60+ web design interview questions to ask talented designers

Creating engaging websites requires many unique skills. If you’re hiring someone for a web design role, the ideal candidate should have the artistic capabilities and technical knowledge to design high-quality websites. One way to find this talent is by using skills assessments that evaluate important web design and development skills.

TestGorilla’s UX/UI Design test can enhance your applicant screening process. It requires candidates to answer questions regarding intuitive designs and appropriate formats for websites and applications.

Once you’ve reviewed the candidates’ test results, you can start arranging interviews. Asking the best interview questions is essential for hiring a creative professional who’s determined to succeed.

Don’t worry about searching the internet for hours – we have you covered. Discover more than 60 web design interview questions to ask candidates and sample answers to help you fill your open position.

25 common web design interview questions to ask your candidates

Ask these 25 common web design interview questions to better understand candidates’ work experience, creative skills, and knowledge of the website development process.

1. How do you communicate your designs with web developers?

2. What is your experience with UX?

3. Tell me about a trend in web design you find exciting. 

4. Walk me through some of your most recent projects.

5. Explain what web design is. 

6. What languages do you use for web design? 

7. What are the most common problems in designing a website? 

8. Explain what information architecture means. 

9. What should you consider when writing an error message?

10. Explain what a grid system is in web design. 

11. How do you set an image as the background of a web page?

12. Explain what DOCTYPE means in web design. 

13. What steps do you follow during your design process? 

14. What is responsive web page design?

15. Name some ways to reduce a website’s loading time. 

16. What is the best way to combine fonts? How many fonts are ideal on a website? 

17. How many H1 tags should you have on a single web page? Explain why.

18. What could we improve about our company’s website? 

19. What do you do when a client doesn’t like your design? 

20. In what situations would you use JPEG and PNG?

21. How do you incorporate client feedback into your designs?

22. What tools do you use the most when designing?

23. What have been your key responsibilities as a web designer?

24. What makes a good color scheme? Can you give me some examples? 

25. Name some design components of an optimized website. 

8 sample answers to key common web design interview questions

Refer to these sample answers when comparing candidates’ responses to common web design interview questions.

1. Explain what web design is.

Interviewees should confidently answer this question if they’re applying for a role in your company. A simple definition is acceptable, but candidates who are passionate about your projects should give a unique response. For example, they might explain web design by talking about their ideas and how they want to improve their design skills. 

In simple terms, web design is the process of planning, designing, and implementing the appearance and function of a website. Professional designers usually focus on user experience (UX) to ensure the application attracts and retains a large audience. 

You can use an Adobe Photoshop for Designers test to determine whether candidates have enough creativity and knowledge to design pieces in digital and print formats. It’s also ideal for assessing whether they can create basic artwork that represents their ideas. 

2. How do you set an image as the background of a web page?

Images can provide an attractive background to websites and pique users’ interest. Candidates should understand the basic process of setting an image as a page’s main background. 

Typically, the best way to change a page’s background is by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) style properties:

<style>

    body {

        background-image:url(“[URL of the image]”);

    }

</style>

Send applicants a CSS test to determine whether they understand basic and advanced CSS properties. This language is vital for implementing a website’s layout. 

3. What is the best way to combine fonts? How many fonts are ideal on a website?

Overloading the website with different fonts is never a good idea, but it doesn’t hurt to combine just a few simple fonts on each page. The general rule is to incorporate two fonts that look quite similar with one noticeable distinction. 

Web designers may study each font’s serifs, x-height, aperture, thickness, and stroke contrast before adding them to the website. For instance, the fonts Bevan and Oxygen could make a good pairing because they have a similar style. 

4. What are the most common problems in designing a website?

Website design comes with many challenges. Experienced candidates should understand how to avoid a wide range of traps and issues.

According to a survey of web designers, the top reasons for a visitor to leave a website are slow loading, poor website responsiveness, and poor navigation.

Some other common web design problems include the following:

• An outdated design

• Weak SEO techniques

• Complex user journeys

• Too many images, colors, and fonts

• A lack of high-quality written content

• Unclear or difficult-to-find contact details

• Slow upload time

• Low-quality or poorly optimized images

• A lack of mobile optimization

5. In what situations would you use JPEG and PNG?

Web designers use different compression formats for unique purposes. Candidates must know what JPEG and PNG mean in the design world. 

