Learning Connection
This guide provides a rationale for critiques, suggests ways in which you can get as much as possible from them, presents some hypothetical situations and ways of dealing with them and offers some guidelines for critiquing the work of others.
Critiquing is a process in which feedback is given on a work in progress or on a finished product. In Architecture and Design, critiquing of your artefacts and designs can take various forms, both formal and informal. Your work is critiqued informally by staff and other students as part of the Studio experience. Formal critiquing of your work occurs at the end of each study period, when you present your design for review by both internal and external assessors.
Receiving feedback from colleagues, clients and supervisors is an integral part of the work practice of design professionals. Its purpose is to help you identify, in an objective way, the strengths and limitations of your work and to encourage you to consider other possibilities suggested by experienced professionals.
At university, critiques are most commonly provided by the teaching staff within your program, but can also be given by professional practitioners from outside the University who have a great deal to offer from their wealth of experience and insights. All those providing critiques are doing so on the basis of the criteria specified for the work being shown and informed by the breadth and depth of their own experience.
The critique process can act as a very powerful mechanism for developing your professional expertise. The feedback you receive will be positive as well as negative and it is important to hear both. The person critiquing your design may only focus on aspects that need improving. So it might be reassuring to realise that aspects they don’t comment on are probably considered satisfactory.
To gain as much as you can from the critique process, remember that:
…you receive little or no feedback and you would like some?
Ask for more detailed or more explicit feedback, explaining that you would like to have this so that you will know how you might improve your work.
…you receive feedback that you don't understand?
Ask for a clearer explanation of what the comments mean.
…you can't see how the comments apply to your work?
Ask if the comments can be explained by showing particular examples from your work that the comments refer to.
…the feedback is all negative?
Point out that all the comments were negative. Ask if there are any positive comments that could be made about the work.
…the feedback seemed to be based solely on personal opinion?
If anyone else was present, check your perceptions with them. Talk to the person giving the feedback and ask what criteria they were using for their comments and how your design fails to meet the requirements of the project brief. Check the University’s policy on the
Resolution of Student Grievances,
…the grade given seems inconsistent with the comments made?
Explain that you are surprised by the grade you have been given. Point out that the comments led you to expect a different grade. Ask what aspects of the work led to that particular grade.
…you believe the feedback and grade are unjustified and unfair?
If you feel that your work has been assessed unfairly, discuss this with the person who assessed your work. See University
policy on marking, One of your options could be to apply for a remarking of your work.
…you failed?
Try to keep this in perspective in the context of the rest of your life. Failing one assessment is something that happens to many ultimately successful students. Talk to your lecturer or tutor or Learning Connection staff to find out why you failed. This may give you some ideas for how you can do better next time.
You may be asked to provide critiques on other students’ work. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
An effective critiquing process will help you continue to develop as a student and then as a professional. It is important therefore to be able to receive it constructively and to give it carefully.
