Welcome back. In this video, you'll learn about giving and receiving feedback on your designs. Any time you share your work, you should always be ready to receive feedback from team members. Feedback means asking for or receiving ideas about what is or isn't working. Good feedback helps to come up with new questions or ideas that you might not have thought about before. This can help you find ways to improve your work. Earlier in the certificate program, you learned about self-reflection. It's important for UX designers to understand their personal values and any biases they might have because of the influence it can have on your designs. In the same way, it's a good idea to reflect on how much feedback you are giving and receiving at each stage of a project. You might ask yourself, "Am I comfortable sharing my opinions about another designer's project? Am I checking in regularly with teammembers to get feedback on my designs?" If the answer is yes to both of these questions, then you're off to a great start. There's lots of advantages to asking for design feedback regularly. First, feedback helps you improve your designs and become a better designer. Your teammates can offer ideas or suggestions that you might not have considered before. Second, feedback can build your confidence and skills. Getting continual feedback helps build your confidence because you'll recognize how you've improved over time. The more feedback you get, the more you will improve your skills. Finally, feedback helps broaden your perspective as a designer. Ideally, you'll work with people with different sets of skills and backgrounds. They will be able to identify opportunities for you to improve your design that you may have missed. Receiving feedback from a diverse audience is the goal because our personal biases inform what we create. New perspectives can help mitigate bias in your design and offer additional ways to solve for challenges. It can also help you consider experiences unique to users other than those you initially imagined. I like to think of feedback as a gift, because it helps me think more deeply and broadly about my designs. Receiving feedback about your work can be difficult at times, but it's a critical part of the design iteration process. Keep in mind, you won't always be the one receiving feedback. Sometimes you give the feedback. Giving feedback can also be difficult. Let me share a few tips on how to give great feedback as a UX designer. First, when giving feedback, it should be adjusted for each situation. Think about the role of the person you're giving feedback to, whether they're an engineer, project manager, or fellow designer. You should also think about the experience level of the person you're giving feedback to, whether they're a fellow newbie like you or more senior. Second, you should have a reason to support your feedback. For example, if you give feedback about a specific part of a project that you feel isn't working, you should be ready to explain why you think it isn't working. Broad feedback such as, "I don't like the color you chose," is not helpful. On the other hand, if you share, "I don't like the color you chose, because it's not accessible," then you're explaining your reasoning and providing the designer an actionable improvement. Third, you should describe problems with the design, not offer solutions. As a designer, it may be tempting to provide advice on how you think the design should look or feel, but put yourself in the other person's shoes. Would you want another designer telling you how to fix things? Or would you want an opportunity to take their feedback, process it, and come up with your own solutions to the problems? These three suggestions are just the beginning. You can learn many more tips for giving feedback in the course reading. One more thing, before you go off into the real world and have to give and receive feedback. Let me tell you a little bit about my own journey with feedback in my career. The first time I received design critiques was in architecture school. Often, I felt defensive and uncomfortable when I had to present my work to professors or peers. I also felt frustrated when I'd incorporate their feedback, only to have my decisions questioned again in the next round of feedback. With practice, time, and reflection, I started to value their critiques and understand that I didn't always have to follow all the feedback or advice. Most importantly, I became more confident in my own design decisions. In my current role as an interaction designer, I ask for feedback early in the process and as often as possible. Feedback has helped me learn from colleagues and improve my work over time. I hope feedback will do the same for you. As you might have noticed, in the role of UX design we give a lot of feedback. Coming up, we'll discuss a method of giving feedback frequently used in UX design called design critiques.
