Guidelines for Giving Website Feedback

This week, a great article was posted on Smashing Magazine, "Web Design Criticism: A How To". I recommend everyone read the entire article, but here are a few takeaways that hopefully can be applied to your day-to-day work and participation on Concept Feedback:

Some guidelines for giving an effective website critique:

1. A gut reaction can be helpful, but make sure you temper it with a level-headed, insightful approach to web design before you try to articulate it. If it's just a personal opinion, that's fine, but make sure to preface it as such.
2. Never critique someone else's work unless you are open to having a meaningful conversation about it.
3. Be specific in your suggestions and always tie them back to established design principles.
4. Make sure you understand the full context and objective before providing your opinion.
5. Look at all aspects of the design, don't ignore important components like content.
6. Take the time to learn the principles and language of design.

Are you new to design principles, or looking for a refresher? I found these mentioned resources extremely helpful:

The Principles of Design - Digital Web Magazine

10 Principles of Effective Web Design - Smashing Magazine

Design Elements and Principles - Wikipedia (what else?)

Ten Usability Heuristics - Jakob Nielsen

Bonus read - Critiquing by Jason Santa Maria

Do you know of others? Please let us know!