Strengthening Feedback Culture – ISED
Methods & Outcomes
- Design critique training
- Collaborative workshop facilitation
- Design review framework document
- Summary poster for team use
- Advisory support on UX team rituals
Team
Share
How do you create a feedback culture that actually works for designers?
Highlights
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) wanted to improve how its Design Centre of Expertise (DCoE) conducted design reviews. With an increasingly multidisciplinary UX team, there was a need for a shared process that welcomed critique while reducing interpersonal tension.
DFFRNT delivered a collaborative training and advisory engagement that helped the team define its own rituals for giving and receiving design feedback. The result: a process that reflects the team’s values, encourages healthy critique, and supports better outcomes in design and product development.
The Client
ISED is a large federal department with a broad economic and technological mandate. Within ISED, the DCoE supports digital product teams with user experience design, research, and content strategy. As the team grew more diverse in expertise, it recognized a need to standardize how design reviews were conducted.
The Challenge
Not everyone on a UX team is trained in the same traditions of design critique. Some may come from development, research, or business backgrounds and be less familiar with structured feedback rituals.
The DCoE team wanted to adopt a process that would:
- Normalize constructive critique
- Reduce friction during reviews
- Make feedback sessions more inclusive and effective
"If you institute a process for giving and receiving feedback, it can reduce tension within the group."
The Solution
DFFRNT provided two tailored training sessions for the DCoE team, introducing principles and best practices from design critique. Rather than impose an external framework, DFFRNT guided the team in co-creating their own process based on shared values.
The engagement included:
- Facilitation of collaborative workshops
- Development of a design review framework document
- A visual poster summarizing key principles for everyday reference
The training emphasized psychological safety, role clarity, and feedback methods that focus on improving work, not critiquing individuals.
The Outcome
The DCoE team emerged with a structured, shared process for design review. Importantly, it was one they created themselves, with input and alignment across disciplines. The final documentation was signed by the team, underscoring collective ownership and commitment.
Feedback from participants was highly positive, and the training has had a lasting impact on how the team collaborates and iterates.
Key Takeaways
- Design critique works best when it’s a shared team ritual, not an imposed process
- Co-creation builds ownership and adoption of new practices
- Feedback culture needs structure, especially in multidisciplinary teams
- Simple tools like posters and reference docs reinforce behavioural change
- Training creates safer, more effective spaces for collaboration
.jpg)
