The Creative Critique : A Concept Feedback Review
Being members of the creative community, we are always looking to improve our designs and hone our skills as we refine our craft. One great way to strengthen your designs is through constructive feedback on your concepts and on the executions of your ideas. However, if you are a freelancer, working independently of others, getting this kind of useful critiques for your work can be a challenge in and of itself. And so most of the freelancers finding themselves in this predicament turn to the online crowd to garner feedback for their work. And as we all know, turning to an online audience of honest constructive criticism can often times be an exercise in futility and abuse. Well that is changing! Enter Concept Feedback, a wonderful crowdsourcing tool for web and graphic designers that has brilliantly answered this community call.
It really is a simple concept, and who knows, that may be the reason that this site works so well. Concept Feedback offers a location for designers to submit their work for review by the community of participating creatives. This reciprocal system works based on a number of checks and balances to keep things both fair and constructive for all those who are bravely putting themselves and their work out there. By requiring reviewers to maintain a ratio of feedback offered to concepts submitted for critique, they make sure that everyone is actively participating and not just leeching off the community for free advice without giving any back. Also, by rewarding each reviewer reputation points that are taken away for leaving negative feedback, they ensure that people are actually being constructive in their comments. Reinforcing the if you don’t have anything nice to say (or in this case, constructive), don’t say anything at all rule, in a way, they keep things helpful not harsh and unwelcoming.
Reviewers are asked to rate concepts based on four specific areas, as well as leaving text feedback for more detailed critiques. The areas rated are Design (How does the concept look? Is it visually appealing?), Purpose (Does the concept accomplish its objective? Is it appropriate for the target market?), Originality (Is the concept original? Is it fresh and creative?) and Engagement (Is the concept engaging? Does it draw you in?). By using this standard review template for all of the feedback given, they keep things consistent and much more helpful than the generic ‘Great job!’ kind of response the internet tends to provoke. You also have the option of making the project open for all to review and rate, or you can set it to private so that you may invite only those whom you wish to give you feedback on your work. And once you have received some helpful critiques, you have the option to add revisions to the project for further review on these newer versions of the concept to make sure that you are heading in the right direction.
When submitting a concept you are asked to provide the following information.
- Concept Title
- Website URL (if applicable)
- Target Market for the Concept
- Concept Objective
- Images
- Concept Description
One of the best things about Concept Feedback, is that it is completely free. All they require of you is that you offer feedback to others. In fact, when you first sign up for your account, you are required to comment on at least 5 projects before you can submit any works of your own for review. And from there, as we mentioned, you have to maintain a ratio at that point in order to be able to continue adding work to be critiqued. It was certainly refreshing to see that when we signed up, and still now, there are no unreviewed projects, which means that the feedback exchange system works well. This is definitely a helpful tool for the creative community, and if you haven’t already checked them out, we recommend that you head on over and see what all they have going on. It may just be the outlet for improvement that you were looking for.
Grab the Feed
I really enjoy using concept feedback. I find that providing feedback for others really improves the attention to detial on my own work.
However, I don’t agree that they have solved the problem of the ‘great work’ critique. If anything by implementing the review/upload ratio they are pushing new users to quickly review some other work just so they can upload their own work (which I guess is the reason that the majority sign-up.)
I really enjoy being part of concept feedback but i think there are still improvements to be made
Michael – thanks for the kind words. We welcome all suggestions you might have. Let us know if there are things we could improve.
We are planning to put more restrictions on the reviews (such as minimum length, etc.).
I disagree, Michael, mainly because by allowing other reviewers to rate and rank your feedback as well, which can affect your rep points, people are watching out to make sure that they are trying to be helpful. And you are right, some people may rush through the process to get their work up, but some don’t. We didn’t. We only commented and rated work that we actually had something to say about it. Now not everyone will behave as we did, but I am also sure that not everyone will behave as you have suggested either. So, overall, big score in the win column in our opinion.
I’m not sure I support the overall goal of a website like Concept Feedback. To me sites like this that illicit feedback from a specific community takes the only element that really matters out of the equation – the client.
I’m all for getting a range of feedback, because I believe ideas and strategies can benefit from group feedback. But at the end of the day, all that matters is if A) the client likes it B) the client can use it C) it solves a problem the client has brought to the table and D) it ultimately makes the client more successful.
Regardless of if the feedback on Concept Feedback is positive or negative, it doesn’t address those four issues – and those are really all that matters when it comes to a client-designer relationship.
Um, okay, that’s your take, but two things for you to ponder. 1) Sometimes, we want critiques on the technical aspects and the effectiveness of our idea without getting the client’s input until we are more confident in what we have to show them. The feedback can help us get the design to that point. Also, the client may not be able to give us any technical critiques because they are not in the field and do not know what it is we are asking about.
And more importantly, 2) Not every design we make is for a client, some are just for us, or for improving our techniques which feedback can always aid in.
@ Angie, @ Aurimas – Agree with you on both counts. Like I said I’m not against group feedback – and I think Concept Feedback is a great site (perhaps I should have opened with that).
My main concern, and caution, is for designers working with clients to not completely rely on group feedback. Especially when that group is removed from the designer-client relationship.
Unfortunately too many designers (myself included at times) tend to design either what they like or what others like, rather than focusing on what will be be best received and utilized by the individual client.
But keep it up…I certainly wish you all the best with Creative Feedback, and Angie thanks for the great content on FYC.
Cheers,
JVL
Jason,
that’s only partially true. You are forgetting that it is your responsibility to educate the client and be a business consultant at the same time as you’re being a developer, designer, etc.
You can use Concept Feedback to provide more weight to your opinion since a lot of the contributors are industry professionals.
You are also assuming that you are the only target market for the site. You are forgetting about the business owner who gets his design created by a supposed professional and is unsure of the effectiveness or quality of said work.
Those people might benefit greatly from the exposure they would get on the site because a bad piece of work will get torn to pieces and a good one will get praise and further ideas for improvement. The business owner can then go back to his / hers developer with a much better understanding of value / quality, etc.
I think, it is a good platform for designer to get feedback from the community, to improve his/ her design, especially for new-comer.
I think this is a great idea. So great..that I in fact had considered trying to start something similar until I found out it already existed! ;)
The most valuable aspect of a service like this is gathering, as Angie pointed out, technical feedback on designs. For example, I sometimes get overwhelmed in the details of my design and need someone with a technical appreciation for design to give me some feedback (especially when I become too immersed in my own design).
With that said, I also think it’s pretty obvious that this shouldn’t be a one-stop shop for all feedback/critiques on the design. You’ll need to test it out with user profiles, get client feedback, and so forth. I guess my only qualm with a service such as this is that I would be hesitant to release unfinished work to the public.
Great post. It’s always advised to get constructive feedback from other people, who knows a thing or two on graphic designing and even those who don’t. Criticisms are also good in order for us to identify what aspect of our that needs improvement.
Good post, I think the site is a great idea. It always helps to get some feedback others in the same community.
Though as for using it for getting feedback on client work, I don’t think it’s a great use. If the client likes what you got, and it works for them and they can use it. Then why change it according to what others think outside of your clients company?