Design Critique

A vague reaction ("I don't like it") wastes a design review; the team leaves with hurt feelings and no direction, then ships the same problems. A rigorous critique anchors every note to a dimension, a severity, and a concrete fix - so a designer or PM walks out knowing exactly what to change and in what order. This skill runs pre-build, on mockups and prototypes, where a fix costs minutes instead of sprints.

When to use

• A new design or redesign is up for review.
• A flow feels "off" but no one can articulate why.
• You need to prioritize design debt against shipping goals.

Inputs to collect

Gather three things first. If any is missing, ask for it before critiquing - a critique without them degenerates into taste.

1. The primary job the user is hiring this design to do. If the requester cannot state it in one sentence, help them draft one and label it a guess.
2. The context of use: device, urgency, frequency, emotional state. Default assumption if unknown: mobile, first-time, mildly impatient - the least forgiving case.
3. The success metric the team cares about. Default: task completion rate for the primary job.

Also useful but optional: the previous version (for redesigns) and any known constraints (brand, legal, engineering). Note constraints so the critique does not recommend the impossible.