Posted by Ellen Bartholomew, CUES Art Director
Remember Statler and Waldorf, the crazy critics from The Muppet Show? 
They weren't the best at the "constructive" part of constructive criticism.
But giving constructive criticism is a hugely important part of the marketing dialog that goes on among writers, graphic designers and the organizational departments whose message they seek to get out. When criticism is given constructively, it transfers important information from person to person--so the ultimate goal of creating a marketing piece that really speaks to its intended audience can happen.
The topic is so important that during a recent CUES all-staff meeting, I highlighted three key ways to provide better feedback during evaluations of marketing pieces. Here they are:
- Suggest improvements. Say "What if you ...," rather than just identifying shortcomings. Also say why you think the change you are suggesting would be an improvement. For example, instead of saying, "I don't like the color black," say why you don't like the color black for this particular piece. For instance you might say, "To me, the use of black makes this feel heavy and too dark. We don't want the member to feel like this subject is dark."
- Identify strengths in addition to weaknesses. This goes along with No. 1. If you can identify some things that have turned out well, it will make it easier for your colleague to hear about the parts you don't like so much. For example, you might say, "I like the headline, and the person pictured here certainly looks approachable. However, I feel the person in the picture might be too young for this audience."
- Provide insight. When you don't know exactly how you'd like the graphics or text in a piece to evolve, say so. You might still be able to provide more insight into the target audience or product offering that may help create the piece.
While Statler and Waldorf didn't follow these guidelines much, they may have had one thing right about constructive criticism: They kept things light. Creativity is certainly stifled when things get way too serious. So my last bit of advice for making criticism constructive is have fun!
And what do you say? What has worked well on your marketing teams when it comes to critiques and boosting dialog? I look forward to reading your comments.
