Designer Interview

Key Questions to Quickly Understand a Designer’s Skills and Vision

Article

Designer Interview

Key Questions to Quickly Understand a Designer’s Skills and Vision

Article

Designer Interview

Key Questions to Quickly Understand a Designer’s Skills and Vision

Article

When hiring a new designer, it’s essential to quickly assess not only their technical abilities but also their creative vision, work style, and alignment with your team’s goals. To get a comprehensive understanding of a designer’s skills and mindset, I’ve developed a set of key questions that delve into their experience, process, and personality. These questions aim to give you a clear picture of whether a candidate is a good fit within an hour-long interview. Here’s a breakdown of these questions and the insights they provide.

1. Introduction to the Designer

Starting the interview with broad, open-ended questions helps set the tone and gives the candidate a comfortable space to talk about their journey and motivations. This part of the interview is crucial for building rapport and understanding their career path.

Tell me about yourself.

This question allows the designer to share their background, helping you understand their journey, passion, and what they value in their career.

How long have you been working in the product design industry?

Knowing their experience level can provide context for their skill set and adaptability in different environments.

What are your responsibilities in your current position?

This question sheds light on their current role, showcasing the scope of their experience and specific skills.

Why are you looking for a new job?

Understanding their motivation for change can reveal if they’re looking for growth, a better fit, or new challenges that align with your company’s opportunities.

How do you define product design?

This gives insight into their understanding of product design and what they consider essential in creating user-centered solutions.

2. Design Approach and Skills

Once you have an overview of their background, it’s time to dive into their design approach, process, and technical skills. These questions allow you to assess their expertise in key areas and their familiarity with industry-standard tools and methodologies.

Let’s dive into one of your favorite projects. Can you show it to us, preferably on Figma?

Reviewing a project they’re proud of reveals their strengths and design thinking. You’ll also see how they organize their files and workflows in tools like Figma.

What is your typical design process?

This question offers insights into their workflow and approach to solving design challenges, from research to prototyping and final execution.

What design tools are you proficient in?

Proficiency in various design tools is essential. This helps you understand their technical skills and adaptability to your existing design toolkit.

Have you conducted usability tests using prototypes before?

Usability testing is crucial for refining user-centered designs. This question gauges their experience in validating design choices with real users.

Have you written documentation that includes animations?

Documentation is key for cross-functional collaboration. Understanding their experience with this can reveal their attention to detail and communication skills.

Do you have experience working with design systems and variables/tokens?

Familiarity with design systems demonstrates an understanding of scalability and consistency. Experience with tokens and variables also indicates technical versatility.

We work in an agile environment with 2-week sprints. Is that how you're currently working?

Agile experience is crucial for designers working in fast-paced product teams. This shows if they’re comfortable with iterative design cycles and quick feedback loops.

3. Personality and Work Style

The design profession isn’t just about skills; it’s about collaboration, adaptability, and resilience. These questions help you understand how the designer interacts with others, handles criticism, and fits within a team dynamic.

How do you handle criticism about your designs?

The ability to handle feedback positively and adapt is vital for growth and teamwork. This question reveals their resilience and openness to improvement.

What do you enjoy most about being a product designer?

Their answer can give you a sense of their passion and what aspects of design motivate them, helping you understand if their values align with your company’s culture.

Do you enjoy working individually or collaboratively?

Knowing their preferred work style helps assess if they would thrive in your team’s environment, especially if it’s highly collaborative.

What are your strengths as a designer?

Asking them to self-reflect on their strengths can reveal unique qualities they bring to the table and how they view their role within a team.

4. Closing the Interview

The end of the interview is an opportunity to clarify expectations and answer any questions they might have about the role or team dynamics. It also allows you to gauge their genuine interest and enthusiasm for the position.

Do you have any questions about the role?

A candidate’s questions can be very telling about their interest in the role and what they value in a workplace.

Is there anything else you would like to know about our company or team?

This is an open invitation for them to learn more, showing if they’re thorough in understanding their potential work environment.

Conclusion

Using these questions, you can quickly and effectively gauge a designer’s experience, approach, and alignment with your team’s goals. From assessing technical skills to understanding personal motivations, this interview framework allows you to make a well-rounded evaluation of a designer’s potential fit within your organization. By focusing on key areas—background, design skills, personality, and closing questions—you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the candidate’s skills and vision in less than an hour.