How to answer UX design interview questions

Many aspirants prepare for an interview by focusing on questions based on technicalities related to their field. As we start talking about UX design interview questions, I want you to think about job interviews like a first date: one can prepare all they want, yet the unexpected may still pop up and throw them in disarray. Recruiters are looking for applicants who can display qualities that exceed hard skills. Not every recruiter is thorough enough to look at one’s resume to understand the person or their skillset. At times, the recruiters may throw a curveball as a bizarre question irrelevant to the job at hand.

The reality is: it’s inconceivable to know what kind of UX design interview questions awaits them at the interview. Every interview is different and unique in its own way: it can be a casual chat or an intense grilling session. Every interview’s end goal is to determine if the candidate is a perfect fit for the job; however, different interviewers use different techniques to achieve that.

UX design interview questions are focused on four primary areas:

• Questions about the candidate’s personality
• Questions about the candidate’s goals and behavior
• Questions about the candidate’s work experience
• Questions about the candidate’s workflow & process

Understand this, while one would expect to be asked UI/UX designer interview questions, interviewers might want to ask things that assess logical thinking and problem-solving skills. One of the questions often asked by recruiters at the big four – Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook is how you would solve this problem if you were from Mars. The question is irrelevant to confuse the candidate. But it also reflects how they assess the candidate’s out-of-the-box thinking skills.

Also, there is a bonus on user interviews waiting for you at the end of this article.

Now, let us discuss the various UI UX designer interview questions that would come your way to prepare you for your upcoming interviews, shall we?

UX designer interview questions and answers

What might seem like simple UX design interview questions on the surface might explain a lot about the candidate as a UI/UX designer. To help you prepare for your next UX interview, I have put together a few UX design interview questions with tips on how you should respond to them.

Question: Tell us about yourself.

Answer: this is the most cliched interview question of all time, as it is posed at the beginning of the interview. What the recruiter is asking you is Why UX design? What led you here, and how does your journey make you a good fit for this job? This is the moment for the candidate to introduce himself/herself and talk about their background aligned with their passion for UX, and how they’ve utilized it so far. One must understand that it is a broad question; however, the interviewer is interested in their journey in UX design.

Question: What is the value of UX Design?

Answer: This is one of the most direct questions amongst UX design interview questions. The interviewer assumes that the candidate knows what UX design is. It is a simple yet imperative question, so a textbook description will not serve the purpose! The interviewer wants to figure out the candidate’s understanding of UX design.

A candidate can reflect on their understanding by highlighting the importance of human-centered design examples, user research, customer journeys, and ux honeycomb. The candidate must explain how UX design creates a difference – for the user and the organization at large! An excellent way to prepare is by imagining to explain UX design to people from other disciplines. This practice can help the candidate answer UX design interview questions in a way that’s acceptable for everyone.

Question: Tell us the difference between UX and other design disciplines.

Answer: The candidate can be asked to determine the differences between UX design and other design fields, such as the difference between graphic designer and ui ux designer. The interviewer can also ask about the full form of UI. If these questions are posed, then the interviewer can differentiate between the two. The focus of the candidate’s answer should base on the position that he/she is being hired for.

Question: Tell us about your workflow.

Answer: the interviewer will be very interested in how the candidates utilize design thinking to solve the problems.

Remember, there are no wrong answers here as different UX designers utilize different 6d process and strategies. Ideally, the candidate should reflect a well-thought-out approach to their work to the interviewer. The candidate should cover all the essential steps in the process – from user research, what is persona in design thinking to best wireframing tool, free prototyping tools, and analysis. While talking through the process, the candidate must show they envision a product or service for the users at all times.

Question: Do you consider yourself a team player?

Answer: This is one of those UX design interview questions that helps the interviewer understand how well the candidate works with their teammates. Throughout the design process, the candidate will work with teammates approaching the project differently, so it’s imperative to empathize and comprehend different perspectives. A candidate cannot be reluctant and should emphasize communication and openness to change. Taking a page out of some real-life examples will help.

Question: Do you practice universal design?

Answer: Accessibility in ux is an essential cornerstone in UX, that’s why this question is posed among important UX design interview questions. A UX designer is responsible for making the product, service, or experience as accessible as possible. Ultimately, the universal design principles reflect well on the organization; targeting a wider audience. As a candidate, one must know to integrate universal design apart from the user experience design principles in their work. It also helps if one can reflect on the product or service of the organization.

