16 visual designer interview questions and answers

Your visual designers are the creative visionaries behind your brand's identity. Your customer’s first impression of your brand often comes from their work. Because of this, mis-hires cost you not only time and resources; they can potentially damage your brand's reputation. Fortunately, you can avoid this. 

In this article, we explore how you can recruit top visual design talent through a combination of pre-interview testing, robust portfolio reviews, and insightful interviews. And since we know coming up with interview questions can be difficult, we also include a series of visual designer interview questions for your use.

How to assess a candidate’s visual design skills

You’ll want to assess a candidate’s visual design skills – including their UX/UI design skills – before inviting them to interview. This will help you evaluate the full range of their abilities and ensure you like their creative style.

You can assess these skills through:

• Portfolio review. The best way to review a candidate’s previous work is to assess their design portfolio. This should be a mixture of previous work, mock-ups, and re-works of current or popular design campaigns. Their portfolio should show the full range of their abilities, including designs of print materials, websites, branding, app designs, or any other relevant work. 

• Technical skills assessments. Technical skills assessments test a candidate’s ability to use the design applications your business requires. For example, TestGorilla offers an Adobe Illustrator test that assesses candidates’ ability to use the platform. 

• Design tasks. Design tasks enable you to measure how well a candidate would perform in a real-life scenario, along with their ability to understand project requirements and transform a brief into a visual design. 

• Current UX/UI design evaluation. Ask your candidate to assess your current UX and UI design and suggest improvements. This will help you understand their design style and thought process while showing how they deliver constructive criticism. 

• Current media review. You can also ask candidates to review a well-known or current media campaign. Ask them what they like or don’t like about the campaign and whether they believe the design is effective. You can also ask them to recreate the campaign to see how they work with a ready-built color palette, logos, and design media. 

• Custom test questions. Use customizable pre-employment testing questions to see how candidates might behave in specific workplace scenarios. Look for a pre-employment testing tool like TestGorilla that lets you include your own questions. You can even use some of the interview questions below.

16 interview questions and answers for visual designer roles

Your visual design interview questions should probe your candidates’ experience, creative problem-solving abilities, and technical skills while also discerning how well they’d fit in at your organization. 

Select and modify your interview questions based on the experience level of your candidates. The questions you pose to new graduates should focus on basic skills and general processes. In contrast, your questions to experienced candidates can challenge them to describe complex situations they've navigated. 

For example, you might ask new graduates to explain their general processes for meeting deadlines, while you can ask more experienced candidates to describe how they approached their tightest deadline. 

Here are 16 questions you can use and modify, along with what you should look for in candidate responses:

1. Walk me through your design portfolio.

Look for a candidate who can confidently and enthusiastically discuss the contents of their portfolio. They should be able to explain their thought process for each piece, what went well, what they would change next time, and how closely they met the client’s brief. Some red flags might include a candidate who lacks enthusiasm for their designs or can’t explain their creative process. 

2. What steps do you take when starting a new project?

This question assesses whether a candidate is more organized or organic in their approach. For example, do they follow a process, and what is this process? Or do they prefer a more creative approach and adapt as they go along? Both approaches are fine, but it’s helpful to understand a candidate's method to assess whether they’ll be a good fit for your team.

Good candidates will be able to explain what steps they take when starting a new process, how they gather the information they need, how they organize their work, and where they go for inspiration. Those who can’t explain their methods aren’t necessarily weak candidates, but they might not fare well in highly regulated industries. 

3. How would you describe your work and your main influences?

Look for candidates who can clearly and coherently describe their work and accurately describe the artists, cultures, and ideas that influence it. This question – which assesses a candidate’s design philosophy, adaptability, and passion for the field – helps you gain insight into their design approach and whether it aligns with the needs of your team and projects.

Answers with unclear and/or inaccurate descriptions of influences might indicate a lack of self-awareness or depth in design thinking. Additionally, you should avoid candidates who can’t recognize the importance of creative influence in their designs or don’t describe their work positively. 

4. How do you keep on top of your professional development?

Professional development is an essential part of every career. However, in a constantly changing industry, candidates must keep up with their development – for example, by continually learning new software, researching and following industry trends, or attending workshops and conferences. 

Candidates who can evidence what steps they take are demonstrating their commitment to professional growth and ability to thrive in an evolving field.

5. When has a design challenge gone wrong? What happened, and how did you fix it?

Candidates who answer this question well will be able to recognize a time when a design didn’t go as planned, the nature of the mistakes made, and the methods they used to correct errors so they could deliver a high-quality project on time. 

A poor answer might suggest that the candidate thinks they never make mistakes, or places blame on external factors or their teammates. This question might also spotlight candidates who can’t handle stress well.

6. Describe a time when you received negative feedback on a piece you worked hard on. How did you implement this feedback into your next project?

