Writing Feedback

Today I had a bash at writing feedback on the student designers working prototype. This was a bit of a challenge for me because, whilst I'm a very opinionated person, I'm also a total prat.

Undeterred I put the kettle on and donned my favourite pants ready for a productive, inspiring and well thought out session on the forum. I was going to change the world, to encourage my peer group to create the best design work Aberdeen had ever seen. 

"You never know" I said to myself half an hour later, "I could comment on someones work today and they could go on to be the next Peter Saville*"

Afterwards I did the dishes all the while thinking about the incredible feedback I was about to give. Then I made another cup of tea.


It's a little after midnight as I write this.


I've left two pieces of feedback and it was really hard! First I looked at an illustration. I knew this could be a tricky start as illustration is a very subjective subject matter and past my initial reaction I've never tried to critique the craft of a piece before. 


So I found a piece of work deserving of the usual reaction found on devient art, that useless string of one word posts followed by smiley faces. I say deserving because my first instinct was to type the word lovely. What a useless response!


I had to think about this, analise what I found appealing about the illustrative style, the choice of colour, use of line stroke and finally (because no review can ever be 100% positive) I had to ask myself what I would have done differently. That was a challenge in itself— I can't illustrate nearly as well as the piece I was reviewing.


Eventually I collected a few dozen words, misspelt a couple for good measure and almost got my point across. I feel I managed to cover all the bases, my comment was fair and balanced and I even made a suggestion for changes. Whew!


The next piece was more in my comfort zone. I took a look at a book cover that caught my eye due to the contrast between grunge typeface and flat background colour, striking image and sensitive use of colour to tie everything together.


Unfortunately I'm a stickler for the limitations of print and the implications on designers artwork. I spent 108 words on print deviation, silent borders and threw in a little personal experience in to the mix. Whilst I thought my feedback was valid (and educational) it probably didn't help the designer in terms of the overall aesthetic.


So what did I learn?

• Writing feedback is not easy but it is time consuming
• I needed to be lead or I would get distracted by tech specs
• I wasn't sure if my feedback was what the designers were looking for
• I was worried that I might be judged on the quality of my feedback
• I probably wouldn't go out of my way to put myself through that again

The Challenge

On the off change you've made it this far through my rant and think leaving feedback is easy please leave a constructive piece on this article, or my graphic at the top. Given the hundreds of hits the blog has had over the last month I would expect at least one well penned responce by the end of next week!