SIMPLIFIED: "The Role of Criteria and Constraints in the Engineering Design Process"
Link to article: https://steminthemiddle.net/the-role-of-criteria-and-constraints-in-the-engineering-design-process/
The article linked above is about criteria vs. constraints! It is very difficult to categorize what is a criteria and what is a constraint, but hopefully our simplification of that article will help you do just that.
If something is a criteria, then it is something that the design needs to accomplish. For instance, if I am designing a desktop organizer, a criteria may be that the organizer must hold at least 10 different supplies. This is a requirement that the design absolutely needs to have, which makes it a criteria. Another example might be that the organizer has to be reliable and durable. Obviously, this organizer cannot just collapse when you start putting supplies into it. Things like this are criteria.
On the other hand, constraints are essentially limits and restrictions that you are working with WHILE you are creating your design. One example is time. Your stakeholder might tell you that the design has to be completed in two days. Time is a limit here, and therefore it is a constraint. Another example might be cost. Your stakeholder might say that you are working with a budget of $100. This is a limit because there are limited resources you can acquire for under $100.
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