This paper aims to outline an approach of critical engagement in educational research that moves beyond traditional formats of academic critique. The aim of our contribution is to explore the critical dimension of reflexive design for education and contrast it with recently advocated notions of design-based research. Rather than providing a full-fledged methodology, our intent is to motivate more critical design efforts in education and provide examples on how this could be done. Towards this end we outline a framework of critical research questions for design-based research and provide examples of how critical design could be practiced in education.