Constructive criticism sounds to many people like something you are meant to give a first grader, but we need to use this technique throughout our lives, with our partners at work, and even with our adult family members. If you want to ask someone to make a change (i.e., give some criticism), it’s best to do it in a constructive way, to keep the peace and nurture important relationships.

I work with a group of artists and writers on a daily basis, and every once in a while someone comes into my office complaining about how a client is going over the line with their critique. Almost as often, I get a client coming into my office asking me why an artist got their feathers all ruffled just because they wanted to make a logo bigger. How can this be avoided?

1. Avoid disputes from the beginning. Make the project expectations crystal clear before anyone gets started. If the project is defined on paper on a creative brief or job description sheet, it will be easier for someone to execute. Ask at this stage what your creative team needs from you. And be specific about what is expected to be delivered at what deadline. At the next level, it’s easier when critiquing to point out what is missing, if anything. Then, leave room for a second round of drafts.
2. Make changes clear. When you receive something and you know there will be many changes, take some time to be specific about what is obviously wrong or missing. If you have your job description on paper, this will be simple.
3. Don’t be too clear. If you’ve delegated work to someone, don’t take all the fun (er, job satisfaction, that is) out of it by dictating font sizes or changing colors just because you feel like you need to make some comment. Ask yourself if your end audience will see a difference in the changes you are suggesting. If not, zip it! And remember, you have sent this work to this person for a reason – because you are too busy, because they are a specialist, because they have access to more resources – let them do their work.
   I’ll just say this now, in case no one has ever told you – graphic artists/designers as a rule do NOT like it when someone stands behind them and watches them make changes – that’s pretty much universal.
4. Be clear about what is right. If you find yourself filling a piece of paper with red marks, invest in a green pen. Is the headline good? Do you like the font choice, or photo selection? Circle a few things you definitely want to keep. These choices took time, and your appreciation of these items will make your creative partner feel a bit more at ease.
   Start your feedback conversation by mentioning one of these items, and come back to one of these at the end of your discussion for a good ‘compliment sandwich.’
5. Language is important. If you didn’t create it, you may not understand the creator’s motivation behind the way the project was done. Some language that has been helpful for me:
   • I see what you’re doing here, but what if you tried some less formal language?
   • I like this color combination, but it might be a bit bold for this product.
   • This section is great, but I think we may have gone into too much detail for our audience. Can you break it down for the outsider to understand better?
   • This image is really exciting, but I’m not sure if it fits the character of the rest of the piece. Do you have some others you can show me?
6. Disaster plan. If what you have received is nothing near what you thought you asked for, then something could have gone wrong from the job description point. Keeping communication open is imperative, so everyone is in the same frame of mind. Maybe the project manager will step in with — “I must have really steered you in the wrong direction, we’re going to have to reboot this,” or something like that – to get everyone on the same side, and restart the project rather than slicing and dicing what’s been done.

The creative process doesn’t have to be painful. It can be a fun, collaborative adventure if it’s approached in the right way. I hope these hints will help you down that path!

I took part in the third annual Women Who Tech Telesummit yesterday. (Thanks to winning a free pass, thanks Allyson!) I must confess I was multitasking, but nevertheless, I got a lot out of this day-long web conference. I’m looking forward to listening to the recorded sessions that I wasn’t able to attend, and already looking forward to next year!

Topics ranged from diversity to self promotion to social media ROI to launching your own business. We talked about building the ultimate user experience and discussed how to get more women in leadership roles in the tech industry.

My quick little brain-dump of my top ten takeaways from the day:

1. You get the best ideas when you are listening, not speaking.
2. Women tend to be perfectionists about their expertise. Allow yourself some room to fail.
3. Interested in doing public speaking? Practice. In your car, in your shower, on video or audio recordings, to gain confidence.
4. Foursquare is a public relations tool. It’s free, so use it. Manage your organization’s presence there.
5. Google Analytics: also free, so use it. Even if you’re just getting data on your Facebook or Linked In pages.
6. User Experience is every department’s responsibility.
7. To attain the Ultimate User Experience, you need to watch/listen how your customer is engaging with your products.
8. Risk is an abstract element. If you’re afraid of taking a step, ask yourself, “What happens if I fail?” and really answer the question.
9. I need to find the source of this mash-up: it’s not “Rocket Surgery” – I just love that!
10. All-girl events are fun/empowering.

If you have some others, including links you might want to share, please add them in the comments! For more great nuggets, look for the hashtag #WWT on Twitter, follow @WomenWhoTech, and be on the lookout for next year’s conference.

