critique design

[unkempt coral]

In my experience, there isn't a proper critique process but to give the design lead double-check before having my design proceed. And whenever I receive critiques, they are mostly "no" and "don't do that" and "that's not good enough" without telling me why and how to improve the design that I made. And then they would have most of the design laid out for me, made by them, and tell me to polish the design and finish the job. While I learn the way how they design, I'm mostly stuck on being told what to do. I'm scared of breaking the rules, and that if I broke them, I would then receive discouragement from them. I don't really get to learn design much, from how I feel because I mostly receive "that's not good enough".

Tbh, structuring a critique session was something I haven't experienced before and I'm looking to learn how to do one properly. Hence I'm asking around and looking for a proper reference at the moment. I have friends that came out of school and start to polish their works to apply for jobs, ask me to give critique and I don't know how since I don't want them to experience what I experience.