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Meetings & Communicationnoun · /dɪˈzaɪn rɪˈvjuː/

design review

In simple English

A design review is a critical checkpoint in software development where engineers, designers, and stakeholders gather to assess whether a proposed solution meets requirements and follows best practices. This meeting typically happens early in the development cycle, before significant coding effort begins. The purpose is to identify potential problems, suggest improvements, and ensure alignment across the team regarding technical direction and architectural choices. Design reviews are common in most tech companies and serve multiple functions: they catch design flaws early when they are cheaper to fix, they distribute knowledge across the team, they provide a forum for junior engineers to learn from experienced ones, and they create accountability for design decisions. The scope can range from reviewing a single feature or API to evaluating an entire system architecture. During a design review, participants typically examine documents, diagrams, prototypes, or presentations. Feedback is documented, and the design may be approved as-is, approved with minor changes, or sent back for significant revisions. The outcome usually determines whether the team can proceed to implementation or must refine the design further.

Understand what a design review is, when it happens in development, and what it accomplishes.

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We need to get this through design review before we start development.
✓The design review uncovered some scalability concerns.
✓Can you prepare the design review materials for next Wednesday?

Real examples

in a standup

"The database redesign is scheduled for a design review on Thursday morning."

in a team email

"Please review the attached diagram and come prepared with feedback for the design review."

in a planning meeting

"We should conduct a design review before allocating engineering resources to this feature."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Often confused with code review. Design review focuses on architecture and high-level decisions, while code review examines actual code implementation.

✕We will design review the code next week.
✓We will conduct a design review next week.— Design review is a noun referring to the meeting itself, not a verb. Use conduct, hold, or schedule with design review.
✕The design review found bugs in the implementation.
✓The design review found architectural flaws in the proposal.— Design reviews evaluate architecture and approach, not code. Code reviews find bugs in implementation.
✕That is a good code review feedback for the design review.
✓That is good design feedback for the design review.— Design reviews focus on design decisions and architecture, not code style or implementation details.

Other forms

noun

design review

"The design review is scheduled for Friday at 2 PM."

noun phrase

design review meeting

"Our design review meeting revealed several potential issues."

noun phrase

design review process

"The design review process helps us maintain code quality standards."

Often used with

conduct a design reviewMost common way to say performing a design review
pass design reviewWhen a design is approved and meets standards
design review feedbackComments and suggestions from the design review meeting
attend a design reviewParticipate in the design review meeting
schedule a design reviewPlan and book a design review meeting

Similar words

design walkthroughSimilar meaning but often less formal; presenter walks through the design with the team
architecture reviewFocuses specifically on the system architecture rather than broader design aspects
technical reviewBroader term that can include design reviews but also other technical evaluations

Opposites

code reviewimplementation phase

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. Your manager wants to check the database architecture proposal. What does she want to do?

Complete the sentence

2. We should _______ before starting the implementation to catch any architectural problems early.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses design review incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite using design review: We need to have a meeting to check if our plan for the new feature is good before we write the code.

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "design review" in a standup this week?

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