The Devastating Note#
Week 1 — orientation
Most feedback isn’t a note#
It’s a reaction, dressed as an assessment.
- no specific location
- no way to be proven wrong
- often aimed at the person, not the work
A note is specific, falsifiable, and about the work#
Specific#
Points at a location: a sentence, a line, a region of a canvas.
“The pacing drags” — not specific.
“The scene on page four repeats what the reader already knows” — specific.
Falsifiable#
Says what would prove it wrong.
A note you can’t lose an argument about was never really a claim.
About the work#
The tell is the noun.
A note about a sentence names the sentence. A note about a person names a trait.
Six domains, one method#
visual art · code · prose · peer review · criticism · the brief itself
If it only survives one, it isn’t a method.
A note that doesn’t name a specific line, frame or function isn’t a note. It’s a mood.
— Marisol Quaye
This week#
Bring two notes you’ve been given, ever: the one that worked, and the one that didn’t. Session details →