Learning To Handle Criticism

One of the major tenets of the Digital Media program is critiquing. Heaven knows your clients will constantly be critiquing the work you do for them. Sometimes it's good for an ego boost, but sometimes... not so much.

You can cultivate a thick skin, pretending you don't care what the rest of the world thinks, but that gets you nothing but a very large ego. You have to be able to sort out the relevant from the inconsequential.

Winter quarter is Photography I here in the DMD program at COTC, and that means it's time to break out the Kleenex(tm) (brand) tissues. Critiques of "pitchers" are relentless (and remorseless), but the students survive. And learn a lot about themselves along the way.

The biggest problem students have in critiquing design (theirs or others) is finding something meaningful (and valid!) to say. This is especially true of online critiques. (Just visit any online photography forum to see what I mean.)

Here's a link to a blog post that captures the full essence of photo critique: http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2006/06/great-photographers-on-internet.html

Warning: Satire Alert!

And remember this basic principle: If the client tells you something is wrong, they are always right. If they tell you how to fix it, though, they are invariably wrong.