CARA A. BROWN, MBA • DESIGN STRATEGIST + SERVICE DESIGNER
CARA A. BROWN, MBA • DESIGN STRATEGIST + SERVICE DESIGNER
Crit Bits is a half-day in-person workshop that gives design teams and cross-functional groups a shared language for feedback — grounded in art school critique methodology and built for the reality of modern organizations.
Download the overview →Feedback in organizations is usually either too soft to be useful or too blunt to be received. It gets tangled in hierarchy, personality, and politics — until people stop trusting the process altogether.
The result: design work gets watered down, decisions get made for the wrong reasons, and the people closest to the work disengage. What's missing isn't effort or intention — it's a shared framework.
Crit Bits borrows from the rigorous critique culture of design education and translates it for the workplace. It's not about being harsh. It's about being clear, objective, and useful — every time.
Before critique begins, the presenter frames what kind of feedback is needed. This single move eliminates mismatched expectations and keeps the session focused.
Separate the work from the person who made it. Critique what's on the page, not who put it there. This is harder than it sounds — and more important than anything else.
Before offering opinions, ask questions that reveal intent. This builds understanding, surfaces assumptions, and shifts the room from judgment mode to inquiry mode.
Good feedback needs time to land. This move teaches teams to resist the reflex to immediately defend or dismiss — and to let the work breathe before responding.
Crit Bits in practice — participants work through the four-move framework together.
In the world of design, critique is paramount to the development of the work. It is a means to receive constructive feedback in an objective manner — personal politics aside.
Each session is hands-on and grounded in real work. Participants leave with a shared vocabulary, practiced moves, and a format they can run independently.
We open with the history and theory of critique in design education — and why it produces better outcomes than typical feedback sessions. This context gives participants a reason to trust the framework before they use it.
Participants bring actual work-in-progress. The four-move framework is applied in real time, with facilitated rounds of critique. The goal is muscle memory, not theory — so we spend the majority of time doing, not listening.
We practice the hardest scenarios: feedback that contradicts a leader's direction, critique in a high-stakes review, and receiving feedback you disagree with. These simulations make the framework durable beyond the workshop itself.
Each participant leaves with a one-page reference card and a facilitation guide they can use to run critique sessions independently. The goal is a lasting shift in culture — not a one-day workshop that fades by Friday.
What Teams Gain
A shared language for feedback that works across roles, seniority levels, and disciplines — not just within the design team.
Common GroundFewer defensive reactions, less revision roulette, and reviews that move work forward instead of sending it in circles.
Better ReviewsA repeatable format they can run independently — so the shift in culture outlasts the workshop itself.
Lasting ChangeCrit Bits sits inside a broader practice of building the conditions for better work — not just delivering outputs, but shaping how teams think, communicate, and decide together.
How I Work →Three ways to move forward — whichever fits where you are right now.
Tell me about your team and what you're trying to improve. We'll figure out together whether Crit Bits is the right fit and what a session would look like.
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