Design Critique Rubric

When to use this

• You are reviewing a UI design (screenshot, prototype, or live site) and need structured, actionable feedback.
• You need to separate "I do not like this" from "this has a specific problem with hierarchy/contrast/rhythm."
• You want a consistent scoring method to compare designs or track improvement across iterations.
• You are writing critique feedback for another designer or a design review meeting.
• Do NOT use this when you are specifically auditing for AI-generated visual tells; use anti-ai-slop-audit instead.

Mental model

A design critique is not taste. It is observation, diagnosis, and prescription. The observation is what you see ("the headline and subheading are the same size"). The diagnosis is what is wrong ("there is no hierarchy between them"). The prescription is what to change ("make the headline 2x the subheading size, or differentiate by weight").

The order you look at things matters. Start with the largest structural issues (hierarchy, layout) and work down to the smallest (spacing, motion). Fixing a small detail while the hierarchy is broken wastes effort because the hierarchy fix will change the small detail anyway.

Seven dimensions, evaluated in this order: