Steady is designed, systematised, prototyped, checked and handed off. Two skills turn that work into better work and into a job: running a critique where people can improve the design, and telling the story of the design in a case study. Both come down to the habit this course has pushed since Lesson 1.1, giving the because.
\nA design critique is a structured conversation about whether a design achieves its goals. It is not a vote on whether people like it, and it is not approval. Sofia runs every critique the same way, in about thirty minutes:
\nUseful feedback has three parts: an observation, its likely effect on the user or goal, and a question or suggestion. Compare:
\n| Not useful | \nUseful | \n
|---|---|
| “I don’t like the teal.” | \n“The teal is on the check buttons and the header icon, so I tried to tap the icon. Could the accent be reserved for actions?” | \n
| “It feels cluttered.” | \n“I count five left edges on Habit detail, so my eye jumps around. Could the stats align with the calendar?” | \n
| “Use a bottom tab bar like Instagram.” | \n“I couldn’t find Stats from Habit detail. Would a persistent tab bar help, or is Back enough?” | \n
The useful versions are about the user, not about the critic’s taste, and they leave room for the designer to find the best fix. Phrasing as a question also admits that you might be missing context.
\nWhen it is your work on the screen, your job is to understand, not to win. Ask clarifying questions (“What did you expect to happen when you tapped Custom?”), write everything down, and say thank you. Do not explain why every point is wrong; if your reasoning is good, it will survive the notes you review afterwards. After the session, sort the notes into act on, investigate and decline, and decline with a reason you could say out loud.
\n\nA portfolio case study is how a hiring manager decides whether you think like a designer. They will spend a few minutes on it, so the structure has to carry them quickly to the thinking.
\nFor Steady, that means:
\nYou started this course by asking what someone opening Steady needs in the next five seconds. Keep asking that question, keep giving the because, and every screen you design will be easier to critique, build and explain.
\n","toc":[{"id":"sec-1","text":"What a critique is for","level":2},{"id":"sec-2","text":"Giving feedback that helps","level":2},{"id":"sec-3","text":"Receiving feedback","level":2},{"id":"sec-4","text":"The case study","level":2}],"takeaways":["A critique judges work against its goals, not against personal taste, and the presenter sets the goal, the stage and the kind of feedback wanted.","Useful feedback names an observation, its likely effect on the user, and a question or suggestion.","When receiving feedback, ask questions and take notes instead of defending; you decide afterwards what to act on.","A case study tells the story of decisions (problem, constraints, options, choice and reason), not a gallery of finished screens.","Be honest about scope and evidence; a practice project with clear reasoning beats invented metrics."],"further":[{"title":"Design Critiques (Nielsen Norman Group)","url":"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-critiques/"}],"quiz":[{"q":"Which critique comment on Steady’s Today screen is most useful?
","options":[{"text":"I don’t love the teal; can we try purple?","why":"This is a preference with no link to the goal. It invites a taste debate instead of an improvement."},{"text":"It looks great, ship it.","why":"Encouraging, but it gives the designer nothing to act on and skips the point of a critique."},{"text":"The streak numbers are the same weight as the habit names, so I read streaks first; could they drop to Caption?","why":"Correct. It names an observation, its effect on reading, and a concrete question tied to the hierarchy goal."},{"text":"Other habit apps use a calendar view on this screen.","why":"Competitor patterns can inform, but without saying what problem the calendar would solve, it is not actionable."}],"answer":2},{"q":"You present the New habit sheet and a colleague says the frequency chips are confusing. What is the best response in the moment?
","options":[{"text":"Explain the research behind the chips until they agree.","why":"Defending shuts down the feedback. You lose the chance to learn what confused them."},{"text":"Ask what they expected to happen when they read “Custom”, and note the answer.","why":"Correct. A clarifying question turns a vague reaction into something specific you can evaluate later."},{"text":"Change the chips to a dropdown on the spot.","why":"Redesigning live skips thinking. Collect feedback first and decide afterwards."},{"text":"Thank them and move on without writing anything down.","why":"Politeness is good, but unrecorded feedback is usually forgotten by the next day."}],"answer":1},{"q":"Your Steady case study has twelve polished screenshots and a paragraph of introduction. What would most improve it for a hiring manager?
","options":[{"text":"Adding before and after versions of key decisions, each with the reason for the change.","why":"Correct. Hiring managers look for how you think. Visible decisions and reasons show that better than polish."},{"text":"Adding more screenshots so the project looks bigger.","why":"Volume hides the thinking. Most reviewers skim, so fewer, explained images work better."},{"text":"Adding user metrics such as “engagement up 40%”.","why":"Steady is a practice project with no real users. Invented metrics damage trust the moment someone asks about them."},{"text":"Removing all text so the visuals speak for themselves.","why":"Visuals show what you made, not why. The reasoning is what distinguishes a designer."}],"answer":0}],"exercise":{"kind":"choice","multiple":true,"options":["color-only-calendar","edges-stats","edit-weight","like-purple","competitor","looks-good"],"correct":["color-only-calendar","edges-stats","edit-weight"],"title":"Pick the feedback worth giving","prompt":"In Steady’s design critique, the presenter shares Habit detail and says: “Goal: someone sees at a glance how consistent they have been. I want feedback on the calendar and the overall hierarchy.”
\n:::figure Habit detail, version 2\n
\nSelect every comment that is useful critique for this goal.
\n","hints":["Useful critique has an observation, an effect on the user or goal, and a question or suggestion.","Check each comment against the presenter’s stated goal and requested feedback.","Three comments tie a specific observation to the goal. Three are taste, a pattern without a reason, or praise without content."],"explanation":"The useful comments each pair an observation with an effect and a question. Missed days differ from done days only by tint, which fails people with color vision deficiencies and undermines the “at a glance” goal (Lesson 4.2). The two stat cards have different widths and do not line up with the calendar, adding edges the eye has to process (Lesson 1.2). The full-width primary Edit habit button carries the screen’s strongest accent, competing with the streak and calendar for a rare action. “I prefer purple” is taste, “another app has a chart” names a pattern without a problem, and “looks good” gives the designer nothing to act on.
\n","checkLabels":{},"optionText":{"color-only-calendar":{"text":"Missed days differ from done days only by tint, so I could not tell them apart at a glance. Could missed days get an x or an outline?","why":"Correct. A concrete observation, a clear effect on the stated goal, and a suggestion that also fixes a color-only problem."},"edges-stats":{"text":"The two stat cards are different widths and do not line up with the calendar edges, so my eye jumps. Could they span two columns each?","why":"Correct. It ties alignment to how the screen reads and proposes a fix the designer can evaluate."},"edit-weight":{"text":"The Edit habit button is the strongest thing on screen, but editing is rare here. Would a secondary or ghost button let the streak lead?","why":"Correct. It questions the hierarchy against the goal of seeing consistency first."},"like-purple":{"text":"I would personally prefer purple for the calendar squares.","why":"A preference without a link to the goal. It starts a taste debate rather than improving the design."},"competitor":{"text":"Another habit app shows a line chart here instead.","why":"It names a pattern but not the problem it would solve for this goal, so the designer cannot judge it."},"looks-good":{"text":"This looks really clean. Nice work.","why":"Kind, but a critique is for improving the work. Praise is more useful when it says what works and why."}}},"words":767,"readMinutes":4}