we understand the design elements
and principles.
0:00
Let's put them to work by doing a
critique.
0:03
A critique simply means a method to
analyze something.
0:08
If I were to show you a design and say, do
you think this design is effective?
0:11
A million different thoughts will race
through your
0:17
head and you might not know where to
start.
0:18
This is why we have a critique system for
analyzing designs.
0:22
We use the design elements and principles
we just learned to achieve this process.
0:26
I have compiled a critiquing checklist for
you in the project downloads.
0:31
This list is very similar to what an
0:36
artist might use when critiquing fine art
pieces.
0:39
However, I altered a couple of things so
0:42
we can use it for critiquing designs as
well.
0:45
I will be critiquing a website located at
playgroundinc.com
0:48
as an example to walk through their
critiquing process.
0:53
But first, let's take a look at our
critiquing checklist.
0:57
Our critiquing checklist is broken down
into four sections.
1:00
Description, analysis, interpretation and
judgment.
1:05
Now as we look at this site
playgroundinc.com
1:10
let's take a look at the first section,
description.
1:14
Now for the description we simply want to
state who created the
1:17
composition, or in this case the website,
and who is it for.
1:22
Playground Ink is a digital creative
agency, which we
1:27
can clearly see when we land on the home
page.
1:31
And this site is geared for their clients
or for people who
1:34
don't understand who the company is and
what kind of work they do.
1:37
So for the description, you simply want to
state who
1:41
created it, what's it for, and we can be
specific.
1:44
So in this case it's a web application and
it's scalable.
1:47
It goes all the way down to mobile.
1:50
And depending on the design you're looking
at, this
1:52
can be very literal or it can be very
figurative.
1:55
So that's the description section.
1:58
Very short brief and basically just
explaining
2:00
what we're looking at and who created it.
2:04
Now the next section the analysis, we
simply wanna use our design
2:07
elements in principles that we just
learned and apply them to this critique.
2:11
Now as we scroll through the home page,
you can see we have very bold headlines,
2:16
with text underneath, and nice animated
graphics as we go down the page.
2:21
So I would say that his design is very
minimal, and animated.
2:27
So for the style, I would categorize this
as a minimal website.
2:31
Now simply go through our checklist of
elements first.
2:36
So we have line, shape, form, space,
color, value, and texture.
2:38
And so on.
2:42
So, when we look at this site, we can
clearly
2:43
see that they have used a grid as
everything's lined up.
2:47
And they've used a lot of white space to
focus in either
2:51
on the headline or the body text, as well
as the illustrations.
2:54
The illustrations are very minimal.
2:59
And they're highly interactive when we
hover over them.
3:02
So right there, I've already talked about
space.
3:06
I've talked about line, talked about form.
3:08
There doesn't seem to be much texture.
3:11
So if you've covered at least four of the
elements, you're doing pretty well.
3:13
So, you'll also notice that the colors are
very consistent throughout.
3:18
They have this monochromatic blues that
they are using and almost gray.
3:23
And they're bright yellow which you can
see in their logo on the top left.
3:29
As well as in illustrations.
3:33
So they're using unity with their colors.
3:35
And they're using that yellow as a call to
action.
3:38
They're using emphasis on the yellow.
3:40
And that brings us into our principles of
design.
3:42
So, we've talked about contrast, of the
contrasting of the colors.
3:46
We've talked about the movement and the
animations,
3:50
the unity amongst the colors, and emphasis
as well.
3:52
So in the analysis section, all we're
really doing is
3:56
stating how they've used the elements and
principles of design.
3:59
Whether they're effective or not, we're
simply stating
4:03
the ones that stand out to us the most.
4:06
Our third section is interpretation.
4:09
All we want to do here is state the
intention of the
4:11
composition, and how we feel they were
influenced in creating this design.
4:13
And why do we feel that way?
4:18
So looking at our example, I feel the
intent of this website was to
4:20
simply show off their work, tell a little
bit about the company, and their process.
4:24
As you can see in the work section,
they've comprised
4:29
a lot of their work that they've done in
the past.
4:32
And again they're using a lot of space.
4:35
It's very easy to read as all of the
content is grouped together.
4:38
Down here we can see the team.
4:41
So the intent for this is to simply show
off
4:43
their work and get to know them as a
company.
4:45
I feel that they were influenced by
typography and
4:48
a minimal approach using a lot of white
space.
4:51
Now the fourth section is judgement this
is where we
4:55
can put our personal feelings and opinions
into the piece.
4:57
So did they accomplish what they were
intended to do and why?
5:02
I personally feel they did a great job
showing off their
5:05
work and allowing us to get to know them
and their process.
5:08
Our next question is what do we like about
the work?
5:13
Well I stated that before I, I feel
5:16
they've done a great job using color,
shape,
5:18
using a grid making sure everything's
lined up,
5:21
grouping the content together so it's
easily digested.
5:23
Using that bright color of call to action.
5:27
Notice how we went to the Work page and
5:29
the logo changed green and so did the
Favicon.
5:31
Although it's still within the same color
palette throughout the whole site.
5:35
If we go to Company, it's red.
5:39
And the Journal is a light blue.
5:43
So I feel they've done a great job with
this site.
5:46
Also they've done some cutting edge stuff
as well.
5:48
If you remember the animations on the Home
page.
5:50
This is all done through JavaScript, which
is really cool.
5:54
They're probably one of the first
companies
5:58
to really incorporate this technology into
their site.
6:00
And then next what do I not like about the
work?
6:04
I feel the only thing I could say that I
don't like about it, is when
6:08
we go to Journal and Work, there's no
6:11
thumbnails to the actual work that they've
done.
6:13
It'd be nice to see a thumbnail of you
know.
6:16
The Canada Goose, just so we can get an
idea of what type of work it was.
6:19
It simply just says View Case Study, so
perhaps, you know, maybe
6:24
there's a thumbnail of the site on there,
so we can view it.
6:29
And the same goes for Journal, it'd be
great if
6:33
there were some sort of visual indicator
of what it's about.
6:35
But besides that, that's all I changed.
6:39
I feel that this site is a well-designed
site,
6:41
and they successfully completed what they
intended to do.
6:44
So that's how we would use the critique
checklist when viewing a design.
6:48
Now, we can use this for anything such as
a mobile game.
6:52
Any type of design that you create, simply
use this check list to go
6:56
through to see if the design is effective
or ineffective and what can be changed.
6:59
The process of critiquing can be applied
to any design.
7:05
This is just one more skill you can add to
your future design process.
7:09
Before moving on to the next stage, let's
take a quick quiz.
7:14
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