Negative feedback is a natural part of any creative process. However, a candidate's reaction to this feedback is very telling of their resilience, communication skills, and commitment to continuous improvement. Candidates who share times they reacted well to feedback show that they value support and development. And since negative feedback can come from clients, an acceptable answer will also demonstrate tolerance for disagreement and a willingness to compromise.

On the other hand, candidates who seem to react poorly to feedback might need to work on their openness, adaptability, and self-awareness. 

7. What industries do you struggle to work in, and how do you overcome these challenges?

Every candidate will have industries they prefer to work in and some they find difficult to work in. Candidates who enjoy working in your specific industry might be a good addition to your organization. 

Candidates who face challenges with design choices commonly made in your industry, but are actively working to improve this, aren’t necessarily bad fits as their commitment to improvement could highlight resilience and adaptability. You’ll need to delve deeper into this response to understand what they struggle with and what steps they take to overcome it. 

8. Do you prefer to work as part of a design team or alone? 

Although it’s beneficial to have a candidate who can do both, it’s natural for them to have preferences. A good answer will depend on your current workplace structure. 

For example, if you employ a full visual design team, you’ll probably want a candidate who prefers to work collaboratively. 

9. Which design program are you most skilled in?

Every visual designer has a preferred design program they like to work with. This question seeks to understand why they prefer their chosen program, experience with the tool, and confidence in using it proficiently. 

Consider prioritizing candidates who showcase strong skills in the program your business uses most.

10. Which design program are you least skilled in?

Just as each designer will have a program they feel confident using, they’ll also have a program in which they aren’t as skilled. This question assesses a candidate’s honesty in their shortcomings, acknowledgment that everyone has gaps in their knowledge, and understanding how they approach learning and improvement.

11. How do you prioritize your task list to achieve tight deadlines?

Creative industries like visual design often come with tight deadlines. Asking a candidate how they organize their workday can help you measure whether their attitude towards hard work and prioritization matches that of your business. 

A useful answer will provide clear strategies for prioritizing tasks, like breaking larger projects into manageable tasks. An unclear answer to this question might raise concerns about the respective candidate’s ability to manage time effectively in a fast-paced environment.

12. Tell me about a time you had to collaborate with other departments, such as marketing or IT, to complete a project. 

This question assesses a candidate’s ability to collaborate across departments and with different colleagues. A strong candidate will exhibit good communication skills, adaptability, and teamwork abilities. 

A weaker candidate might lack enthusiasm when discussing collaborative projects, struggle to explain what part they played in collaboration, or indicate difficulties working in diverse teams. 

13. How do you pick typography for your projects? What elements do you consider when choosing fonts and lettering?

This question gives insight into a candidate’s understanding of how typography can influence visual aesthetics, readability, and overall user experience in a design project. A good answer might include matching the typography to the theme of the design, using a robust strategy to pick a typeface, or focusing on readability. 

However, a candidate might explain that they use the same font for every campaign or don’t use a selection method, which is not a point in their favor. 

14. Tell me about a time you had to give another designer constructive feedback on their work. What was the situation, and how did you approach it?

Peer-to-peer feedback is a great way to enhance on-the-spot learning, develop a candidate’s creative process, and foster a collaborative work environment. A strong answer might include a robust example of when a candidate gave a peer feedback, why they chose to do this, and what the outcome was. 

You’re looking for answers that help you gauge their communication style, extroversion, and willingness to actively contribute to the growth of their team. A weaker response might give very little context on their feedback or its impact on the project. 

15. What do you believe is the role of storytelling in visual design? For example, do you actively adhere to a story during your design process, or do you prefer for the story to emerge as you create?

A candidate’s creative process is individual, and there’s no right or wrong way to approach a creative project. However, measuring how effectively a candidate adheres to storytelling can demonstrate whether they’d be a good team and culture add for your organization. 

Fast-paced businesses likely prefer highly adaptable candidates who prefer letting the story develop over time. On the other hand, more rigid or heavily regulated industries may require candidates to adhere closely to the briefs. 

16. How do you test the effectiveness of a design before it’s launched?

Look for candidates who demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the importance of design testing and can provide insights into their approach to ensuring the quality and impact of their work. Discussions of user-centered testing, feedback incorporation, and robust prototyping are all elements of an acceptable answer. 

Some red flags for a candidate could  include a lack of understanding of the effectiveness of testing or an inability to discuss their prototyping technique. 

How TestGorilla can help you find your next visual designer 

Finding your next visual designer is a delicate balance of measuring creative skills, technical proficiency, and personality. Using a combination of pre-interview tests, portfolio reviews, and visual design interview questions, you can achieve this balance and find your perfect new hire. 

If you're unsure where to start, TestGorilla offers 400+ pre-employment tests, including some you can use to find your next visual designer . What’s more, TestGorilla offers a completely free-to-use plan so you can efficiently assess candidates without breaking your budget.

This comprehensive approach ensures that you identify candidates who possess the right skills and align with your company's values and vision.