design-critique

Design Critique

Give the kind of feedback a designer actually wants: specific, prioritized, and tied to the user's goal — not adjectives.

Frame the critique

Ask, then critique. The same screen gets different feedback at different stages.

• Stage. Exploration (push for range), refinement (tighten), or polish (catch what shipped).
• Context. Who is it for? What is the user trying to do? What is this screen in service of?
• Focus. All of it, or one slice (navigation, the empty state, the hero, the form)?

Pass 1: First impression (two seconds)

• What draws the eye first? Is that what should?
• Is the purpose of the screen clear before you read any copy?
• What's the emotional read — calm, urgent, dense, sparse — and does that match the user's state?

Pass 2: Hierarchy and reading flow

• Does the reading order match what the user is trying to do?
• Are the right elements emphasized? Anything competing with the primary action?
• Is whitespace doing work, or just sitting there?

Pass 3: Usability

• Can the user accomplish the goal without backtracking?
• Are interactive elements obviously interactive? Are read-only elements clearly not?
• Are there unnecessary steps, fields, or confirmations?

Pass 4: Consistency

• Does this match the existing design system, or invent locally? Name the specific deviations.
• Spacing, typography, color tokens — pulled from the system, or magic numbers?
• Do similar elements behave similarly across the screen?

Pass 5: Accessibility floor

• Color contrast: body text ≥ 4.5:1, large text and UI ≥ 3:1.
• Touch targets ≥ 44×44.
• Focus order is logical; focus indicators are visible.
• Form inputs have labels, not just placeholders.

How to deliver feedback

• Be specific. "The CTA competes with the navigation" beats "the layout is confusing."
• Explain the why. Tie each note to a user need or principle, not just taste.
• Suggest, don't just diagnose. A direction is more useful than a problem.
• Call out what works. Reinforces the moves to keep.
• Rank by impact. Lead with the change that buys the most.

Output

• Overall impression — one or two sentences. What works, what's the biggest opportunity.
• Findings — grouped by pass (hierarchy, usability, consistency, accessibility). Each finding names the element, the issue, the severity (critical / moderate / minor), and the suggested fix.
• What works well — short list. Preserve these.
• Top three changes — prioritized. For each: what to change, why, expected effect.