I’m looking forward to embarking on a new adventure as a corporate tweeter. As such, I’ve taken a good deal of time accumulating best practices for corporate accounts. Many of these are the same as I would recommend for anyone operating a business Twitter account for themselves:

1. Have a mission/message in mind before you post your first tweet.
2. Your message should also consider your target audience.
3. Twitter directories are a good way to gain some followers initially, but there is no get followers quick solution.
4. Be selective in following. There is no need to follow everyone who follows you.
5. Be careful of your language. This is even more important for corporations than for individuals.
6. Your posts are 100% public. Remember that bad news travels faster than good news and anything your shareholders wouldn’t like will travel out of the Twitterverse and onto TV screens and into newspapers.
7. Corporations need to select a voice. It’s best if one person, or a couple of people, man the account, for consistency, and to be sure there’s no redundancy. Most corporations invoke the royal ‘we.’  Other more customer-service oriented Twitter accounts have used an individual speaking from the first person.
8. A regular stream of content is important to any Twitter feed to maintain followers. Appropriate corporate topics include:

• • respond to follower/customer inquiries
  • retweet satisfied customer tweets
  • link to updated/interesting information on corporate websites/blogs
  • retweet updates from affiliated Twitter accounts
  • Twitter contests
  • advance notice of corporate news
  • Twitter discount codes
  • stimulate Twitter discussions with product-related questions
  • product-related trivia
  • run online surveys
  • photos of corporate events

Have some other ideas? Please share in the comments!

Bird art by Triax Mills.

I have always been good at standardized tests. I realize this is no small gift.

One part of standardized tests that I never minded, ever since grade school — almost enjoyed — is the beginning, which is almost always the same, with little variations.

Even now, filling out job applications and health forms, it’s always: Name, (last name or first name first), Address, City, State, (two letter abbreviation or spell it out?), Zip code, (plus the extra four digits or not), Etcetera.

Over the years the demographics section has gotten more complicated. I remember way back when it used to be just male or female, black or white, and married or single (well, they didn’t ask that in grade school).

But those who create our forms came to the realization that America is much more complicated than that.

It is clear to anyone who takes a walk around the block in my neighborhood that black or white doesn’t cover my neighbors. I’ve come to realize that even male or female isn’t an easy question for some people to answer.

The marriage question is a totally different debate. Of course, since this is America, we need a ‘Divorced’ box to check on most forms. But for some poor souls who happen to have married someone of their same gender, they need to check state law before they know which box they can check.

I find that tedious and intrusive. The government lets you decide which race box you want to check. And some forms have dozens of race boxes, no proof of heritage required.

This past weekend’s National Equality March in DC was about evening that playing field for lesbian, gay and transgender Americans. The civil rights fight isn’t over yet.

Of course the marriage issue is only a small part of it. Learn more at the National Equality March website.

Has this ever been done before? On June 4 the site already had 2,300 signatures. The count at the time of this post is 27,148 signatures. Citizens of the UK are begging their leaders to change the signal they are sending to the world.

Online petition – Change The London 2012 Logo

Today the new logo for the 2012 Olympics, to be held in London, was unveiled. “‘This is an iconic brand that sums up what London 2012 is all about — an inclusive, welcoming and diverse Games that involves the whole country,’ said Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.”

Um, OK. It looks to be something I wrote on the back of my notebook in 9th grade that I thought was really punk rock.

Supposedly this logo is designed to be instantly recognizable worldwide. It’s based on the numbers 2012. Did you see it? I had be told.

Read the story on Yahoo.

More commentary at AdRants.

Next day update:
The Washington Post picked up on the yuckiness of the logo:
“Jeers and Loathing Over a New Logo”
UK sport blog’s reaction: “London’s new brand of bother“

Has our paranoia really gotten so bad that some Lite-Brite panels can bring a city to a grinding halt? Is Boston the only city on its toes enough to catch such things? Or are we just at the tail end of a generation gap? I’m voting for the tail end of the generation gap. And hoping that I’m right.

Looking at the evidence I’ve been able to gather from YouTube and Fox News, I don’t see threatening devices, but crudely decorated panels. And even if one isn’t familiar with the character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the rude character is derived loosely from the video games of my childhood, and there have to be some folks that remember Nintendo on Boston’s police force.

I just have a hard time believing that all of Boston’s law-enforcing and homeland security folks are that uncool. Why fulfill the stereotype? It doesn’t have to be true! Or perhaps we need to have pop culture classes at the academy now. Something to reintroduce all the square cops and federal agents into the mainstream of American culture? It seems that they’re just not ‘with it’ enough to recognize what’s a joke and what’s real danger, going on right under their noses.

Don’t make Turner pay the fine. Make the first idiot that called a Lite-Brite a bomb pay the fine. That’s the person that cost Boston all the panic and all that cash.

See the videos for yourself at Advertising Age: http://adage.com/outofsite/post?article_id=114675

Buy a T-shirt to commemorate the event

Update: Cartoon Network executive VP and GM Jim Samples resigned over this mess.