You can test their knowledge by sending them an Adobe Illustrator test before the interview. This assessment challenges their formatting knowledge and ability to compress photos and files. 

The following descriptions will give you more insight into these image formats:

• JPEG: This widely supported image format reduces the file size of an image using lossy compression. A higher compression level will sacrifice some quality but can make the file significantly smaller and faster to load on a website. Despite being a compressed format, JPEG supports up to 24-bit color depth and can be used to display a wide range of colors and shades in an image. JPEG images should be used when it is important to optimize site performance and improve loading times.

• PNG: Designers often use this lossless compression format for logos, signs, illustrations containing text, screenshots, and small icons. PNG also offers transparency support, enabling designers to create images with transparent backgrounds. Though PNG images can be edited without losing quality, their file size is relatively large, so they should be used with discretion.

6. How do you incorporate client feedback into your designs?

Applicants should always respond appropriately to feedback. Receiving advice is one of the best ways to learn and continuously improve.

Sometimes web designers will hear harsh feedback from a client, but looking at it from a non-personal viewpoint is critical. Candidates should have the same attitude when approaching website improvements. 

For example, the interviewee might write down the feedback and start making small adjustments. If the client didn’t like the overall color scheme because it made the website look dull, the candidate should test other themes that brighten the web page.

Send candidates a Big 5 (OCEAN) personality test to evaluate their openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability when receiving client feedback. 

7. Name some ways to reduce a website’s loading time.

Long loading times can stop customers from returning. The speed and functionality of a website also affect the UX and search engine ranking. Therefore, web designers must remove any unnecessary elements. Applicants with experience in the web design industry should know a lot about performance optimization.

Here are some ways of reducing a site’s loading time: 

• Find a performance-optimized hosting solution

• Compress images and other visual content 

• Reduce URL redirection 

• Place JavaScript and CSS files in external storage

• Invest in a content delivery network (CDN)

• Remove unnecessary software additions

• Cache website pages

8. What steps do you follow during your design process?

Each candidate will have a unique approach to designing a website. You should focus more on how they plan a website and use their creative skills to produce original content.

Those with creativity and motivation are more likely to succeed in your company and design compelling websites, so it’s worth sending applicants a Motivation test to learn about their aspirations and imagination.  

The following are some standard steps for designing a site: 

1. Meet with clients to discuss the requirements 

2. Draft a preliminary website design for the client to approve

3. Start the design and complete it within the given time frame

4. Wait for the client to review the site and offer feedback 

20 tough web design interview questions to ask senior job applicants

Use these 20 tough web design interview questions to determine which candidates have experience using web design tools and software. 

1. What is W3C? How does it affect web design?

2. How does white space affect the content on your web page?

3. When would you use HTML5 tags like <strong>, <em>, and <small>?

4. Talk me through the steps of writing a UX case study. 

5. What is the difference between HTML elements and HTML tags? 

6. What format would you use to embed a self-hosted video on your website?

7. Tell me what visibility: hidden and display: none mean in web design. 

8. Why should you save a graphic containing several words as a GIF and not a JPG?

9. Name the different jQuery functions available for designing a web page. 

10. What is the purpose of the CSS float property?

11. Set a page’s background color in HTML. 

12. What do you think makes a great website?

13. What is the purpose of the <article>, <main>, <header>, and <aside> elements?

14. How can a developer learn about web design?

15. If a bug was causing issues on a web page, which tools would you use to fix it?

16. What is the difference between standards mode and quirks mode in web browsers?

17. How would you integrate multiple style sheets into a web page?

18. What is an external style sheet?

19. What color would you choose for a delete button? 

20. Can you describe complementary, monochromatic, and analogous color schemes?

6 sample answers to key tough web design interview questions

Here are sample answers to some of the most important tough interview questions. You can refer to them when choosing a talented professional for your open position.

1. When would you use HTML5 tags like <strong>, <em>, and <small>?

Although these tags add an interesting visual effect to text, web designers shouldn’t rely on them for this purpose only. They should influence a user’s attention and reading journey on the page. For instance, the <strong> tag makes written content bold, so it can be used to make certain text stand out to users on a web page. 

