🎨 Design (UI/UX & Graphic)
Design interviews are portfolio-first — almost everything else is secondary to whether your work is strong and you can explain your decisions. Expect a portfolio walkthrough and sometimes a short live exercise.
Common interview questions
Not exact questions you'll be asked — but the shape of what gets asked, and how a strong answer is structured.
Walk me through a project in your portfolio.
Lead with the problem, not the visuals. 'Users were dropping off at checkout' before 'I redesigned the checkout screen.' Then explain one real trade-off you made and what you'd change with more time.
How do you handle feedback you disagree with?
Show you can separate ego from the work — ask for the reasoning behind the feedback, and give a real example of when you pushed back successfully and one where you were convinced to change your mind.
How do you approach a brand-new design problem?
Research/understand the user and constraints → sketch multiple directions (not just one) → test or validate → refine. Naming more than one direction you considered shows range, not just taste.
Critique this screen (shown live or sent beforehand).
Don't just list flaws. Structure it: what's the screen's goal, what works toward that goal, what works against it, and one concrete fix you'd try — critique with a point of view, not a list of nitpicks.
Your learning path
In order — each step builds on the last.
- 01
Curate, don't dump
3-5 strong case studies beat 15 mediocre shots. Remove anything you can't clearly explain the reasoning behind.
- 02
Practice narrating your process
Interviewers weight your thinking, not just the output — practice explaining the 'why' behind a design decision out loud, not just describing what it looks like.
- 03
Learn basic UX terminology
Wireframe, user flow, affordance, information architecture — enough fluency to not stumble over vocabulary in a review.
4-week study roadmap
A week-by-week plan, not just a topic list. Check items off as you go — your progress is saved on this device.
Portfolio curation
Process & vocabulary
Critique & feedback practice
Mock interviews & polish
Before you walk in: field checklist
The field-specific things worth double-checking you've covered.
Interview-day checklist
The same basics matter whatever role you're interviewing for.
Free resources to study from
Cold mail tips for this field
- —Always link the portfolio directly — never make someone hunt for it.
- —Mention one specific thing you'd improve about their actual product — shows genuine engagement over a generic pitch.
Ready to put this to use?
Browse open roles →