Grading Forms & Examples

Design Project Critique Form

Design Project: Overview and Self-Evaluation Form

Due for each Class – Checklists to Print

Group Signup Sheet

Web Design for Small Business – Grading Checklists

Design Critiques – Personalized Feedback Focused on Growth

My creative critique process is personalized for each student’s project and focuses on a path forward with suggestions and ideas. I try to link my comments to the course outcomes, criteria, and principles as much as I can.

My students seem much more responsive and engaged when I write feedback and comments on their designs. I’ve found that a big paragraph typed into a rubric or Blackboard seems inaccessible to them. They seem to struggle to decipher and apply suggestions in that format. I get that. How do you suggest a whole new layout or title design in a long typed paragraph? Drawing it is so much clearer and more engaging.

Also, after meeting with a student to review and discuss my suggested changes, they’ll have a record of what we talked about as they decide which changes to make to improve their designs. This is also easy to do digitally. I just open their design in Photoshop, add extra white space with a reverse crop, and write and draw with my digital drawing tablet. I save that as a medium-resolution JPEG and email it back or attach it to their Blackboard comments.

Here are two examples of students’ printed designs with critique feedback:

Evaluation Scale Examples

Use these examples to help you self-evaluate your work and decide when your work is done and ready to be handed in or sent to your client.

Social Media Graphic

2-Sided Flyer

Mixed Recycling Bin Signs

Reel

(College graduate portfolio reel)

1. REEL – Ready to show a potential employer

Very nice work!
This has been nuanced, tweaked, and developed into a wonderful reel to show to potential employers. I like how the transitions and in/outs synch with the music. Nice touch!

It might have a few minor issues, but they are mostly design choices that are based on opinion.

2. REEL – Needs some improvement

1. Followed instructions: Size and format is good
2. Production Quality: Still a few margin gaps and off-center images
3. Content: Very good. Show client logos?
4. Design Style: The title intro scene is impressive and an example itself—nice work.
5. Typography: Looking much better. Consistent.
6. Color: Dark blue background works well.
7. Photos/art/video: Good variety of skills and work
8. Sound: Try an overall unifying sound throughout.
9. Layout/transitions/flow: Better transitions and scene layouts. The layout still needs a little work though. Consistent type fade in/outs help. Try synching your ins and outs and transitions with an upbeat music track.
10. Repeatable design elements: Solid background works to unify all scenes. Consistent type and layoutlook better too.

3. REEL – Needs a lot of improvement

1. Followed instructions: Misspellings. The size and formatis good
2. Production Quality: margin gaps, off-center items
3. Content: Pretty good. Show client logos?
4. Design Style: Inconsistent. The title intro scene with the name is still uninspiring and flat.
5. Typography: Getting better. The same typeface, but now the weights are inconsistent.
6. Color: Still not great.
7. Photos/art/video: Good variety of skills and work
8. Sound: No overall unifying sound. The Video sound juststarts and stops. No nuance or fade in/out.
9. Layout/transitions/flow: Scenes are somewhat improved but still need more design nuance. Transitions are getting better.
10. Repeatable design elements: Darken the background

4. Reel – Incomplete

1. Followed instructions: Misspellings. The size and formatare good
2. Production Quality: margin gaps, off-center images
3. Content: Pretty good. Show client logos?
4. Design Style: Inconsistent. The title intro scene with the name is uninspiring and flat. This should be a design example itself.
5. Typography: Inconsistent, poor typeface choices, needs better type design to look more professional.
6. Color: Poor color choice for the background
7. Photos/art/video: Good variety of skills and work
8. Sound: No overall unifying sound. The Video sound juststarts and stops. No nuance or fade in/out.
9. Layout/transitions/flow: Scenes need better layout design, inconsistent layouts, and poor or no transitions between scenes. Some elements overlap between transitions.
10. Repeatable design elements: Solid background works to unify all scenes, but it’s too light. More consistent type design would help unify scenes too.