Embracing Positivity: Using the Power of Positivity to Enhance Design Classroom Critiques to Encourage Students to Feel Empowered as Artists

While ample research and ways to handle an artistic critique exist, there is not enough that is created in conjunction with visuals to help and empower our art faculty. As a graphic design instructor at a regional university, I struggle every day to make sure that my students end not only becoming better designers, but also understanding that critique is about making them better and not meant to tear them down. My graphic design professors varied in technique when it came to the critique process and caused quite a bit of emotional distress on a young growing design student. I do not want that for my students.\nMost of the research I have found so far has varying ways to conduct that critique, but I am creating a branded set of visuals that coincide with a set of guidelines that would help from both a faculty and student standpoint. As a relatively new graphic design instructor, I am constantly hunting for better techniques to teach lessons, connect with my students and to communicate without stifling their creativity. I feel that this is a sticky subject because of the stories I plan on putting into these pieces as well as the emotional aspect. Students, especially art students, tend to have a very fragile sense of self. Faculty needs to be educated to help them blossom and not wither and die under our scrutiny. My firsthand experiences lend further credibility to my idea as I have been a design student, worked in the design industry and then also came back and started teaching. This background gives me a unique viewpoint. My plan is to create a website that is branded to my concept and give instruction that can be downloaded while also providing a large supply of resources like posters and imagery that can be plugged into PowerPoint presentations. These materials will be well designed and available in several different formats considering that faculty could potentially be high school or university level and could have varying types of resources to print the materials. To make this concept even more “sticky,” I will push past the expected and offer these posters, materials, and educational resources all for free to educators. This helps me to be unexpected, which in turns helps my idea be stickier. If some of these ideas are common knowledge in that one professor’s mind, these visuals, hung in any classroom environment, will also allow the students to see that the main goal is growth and not to just be critical. This positive reinforcement will prevent the faculty member from constantly having to repeat themselves.