In this story, I’ll be sharing my experience with a recent take-home test I completed while applying for a Jr. UI/UX designer role at a world-renowned digital product design & software development agency. I’ll share my end-to-end process, including my design approach, low and high-fidelity design, and motion prototyping. Admittedly, this probably took me closer to 30 hours (the prompt said max 1 week). This was the second of 4 interview stages. I hope that this story & my experience helps you during your UI/UX interview processes, but more importantly, help you understand how to solve design challenges in a structured way.

Starting from receiving the design brief and the challenging assignment to working on it and the final submission, I’ve tried to cover the entire process of how to approach the challenge and document it.

So, yeah, the recruiter at the company I was applying for, provided me with not one but three problem statements andI had to select one to work on based on my own preference. Having a choice in selecting the problem statement has its own pros and cons. You try to select one which you think you can excel in but halfway through the assignment you might start to panic about whether you chose the right problem statement or not (it does happen even though you are doing great too).

What I don’t like about these assignments? —

These assignments are a good way in which companies decide if you’d fit their desired needs for a role. But I’m not a huge fan of these assignments as these assignments usually have a time frame ranging anywhere from 3 days to a week, and everybody who’s applying for a similar role would have the time to polish the assignment before submission so it becomes hard cracking the assignment.

So out of the three problem statements I was given, I chose one and now I had to come up with a design and ways to nail the assignment that I received.

Assignment : Redesign a fold from the Company’s Website which according to them lacked certain aspects. Give it a revamp and suggest ways to improve the entire experience.

I had everything I required, I just had to complete what I had started.

Problems faced

It took me an entire day to figure out which 1 out of the 3 challenges I should come up with a solution to.
I made a decision and now efforts were followed to come up with a solution.

I came up with a low fidelity flow for the design I had in my mind and I had to now polish the design to a functioning Prototype. In my normal everyday design process, I’d rather skip the part where I’ve to design low fidelity design and instead I stick to creating Task Flows and sketching wireframes on paper but it varies for everyone.

Now, I was given the Brand Guidelines Document and I had to follow the set guidelines so I had a few restrictions but it wasn’t very hard for me to come up with the necessary solutions.

Mission and Goals to be accomplished

The 3rd fold of the website is quite essential as it states the Commitments & Factors of the company for building trust with its clients, yet the website does not give it enough justice.
The 6 elements mentioned on the page form the essence of the company's Ethics & Commitment to its clients.

• Challenge the 3rd fold and give a series of recommendations on how to enhance this fold from a design & storytelling perspective.
• To create high-fidelity wireframes and a working interactive mockup prototype.

Starting from failed clicks to the visibility of clickable cursor icons when not required, it became easier for me to select the challenge of designing the 3rd fold of the website out of the 3 given challenges.
On taking the cursor on the 6 elements it changes slightly, of course, it’s a link. I click on it and… nothing. Absolutely nothing happens.

Design Thinking

• I started off by setting up an artboard and adding the assets to the document that were given in the brand design guideline.
• What followed were efforts to make the Commitment fold better in every aspect, be it with the design of the interaction.
• I had a picture painted in my head as to how I would want the page to look. I just had to visualize what I had in my mind into an interactive prototype on screen.
• As briefed, I also had to make sure that the 6 commitments of the Company were stated properly & also followed the Visual Hierarchy.

Challenges Faced

• Aligning my thinking & the digital design with the brand guidelines.
• Making the new UI relevant & fresh with a simplistic approach.
• Designing engaging interactions.
• Achieving visual harmony & beauty.

Deliverable Prototype

Final Thoughts

I was fairly happy with the outcome, especially with the given time restrictions. Putting together a solution to the problem in a given time was definitely not easy but I managed to illustrate the design thinking that went behind the assignment.

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Thank You!