Had a stranger at a coffee shop offer to critique my portfolio and it actually helped

I was working out of this little coworking spot in Austin called The Grove and a guy next to me glanced at my laptop and said 'your hero image is pushing your copy too far down.' He was a UX designer from some startup I'd never heard of. Has anyone else had a random stranger's feedback actually improve their work?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey2684d ago

Whoa, hold up, am I the only one who thinks taking advice from some random guy at a coffee shop is a terrible idea? You have no idea if that person is actually good at their job or just some loud dude with opinions. He could be a junior designer leveling up by bossing people around, or worse, a sales guy who thinks he knows design. Trusting a stranger's hot take over your own research or a trusted colleague seems like a fast way to mess up your whole layout for no reason.

brooke_murray4d ago

Had a buddy who took fashion advice from some random guy at a bar once, ended up looking like a confused magician for a week lol. Learned his lesson the hard way, stick with people you actually know.

ivan4623d ago

I wore this gray hoodie for three years straight in college, and one day a random guy at a bus stop said "you'd look taller if you wore a fitted jacket instead." Hated it at first. But I tried his advice. He was right. Here's the thing I've noticed about random strangers versus people we know. Friends usually tell you what they think you want to hear. Strangers have nothing to lose so they're brutally honest. That honesty is rare, and honestly it's why a lot of us end up stuck in ruts. The skill level of the stranger is a gamble for sure, but sometimes a fresh set of eyes catches something you and your buddies have been blind to for months. Your mileage may vary, but my experience has been that the best feedback comes from people who don't care if they hurt your feelings.