Five “Telling” Interview Questions for an Interaction Designer.
After many phone interviews, networking events, and portfolio presentations I landed my first UX job at airline as an interaction designer. A few months in, I was fortunate enough to give interviews to add designers to our team.
Here are some of the questions we asked our interviewees, and hopefully what I learned from the process will help others really shine during an interview
1. Show me 1 or 2 projects you’ve worked on.
The key here is “1 or 2.” Some interviewees presented as many projects as they could fit in the time frame to show the breadth of their work. While it was nice to see variety, what we really wanted to see was quality and detail. Specifically for an interaction designer, we wanted to see annotated wireframes or a prototype and not the polished final product.
2. Where do you see yourself most along the design process?
UX is a very broad field; some employers are looking for people who can do it all, but in our case we wanted someone focused on wireframing and interactions. Some portfolio pieces we saw had great visual design and/or UX research, and although those skills are just as valuable they weren’t in the scope of the role being interviewed for.
3. What are some examples of bad UX?
This question stumped most of our interviewees. Everyone had ready-to-go anecdotes about a great website or mobile app they’ve used lately, but sometimes knowing what doesn’t work is just as informative. We were looking for examples of bad UX, but also the explanation of why there were bad beyond the obvious.
4. What’s something interesting you’ve read lately?
The digital design world is dynamic; everyday there are new patterns or technologies that are enhancing user experiences. We wanted to find designers that keep up with the latest practices and trends in the design world.
5. The infamous design challenge
The best way to compare apples to apples is to simply ask a question: design me a “fill-in-the-blank.” We asked interviewees to walk us through their design process for a particular product and some aced it: they started high level and worked their way down, they asked about target users and constraints, and some even mentioned prototyping and testing. Others…well let’s just say the word “user” didn’t even come up.
Even if you’re asked to design an amusement park, a UX designer’s goal is always the same: create an optimal experience for every interaction between the user and the product.
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