To gain insight into candidates’ knowledge, send them an HTML5 test. This test will help you determine whether they have enough experience with formatting tags, layouts, and structured online content.

Below are situations in which you would use these HTML5 tags:  

• <em>tag: Designers use this tag to italicize text. It is useful for emphasizing certain words or phrases. 

• <strong>tag: This tag is used in headings, paragraphs, and titles to accentuate the text. It can also draw a reader’s attention to a specific word or phrase. 

• <small>tag: This tag defines smaller text, such as disclaimers, side comments, and any other clarifications on the website. 

2. Name the different jQuery functions available for designing a web page.

jQuery is a type of JavaScript framework that simplifies JavaScript programming for a website. With jQuery, designers can write shorter code that is easier to understand. It makes tasks such as HTML document traversal and DOM manipulation much easier. 

If applicants have experience with jQuery, they should be aware of some of its many available functions: 

• Animated hover effect

• Slide panel

• Entire block clickable

• Image replacement gallery

• Different style link types

• Collapsible panels

• Disappearing effect

• Chainable transition effect

Use a jQuery test to evaluate candidates’ knowledge of animation, element manipulation, and coding. 

3. What is the difference between HTML elements and HTML tags?

Applicants should know the difference between different aspects of HTML if they have worked on previous design projects. These concepts may sound basic, but many designers mix them up. An ideal candidate will provide definitions for an element and a tag before explaining their main differences. 

Below is a comparison between these concepts:

4. If a bug was causing issues on a web page, which tools would you use to fix it?

Encountering bugs is part of the design process, so candidates must know how to identify and fix them. You should focus on their problem-solving skills to see whether they can eliminate bugs without further support. 

Many web browsers provide bug-detection tools, which can help designers determine the root causes of issues. For example, Google Chrome offers DevTools that diagnose problems in an instant.

Whatever method they use, they should explain the steps they follow to deal with bugs. Here is an example of the steps they may describe:

1. Add the bug to a case-tracking system

2. Research the error message

3. Share the erroneous line of code with the web development team 

Send candidates a debugging test to see how they respond to complex bugs and website issues. This way, you will only interview professionals who can overcome these challenges. 

5. What is the purpose of the <article>, <main>, <header>, and <aside> elements?

HTML5 includes many elements that help readers and search engines better understand online content. Candidates with previous work experience in the design industry should know what these elements are and how they improve a web page. 

Below are the definitions for each element listed in this question: 

• <article>: This defines a self-contained piece of content, meaning it is independently reusable across different locations. For example, this element could contain a news story that could be distributed independently.

• <main>: This element represents the main body of a document. It doesn’t contain content that is repeated across documents, such as sidebars, navigation links, or search forms, since this would be redundant. 

• <aside>: This contains content aside from the content it is placed in. It is often used for sidebars to display content such as related articles.

• <header>: Headers are the top section of a web page or section of a page. This element acts as a container for this introductory content.

6. Talk me through the steps of writing a UX case study.

A UX case study shows examples of existing design work. Designers may write these studies to gain inspiration or show potential ideas to a client. They can use them to tell compelling stories, whether through research or images, that display their creative design skills. 

Candidates may have their own process for writing a UX case study depending on how they prefer to research and present information. The following are some standard steps for writing these case studies: 

1. Overview: Write a brief description of the business and website requirements. 

2. Problem statement: Note the main goals of the project and how the designer should achieve them. 

3. Audience: Describe the target audience for the website and how they would benefit from reading the written content. 

4. Roles and responsibilities: State the roles of each team member. Should anyone take the leadership role? How did each professional come together to design one website? Does the project only require one expert?

5. Constraints: List the limitations and working conditions for the project, such as tight deadlines, restricted resources, or a low budget. 

6. Work process: This is the most important stage of the case study. Designers should discuss the steps they took to plan, design, and implement the website. This is also the time to review any challenges and setbacks. 

7. Final outcome: Discuss the website’s results and whether it exceeded expectations and met all requirements. It’s important to mention mistakes and how the designer learned from them.

17 situational web design interview questions to help you hire talent 

Below are 17 situational web design interview questions you can use to evaluate applicants. Choose questions that will help you better understand candidates’ design processes and goals. 

