🔮Opinions Are Not Ideas
*Process: Creativity > Criticism
Hello my friends,
I've sat in countless design review meetings all over the world and the pattern is always the same.
Thirty experts around the table, dissecting someone else's work.
One particularly memorable occasion, I was participating in an early sketch review for what would become an iconic product, generating hundreds of millions of dollars.
Just as the designer concluded, without a breath, someone jumped in to point out three reasons it wouldn’t work.
We’re wired to see what is wrong before acknowledging what was right.
There are entire industries built around critique. Review sites, social media comments, star ratings, “would you like to stay on the line to take a brief survey?”
You’ve been trained to judge first, appreciate second.
I'm not suggesting we eliminate the feedback loop. Constructive input shapes good ideas into great ones.
But it has to respect the idea, not reduce it.
The creatives I admire most continually put themselves on the line.
They show work knowing it's imperfect. Instigating feedback.
Next time you're reviewing a prototype or a proposal, lead with curiosity instead of judgement.
Ask why certain choices were made - before suggesting alternatives.
We need more willingness to be vulnerable, to build things despite knowing that everyone, absolutely everyone, will have an opinion on it.
Creativity is fragile.
Criticism comes easy.