“This figure could be better, but how?”

Abstract

This paper considers whether scientists can improve their visual design abilities by participating in critiques. In design education, a critique is a class session where designers present their work-in-progress and receive feedback from faculty, peers, and invited critics. In this study, we show that an intervention consisting of (1) an introduction to visual principles, (2) an explanation of critique methodology, and (3) participation in a group critique led to a significant increase in both the quantity and quality of feedback that scientists provided on a set of figures. These findings indicate that critiques can be a valuable practice for scientists to integrate into their research labs.