A common practice in instructional design curricula is participation in class critiques, whereby students receive critical feedback from the instructor and peers on their in-progress creative works in a face-to-face setting. Receiving feedback reveals gaps between what designers intend to communicate and what others interpret in a design. Today, asynchronous technologies have the potential to transform the age-old practice of traditional critiques into a powerful vehicle for critical discussion. Online visual design critique has evolved from its traditional offline form into two broad categories, namely community critique and crowd feedback. However, little research analyses extend investigations into how crowdsourcing for feedback beyond the classroom setting can lead to added values in students’ design process learning. While research indicates that traditional critiques prepare students to display and articulate their work, there is little evidence of students being taught the skills of critical reflection and argument. Online crowdsourcing employed within a constructivist/connectivist learning environment has the potential to change this ambivalence.
This paper explores a conceptual framework on how feedback via crowdsourcing can be a value-added intervention in supporting graphic design processes. It is vital to formulate instructional methods and technologies that engage authentic users’ opinions and real market voices in graphic design learning. Preparing graphic design students to participate effectively in a broad range of conversations with diverse people using different online platforms, building on others’ opinions, and expressing theirs persuasively in a client-initiated design project is an industry-ready skill for students.