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DESIGN
It’s almost as if there are no rules for interviewers — and this makes it almost impossible
to fully predict what your next UX design interview might look like. However, that
doesn’t mean you can’t prepare.
The 30 UX design interview questions we’ve compiled here cover all the bases usually
touched on by companies: industry, your work, portfolio and tools, yourself, and your
work style. Along with some extra tips and real-world examples of successful
interviewees, these sample questions should help you develop an idea of what to
expect.
Start designing
“Imagine you have a toy or a game that you really love playing with. It has big colorful
buttons that are really easy and fun to use. Those big buttons were designed by a UX
designer, and they tried their best to make them as nice and fun as possible.
UX designers help the people who make toys and other products so they can make the
best version of the toy. They think about where the buttons should go, what colors to
use, and how to organize things so you can find what you need easily.
They also talk to people like you who will use the toy, so they can understand what you
want and make sure the toy meets your expectations.”
“To me, user research, user advocacy, and empathy are the most valuable skills for a UX
designer. We need to be willing to put ourselves in the shoes of the users and think in
detail about what they want from the product, how and where they’d use it, what
features would be beneficial, and what inconveniences or shortcuts we absolutely need
to avoid.”
A lot of the changes and improvements we propose cost time and money, so we need
to convince other departments that they are worth the investment. However, if we push
for things that are too radical, we can end up harming our own efforts.”
As you might expect, I always begin with research. While I always keep deadlines in
mind, I refuse to let this stage in the process end prematurely, as it forms the basis of all
the design decisions I’ll make going forward.”
“I usually determine my research methods directly after defining the overall goals and
objectives. Different methods work better in different situations, so I tend to go through
the entire list of methods available to me and consider what value each could provide.
Some of the most common methods I use are user interviews, surveys, usability testing,
diary studies, contextual inquiry, and data analysis.”
“The most challenging project I’ve worked on was the redesign of a large-scale e-
commerce platform. The scale of the digital product was unlike anything I had worked
on before, and I had to adjust to the new level of scale and complexity.”
“I start by defining the evaluation goals and then choosing the methods. I focus heavily
on usability testing and user behavior analysis to create a bank of data I can then
analyze to identify key actionable insights.”
“To design high-quality yet business-viable features, I always start with intense user
research. Once I’m happy that I’ve explored every angle of a product from the user’s
perspective, I then brainstorm the ideal features they would want and need.
Next, I go back over these ideas and re-evaluate them from a business perspective. I
think about what’s plausible and what’s out of the question, and then draft a set of new
versions that consider both user needs and business needs.”
“I use a varied combination of metrics and methods to evaluate the success of a project.
For example, I consider task completion rates, error rates, time on task rates, click-
through rates, and time spent with the product to gauge usability and user
engagement.”
“I have extensive experience with A/B testing and use it regularly to optimize and refine
designs. I always begin by setting an objective and a hypothesis before choosing my
variables. These are most often elements such as layout, color schemes, and CTAs.”
This helps both teams feel involved in the process and gives them more time to look
over the designs. We can save time by addressing obvious problems in their infancy,
making things easier for the developer team once the designs are handed over officially.
It also allows the UX team to share their ideas and passion for user advocacy,
encouraging the developer team to feel more invested in our goals as well.”
Make sure not to bombard the hiring manager with too many ideas, though. As with all
of these questions, it’s best to pick an isolated example and explain it well, rather than
cover multiple areas less effectively. In other words, always prioritize quality over
quantity.
Portfolio and Tools
Walking the interviewer through your portfolio is probably the most fun and most
important part of the interview. It’s where you can express your passion and show off
your design and technical skills.
Your portfolio should be formatted in a way that makes it easy for you to walk through
your design process in a logical order. You can almost think of it like the slides of a
presentation—think about what visual aids you want during specific parts of your
explanations.
If you’ve ever worked on a redesign project, they also work great for this kind of
question because you can compare metrics from the original product versus your
redesigned product.
What Tools Are You Familiar With?
The market for UX design tools is vast, and you’re unlikely to have worked with them all.
When answering this question, be honest about your experience level with each tool
and make sure you’ve taken note of the specific examples that were mentioned in the
designer job description.
