UX Design Interview Questions

The interview process for a UX Designer job can vary depending on the company. Some user experience design interviews will feel like a casual conversation, while others will follow a more formal structure. Though the style may vary, all interviews share a common goal—employers are looking for the best candidate for the role.

For your job interview, you should be prepared to answer knowledge and skills-based questions. In addition, you will want to have examples of how you have demonstrated important soft skills, like project management, communication, and collaboration.

To help you prepare for your UX Designer interview, we have compiled a list of commonly asked interview questions and answers for a UX design job.

To assess your design knowledge, employers may ask questions that test your understanding of UX design principles and tools.

To answer these UX interview questions, it is worth reviewing the job description to look for the specific competencies and responsibilities demanded by the position.

A few examples of these types of UX Designer interview questions and answers include:

Question: Please provide your definition of UX design.

Answer: To answer this effectively, you don’t really need to reel off a textbook definition of UX design, but instead demonstrate to the hiring manager that you understand its importance, and how user experience can be integral to customers and companies alike.

In your answer, try to link some core principles of UX design:

• Putting the user first and keeping the user at the center of the design process
• Conducting thorough user research and usability testing
• Using empathy and personas to anticipate customer behavior

Link these principles to business goals and showcase how you can build value for a company.

Question: In your opinion, what are some of the most impactful trends in UX design?

Since you won’t be evaluated in UX design interviews based on your ability to predict the future, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. The important thing is to show your hiring manager that you are plugged into the latest developments in the design industry and that you’re excited about future innovations and advancements.

In your answer, you might want to discuss:

• The rise of voice technology
• Scroll-triggered animation
• Augmented reality
• Glassmorphism

You should cover how each has the potential to change or improve user experience. Whatever your answer, talk about the UX design blogs, social media accounts, podcasts, or other sources that help you keep up-to-date on all the latest trends in this fast-moving industry.

Can you explain UX design in no more than 10 words?

What do you think is the value of UX design?

How would you define the difference between UX design and other design disciplines?

Looking to the future, what do you think will be the next big thing in UX design?

Please take us through some of the differences between designing for desktop and mobile devices?

How would you define design thinking?

What are the three most important UX Designer skills?

How would you define visual hierarchy?

Please define the difference between information architecture, interaction design, usability, and user research?

How would you describe the basic philosophies or principles that inform your designs?

How do you balance business needs and technical restrictions with good design?

What do you think is the most important factor on a page/wireframe? Why?

To create pleasant and effective user experiences, a UX Designer needs to be equipped with the right set of skills.

Employers may ask a series of questions that put your UX skills to the test. You may also be asked to complete a hands-on design challenge, either on the spot or as a take-home assignment.

Technical UX interview questions and answers for UX design job interviews may include:

Question: Take one of our products. How would you improve the UX?

Answer: In the UX design interview process, this question is really asking: how much do you know about our company and web products? Research is a key part of any UX design job, so seasoned UX Designers will walk into an interview equipped with deep knowledge of a company and its offerings.

Before your interview, explore a company’s website (on desktop and mobile), any web applications, and any other products they offer and jot down a few areas for improvement. At the same time, develop a concrete plan for how you would improve the products while keeping in mind the company’s target users and overall business goals.

Be diplomatic in your answer and try to avoid being overly negative about the company’s products. Try also to acknowledge that as an outsider to the company culture, you might be unaware of valid reasons for the design choices.

Question: Please walk us through your design process.

Answer: UX Designer interviews actually present many opportunities to show your design process – in fact, every time you show the design projects in your portfolio or talk about a favorite project, you should discuss your process. But when you are asked about process specifically, it is an opportunity to go into more detail on what makes you such a meticulous UX designer.

Begin by talking about the research phase, and how you spend time creating personas, conducting user research, running usability tests, and reading up on the latest technological trends in the market.

From there, talk about how you incorporate UX principles like information architecture, interaction design, and experience strategy to develop effective user-centric designs before moving on to creating prototypes, wireframes, and conducting tests. Be prepared to provide more information on your methods and decisions.

In your work, how do you practice universal design?

What is your process for deciding which features to add to your product?

What kind of UX research methods and processes do you use when starting a new project?

How do you validate or conduct usability testing on a design?

A UX client has a problem. Walk me through your response.

Which UX tools do you use in your day-to-day work life?

Let’s take a look at your UX portfolio. Can you walk us through your process and methods for one of your projects?

How do you make a product accessible to users with disabilities?

What analytical tools, data and KPIs have you used to evaluate your previous designs?

Take us through a UX design example from your project portfolio where you set out to solve a business problem.

