Design interview processes vary per company, but a general structure that was validated by the designers we interviewed looks like this:
<aside> ☎️ 1. Recruiter Call This is a 15-30 minute call with a recruiter who will decide whether to move you on to the design interview round.
Typical questions asked in this interview include: "Tell me about yourself", "Why do you want to work at our company", and "Do you have any questions for me?" The last question is your chance to ask the recruiter any questions you have about the company and the role. Since recruiters may get the same repetitive questions from many applicants (e.g. "What's the culture like at x company?"), this is your chance to stand out by asking unique and genuine questions.
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<aside> ✏️ 2. Design Interviews The types of interviews during this stage vary from company to company. Below are some of the most common design interview types:
Portfolio Review This is the most common type of interview you will encounter. In the portfolio review, you will walk through 1-2 of your design projects in detail and talk the problem you're solving, your design process in solving the problem, and the solution you came up with.
App Critique In the app critique, you will run through a popular app or product and critique its product thinking, interaction design, and visual design.
Whiteboard Challenge In this interview format, you will do a design challenge in front of (or in collaboration with) your interviewer and explain your work and thought process along the way. This gives interviewers direct insight into how you think and tackle problems while designing a product.
Take Home Design Challenge For take home challenges, companies give you a design challenge to complete over a certain period of time. There will likely be a follow-up interview with a designer to run through your solution after the it is submitted to the company.
Note: it is a red flag if the company asks you to do a design challenge that is directly related to their company product. They should be paying you for that because that is technically consultation work for their company. If the challenge is unrelated to their product and doesn't take extremely long to finish, then the challenge is valid.
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<aside> 🙋 Behavioral Interviews This is typically a meeting with a designer, design manager, PM, or other team member where they ask you questions about how you collaborate/work in a team, your design process, how you tackle problem solving, and other behavioral questions.
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<aside> 👉 Different kinds of companies you can apply to
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