Credit: Leon

Here’s a simple breakdown of the design interview process as well as how to make the most of this new format to help you land your first design job.

If you’ve applied for the job and heard back, congrats! Though the process may take awhile, hang in there. Slow progress is still progress.

Here’s what might be coming up next:

1. Phone screen

Who: Recruiter

What: Initial assessment to understand your interest in the company, your background and experiences, your journey into design. They may share more more information about the role.

2. Phone interview

Who: Designer, hiring manager

What: Short (~30 min) call where you describe yourself as a designer and share about areas of experience. They may share more more information about the team.

3. Portfolio presentation

Who: group of designers

What: Walk through one or two projects outlining your specific role, the design process and the impact.

4. 1:1 interview(s)

Who: mixed (design, Engineer, PM, hiring manager)

What: More in depth questions on your projects, behavioral/technical questions. Use the time to ask questions to learn more about the responsibilities, team, culture, etc.

Credit: Leon

Behavioral questions

What it looks like:

• Tell me a time when…”
• “What do you do when…”
• “Have you ever…”

How to prepare:

Jot down situations where you’ve encountered conflict (in a team, project, etc.) and resolved it, or shown leadership/successful collaboration. Having a few situations in mind can be helpful. For questions that catch you off guard, use the STAR method.

Technical Questions

What it looks like:

• Describe your design toolset/process?
• What user research methods do you use?
• How would you design for audience A vs. audience B?

How to prepare:

Portfolio Presentation

What it looks like:

Going through 1–2 case studies of your past projects. Frame the problem (challenge, your role, customer and business problems if applicable) , options (including tradeoffs), solution (wireframes, high fidelity mocks, prototypes) and final outcome (what you learned, reflections).

Be sure to specify your contribution, the challenges/solutions specific to this project and how you collaborated with others.

How to prepare:

Have your case studies structured in a narrative format, so it’s easier to follow. Remember to speak slowly and clearly since the audio quality over video calls may be less clear than ideal depending on the video platform, audio reliability, etc.

Whiteboard / Design Exercises

What it looks like:

You’re given a general prompt (or two) and an amount of time to show your design process and present a solution.

Examples:

• Design an alarm clock with way too few buttons
• Design an ATM for kids
• Design a better metro transit timetable

How to prepare:

There is really no “right” answer for the exercise. The prompts are intentionally open-ended so you can properly frame the problem and show that you take the time to understand the problem fully (before diving into solutions) and can present multiple options with rational justification for the one you picked.

Before you start, ask clarifying questions:

• What are the deliverables/outcome?
• What role are the interviewer is playing (coworker, client, etc.)

1. Articulate the problem statement

2. Have a good understanding of the goal

3. Understand the context:

• What are the pain points?
• Is there already a solution in place?
• What has worked/hasn’t worked already?
• Who are the key players and what are their roles in this space?
• How might you work with cross functional partners on constraints?

4. Final* deliverables

• Impact/Effort matrix — talk about tradeoffs between options
• List of tasks
• Flow showing solution screens

*At whatever fidelity a whiteboard can convey

Miscellaneous

1. Remember to slow down whether presenting or responding to a question. Allow time for your interviewer to take notes, as that’s likely part of a write-up they will submit after your conversation.
2. Have a short blurb to introduce yourself (key points about your work and yourself).
3. Have empathy — your interviewers are human too. They may be in-between meetings, hectic work deadlines, stressed, etc. Assume the best and have a good conversation.