Question: What would you improve in our product?

Answer: This is one of those intimidating UX design interview questions, but you don’t have to fret. Please think of this as an excellent opportunity to show the interviewers how one can add value to the product or service after they’ve researched the organization. It confirms the candidate’s genuine enthusiasm for the role! The candidate can either identify things they think require improvement, along with a plan of action as to how they would do so or how they might various usability tests to review the current design’s performance. The candidates must ask the right questions to corroborate their assumptions. Once those assumptions have been confirmed/remodeled, they can demonstrate your thought processes to deliver potential solutions.

Apart from the above-mentioned UX design interview questions, the only way to stay at the top of your game is by continually learning as UX design is a rapidly evolving field. One of the many senior UX designer interview questions recruiters ask is how they make time for continuous development. These Senior UX Designers prepare a mental list of their inspirational favorites: from podcasts, YouTubers, bloggers, or personal contacts.

Google UX interview questions

Here are a few of the UX design interview questions at Google. Some senior UX designer interview questions that they recruiters at Google use to grill their candidates, to know their mindset and understanding of their knowledge base. These Google UX interview questions can help you as an aspirant gain a sense of perspective to answer the interviewers fluently and flawlessly –

• What is your best skill of yours as a UX designer?
• What is your advice to someone trying to learn the skill you are good at?
• You are testing a particular interaction. How would you conduct user interviews?
• How do you overcome weaknesses in various personas?
• How would you figure out the best option among three different UIs?
• How would you review a plan made by a team of engineers who want to figure out why users aren’t interacting with a specific feature?
• How would you go about finding ten UX issues in your favorite app?
• How do you with the skepticism of people when it comes to usability research?
• What kind of people do you regularly interact with?
• Can you tell us how to differentiate between Persona and Market Segment?
• How can you tell if you are asking the right questions when it comes to research?
• What makes you believe that a project is done?

UX interview questions to ask

When it comes to UX design interview questions, the feeling of getting grilled is pretty standard. But as an aspirant, you must also remember that this is a two-way street. Since the candidate will be spending a third of their time at a job, it is also imperative to determine if this organization is the right choice.

Asking the right questions can help the candidate figure out if the organization is worth their valuable time by:

• recognizing if the team is worth working with
• ensuring that he/she comes across as an interested applicant.

Most of the UX design interview questions should be reserved toward the end of the interview. A few of these UX interviews questions to ask are:

• What do you love about this workplace?
• Can you tell me about a typical day at work divided in percentage by activity?
• What is the vision of the UX team?
• What is the current team structure? Who will I be reporting to?
• Is there anyone in the senior management in particular whose decisions will affect my daily deliverables?
• Can you share some examples of the time duration a project usually take to launch?
• Can you share a few insights about the UX process, both pre and post-launch?
• Are there any expectations for the delivery of design artifacts post-launch?

BONUS – UX research interview questions

After writing about the various UX design interview questions and how to answer them, along with various UX interview questions to ask, I thought I might as well add UX Research interview questions to this blog. UX designers conduct user interviews to extract information from the user in terms of what is ideation and usability. These UX Research interview questions can be answered quickly and can be conducted swiftly.

Below are some key questions to ask during user interviews to gather overall feedback and determine the impression of the user about a product, service, or experience:

• How do you feel about this feature?
• What do you think is the function of this feature?
• Where and when do you think someone would use this feature?
• What do you gain from utilizing this product?
• Why would you not utilize this product?
• Why would you react like that when I revealed the interface to you?
• How would you perform this task?
• What do you think would happen when you perform this task?
• Is there an alternate way to perform this task?
• Was the interface friendly?
• What was the most straightforward/most challenging task to achieve?
• What did you like/dislike about the design?
• Would you change something in the design if you had the chance?
• Would you download/use this product if it were to change?
• Which device do you think would be apt for this product?
• Would you suggest this product to others?

Conclusion

I would remind you that there are no CliffsNotes to UX design interview questions. The above blog on UX design interview questions represents some of the most popular ones that I had come across, so I chose to share them with my readers. When it comes to UX design interview questions, preparation is paramount:  researching the organization, and its goals, knowing the job role and its needs so you can answer them flawlessly and come out on top like the winner you are.