How do you balance business goals with the goals of the end-user?

When you validate a design, what kind of data do you use?

After product launch, how do you measure the success of a product?

During the interview, employers want to get a better sense of you as a designer and as a potential team member. Personal interview questions can reveal your work habits, ambitions, personality, and compatibility with the company.

Some personal UX Designer interview questions that you may encounter include:

Question: How do you handle negative feedback?

Constructive criticism is a part of every job, but it’s especially important for a UX Designer to listen carefully to negative feedback and use it to their advantage. After all, a core part of good UX design is anticipating and resolving pain points for users and customers.

You might even take it a step further and say that you seek out critical opinions even when feedback is overwhelmingly positive because you want to be as proactive as possible in detecting problems and designing the best possible products.

Tell us about yourself.

Are you a team player? Give us some examples.

What made you decide to pursue a UX design career?

Why are you interested in our company?

On the spectrum of UX Researcher to UX Designer to Visual Designer, where do you see yourself and why?

Take me through a couple of your favorite pieces in your UX design portfolio.

What inspires you?

What are your three biggest strengths?

How do you handle negative feedback?

Have you ever received professional criticism that you felt was unfair?

What type of work environment do you feel best suits you?

Where do you see your career in five years?

What excites you about this position?

The ability to lead and coordinate a project, present designs to clients, and collaborate with teammates are important skills for successful UX Designers.

With these questions, employers will be looking for examples of your leadership and communication abilities as well as your problem-solving skills.

Situational UX design interview questions and answers could include:

Question: What is your process for working with other UX Designers, Web Developers, or Product Managers?

Very few UX Designers work in isolation. Typically, you will collaborate with large, cross-disciplinary teams. The interviewer will want to make sure you are effective at collaborating with people in a variety of technical and non-technical roles.

Ultimately, the hiring manager will also want to make sure that you understand when it is time to hand over a design project to developers and other team members, and that you can do so without being too possessive of your work.

Have you ever been asked to provide feedback on other projects? Take us through your approach.

When you and another stakeholder disagree on one of your designs, how do you bring the other person to your side?

How do you advocate for usability in your organization?

How would you go about explaining a complex idea/problem to a client who is already frustrated?

What would you do when you encounter communication breakdowns at work?

Tell us about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it did well.

How would you explain a complicated technical problem to a colleague with less technical understanding?

Do you prefer written or verbal communication?

In a behavioral interview question, employers are looking for a specific example from your past UX experience. By seeing how you reacted to a past situation, they will get a better sense of how you may perform in a similar situation with their company.

Examples of behavioral questions in a UX Designer job interview include:

Question: Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your team’s recommendation. What did you do?

Answer: To answer this question effectively, you should aim to demonstrate both that your recommendation was data-driven and fundamentally sound, while also showing the interviewer that you are willing to compromise.

For example, you could discuss a situation where you and a client or manager disagreed with a visual element suggested by your team – for example, an autoplay video – because your user research concluded that your target audience overwhelmingly uses a mobile device.

Regardless of the outcome of the situation and whether or not you got your way, you should demonstrate that once you voiced your opinion, you were ultimately supportive of the team’s decision.

Tell me about a time when a project went off track. How did you fix it?

Have you ever faced a situation in which your feedback/recommendation was not taken? How did you handle the situation?

What do you do when a stakeholder disagrees with the results of your UX research?

Have you ever worked on a project where the requirements suddenly changed? How did you react?

If you design something and a Web Developer told you “we can’t do that,” what would you do?

To help you prepare for any question that may come up in a UX Designer interview, here are a few interview questions from some of the top tech companies:

Tell me about a time when you took on a significant task outside of your usual area of job responsibility.

Please recall a difficult client you’ve had and how you handled the situation.

Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a business goal and how you handled it.

In your life as a Designer, what was the most innovative design you have produced?

What is the most important part of your design process?

Tell me a time you needed to influence others who had different opinions than you. What was the result?

Tell me about a time that you did something wrong and what you learned from the process.

Tell me about a time where you failed to meet a deadline.

What past experience have you had working in design alongside Software Developers?

Tell me about one of your recent projects. Walk me through the design process, thinking, and final design.

What makes a great UX Designer?

Describe a product that you really love and why. How could you improve it?

Please whiteboard a solution to enhance the experience of driving a car.

What is the difference between information architecture and user experience?

Someone on your team has a strong opinion about how a certain feature should be designed, but you disagree because you think it will not provide a good user experience. How do you approach the situation?

Pick a product, identify a UX design problem, and describe how you would conduct research.