Studio Critique Culture (“Crits”)

When I first got into design school as an undergrad, I came straight from a system where the final, polished product was all that mattered. In school, you were judged on how neat, complete, and perfect your submission looked — not how you got there.

So, naturally, I developed the habit of working last minute, pulling all-nighters, and presenting finished work. But in design school, this approach was immediately challenged.

Professors didn’t want perfection — they wanted process.

I was asked to share my sketches, my early concepts, and even my failed experiments. At first, I was shocked. Why would anyone want to see something that wasn’t finished? But over time, I realized that the unfinished work- the messy, awkward middle — is where the real learning happens. This is where I was introduced to studio critique, or as we called it, crits. 

In design classrooms, critique isn’t just an activity, it’s a pedagogical ritual. The “studio crit” or “pin-up” was a core part of our education, rooted in the belief that learning happens through process, not just polished outcomes. Unlike traditional assessments that happen after a project is finished, crits are embedded within the creative cycle, providing feedback at key junctures when ideas are still malleable.

This happens in my classrooms at NYU as well. Many of my professors here, including David Parisi and Thiago Hersan, incorporate critique deeply into their classroom structure

In Professor Thiago’s class, for example, we were tasked with developing our own AI models. Instead of waiting until the end to showcase our work, he held weekly crits that guided us through every phase of the project. The structure was incredibly thoughtful: Week 1 focused on exploration — we tested different AI models and brought our top five options to class for discussion. Week 2 was like a mini science fair — each of us set up our laptops and presented our initial interface demos. Professors and peers walked around the room, offering feedback at every table. Week 3 was dedicated to the UI layout, and we received design-specific critique to refine our visual and interaction choices. By Week 4, we had an almost-functional version of our models. That week’s crits were focused on identifying final tweaks and improvements before submission. In one of my other classes, we were asked to maintain a process website, which captured all the in-betweens of the final outcome. The professor even marked us for our process and documentation instead of just the final outcome. 

Crits isn’t just about presenting — it's about refining ideas, learning from one another, and growing through feedback.