Sketch
Adobe XD
Figma
InVision
Balsamiq
Lucidchart
SketchFlow
UserTesting
Lookback
Maze
Google Analytics
Hotjar
Crazy Egg
Project management:
Trello
Asana
Jira
Slack
About Yourself
This can be one of the more difficult sections of the interviews. These questions prompt
you to talk about yourself in a way you might not find natural, and there are often
hypothetical questions about what you will do given a certain situation. The key is to be
honest, genuine, and friendly.
Introduce Yourself.
Self-introductions should always be concise and to the point. Despite being about
yourself, the way you approach a self-introduction also says a lot about your ability to
read the room and consider the needs and wants of your audience.
Try to keep the entire thing under two minutes long and focus on relevant points, such
as your education or career, rather than your life story and hobbies.
To prepare for this question, think of a few examples of challenges and experiences in
advance. Common areas to consider include:
Design challenges
Balancing UX and business needs
User research
Tight deadlines
Receiving feedback and criticism
Advocating for user-centered design
Collaborating with developers and engineers
Balancing creativity and innovation with practical constraints
Then, you need to think about how you align with the company’s goals and fit their
company culture. This is a chance to sweet-talk the interviewer a little bit and praise
what you’ve read about the company so far. But don’t overdo it. Keep your comments
realistic and genuine—this is also a great moment to ask a few of your own questions
about the company that you couldn’t find answers for during your research.
“My primary goal in the first 90 days would be to immerse myself in the company’s
design processes, user research methods, and design systems. I would likely do this by
conducting a comprehensive UX evaluation, so I can both learn about existing systems
and begin to pinpoint areas for improvement at the same time.”
While you should keep these numbers in mind, it’s best not to give a specific number
too soon in the application process. Focus on discussing your skills and the value you
can bring, as well as expressing your flexibility in regard to compensation.
This way, you won’t get marked down as a candidate that will potentially demand too
much, but you won’t accidentally limit yourself to a low-end salary either.
“I consider feedback to be a natural and crucial part of the collaborative design process.
I personally think working on designs in a collaborative real-time environment is the
best way to facilitate constant feedback and minimize uncomfortable situations for team
members. When everything is a discussion, and micro-changes are happening all the
time, people are less likely to get overly attached to their ideas, feel defensive about
them, or take feedback personally.”
You should also bear in mind that this does not need to be a story where you “win” in
the end. In fact, an example where your team convinces you to change your mind could
work even better, as it shows commitment to the “best idea wins” mentality and your
ability to choose professionalism over personal pride.
“While context is extremely important here, most of my experience has taught me that
UX design is an iterative process that undergoes constant improvement. Because of this,
I usually choose to stick to deadlines throughout the project because they affect the
workflows and progress of other teams.
While it can be difficult to hand over something you’re not 100% happy with, you can
always communicate this and even point out the areas that are most likely to receive
updates or edits later on. It’s very important to understand how other teams will use
your work and exactly what they need from you at what times. That way, you can know
when further improvement will be possible after the deadline, and when you should
push the deadline to make sure everything is at its best.”
The focus is not on your final design, but the way you approach the hands-on design
challenge. The interviewer will provide you with prompts, contexts, and requirements to
assess how well you listen, respond, and understand the situation.
Teliah Jackson
UX Designer at AAA
Read Story
Sharon Yeun Kim
UX Design Intern at Colgate-Palmolive
Read Story
Jiyoung An
Product Designer at Nav Technologies
Read Story
How Can You Prepare Well for a UX Design
Interview?
Throughout the 30 questions we’ve covered, we’ve pointed out when a question
requires research. Here’s a collected list of the general topics you’ll need to research or
think about in advance to prepare for a UX interview:
Case studies
Design process documentation
Wireframes and prototypes
Usability testing and research
User-centered design examples
Visual design samples
Results and impact
Continuous learning
Cracking the Design Interview and Landing
a Job: Real-Life Examples To Inspire You
Here are some useful videos of real UX designers talking about their personal
experiences with interviews and application processes.
In this video, Sharon shares the portfolio presentation that got her job offers from both
IBM and Amazon.
Mira
In Mira’s video, she talks about how she landed, prepared for, and approached UX
design interviews at top companies like Google, Spotify, Adobe, and Meta.
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