Respectful disagreement
Good design critique should not be seen as a threat. I like this quote from Umair Haque:
“Respectful disagreement produces creative tension. Enmity only produces destructive stagnation.”
A difference of opinion is an opportunity. Umair makes the point that the problem of the internet is that we’ve forgotten how to disagree. We can’t cope with ambiguity. Everyone else is wrong.
The reality. In most creative situations it’s impossible to one hundred percent right. The design of everyday things is much more complicated than that.
Good designers mediate. They know how to get hold of ambiguity. Or just how to live with it. Most of all, they’re not afraid to have an opinion. It’s that creative tension that helps us design better things.
This is my blog where I’ve been writing for 18 years. You can follow all of my posts by subscribing to this RSS feed. You can also find me on Bluesky, less frequently now on X (formally Twitter), and on LinkedIn.