1. How would you incorporate modern design trends into your work?

2. You need to resize your images to optimize performance. How do you do this?

3. Talk me through your process of updating a website. What are the required steps? 

4. A page element is not working correctly on your web page. Name some ways of handling this problem. 

5. What is the difference between CSS Grid and CSS Flexbox? When would you use each?

6. Tell me how you would select the typography for a website. 

7. How would you differentiate the linking of an image, email address, and website?

8. What is your view on copying another website’s template? How do you make it your own? 

9. How can you align a picture to be higher or lower than another one?

10. How do you deal with revision requests that you disagree with?

11. How do you manage your time if you are working on several projects at once? 

12. A team member accidentally deletes an essential element on your web page. How do you resolve this problem?

13. How do you work under pressure effectively to meet tight deadlines? 

14. How do you create a web page that someone can use to send emails by clicking on text with a subject? 

15. Tell me how you explain complex web designs to other team members. 

16. How would you use a Dreamweaver template? 

17. How do you handle a project that exceeds the company’s budget? 

5 sample answers to key situational web design interview questions 

Come back to these sample answers when reading applicants’ responses to the situational web design interview questions. You can hire the right candidate by learning about their behaviors. 

1. You need to resize your images to optimize performance. How do you do this?

Optimization is crucial for a good user experience: 85% to 90% of performance issues on websites are caused by poorly optimized and buggy front-end code.

This means that designers must choose the best images and written content to optimize the website instead of slowing it down. One way to do this is by choosing the correct formatting compression using a plug-in or script. 

Some popular formats include:

• PNG: This format supports high-quality images but has a large file size. 

• JPEG: This is a popular format that reduces the file size of images using lossy compression. Designers can choose the image quality and file size.

• GIF: This format supports up to 256 colors in images. It is best for sharp-edged line art and animated images on a website. However, it is not suitable for presenting detailed, high-resolution images.

2. Talk me through your process of updating a website. What are the required steps?

Designers should keep websites updated to attract more customers. This ensures the written content contains relevant facts and the latest trends. Interviewees may tell you their steps for updating a website or researching new content to include on the page.

A designer could follow these steps to update a site: 

1. Review the current content and design 

2. Evaluate competitors’ websites 

3. Gather more inspiration from blogs

4. Add engaging multimedia components

5. Incorporate the latest design trends 

6. Optimize SEO using high-ranking keywords

Send candidates a Technical SEO test to see whether they can improve search engine requirements and on-page SEO. 

3. What is the difference between CSS Grid and CSS Flexbox? When would you use each?

The main difference between these layout models is that CSS Grid is a two-dimensional layout system that enables designers to create flexible and responsive grid-based layouts, whereas Flexbox is a one-dimensional layout system used to create layouts along a single axis. 

It’s best to use Grid to create complex layouts that consist of multiple columns. Flexbox, on the other hand, is better suited for simple layouts when it’s important to align elements.

4. How do you manage your time if you are working on several projects at once?

Designers don’t always focus solely on one project. Sometimes they need to work on several projects that have tight deadlines and complex requirements. Therefore, you should hire a candidate who has excellent time-management skills.

Around 58% of employees claim that they spend so much of their time completing day-to-day tasks that they don’t have time to innovate, which is a crucial activity for a design role. 

One way to manage several projects is by creating a weekly schedule and planning tasks for each assignment. This type of preparation ensures the designer doesn’t miss deadlines or forget about an urgent project. 

To learn more about applicants’ organizational skills, send them a Time Management test. You can use this test to evaluate their decision-making processes for planning and designing a website. 

5. How can you align a picture to be higher or lower than another one?

This practical question will encourage candidates to think quickly. It will give you an idea of how they process information and whether they take the time to write the correct syntax. They should use the align attribute in HTML in an <img> tag to change a picture’s alignment. 

Below is the syntax for aligning a picture in HTML: 

<img align=”left|right|middle|top|bottom”>

When should you use web design interview questions in your hiring process?

We recommend you use web design interview questions after giving candidates skills tests. Sending your applicants skills assessments can help you better understand their website planning and design knowledge. 

Depending on the experience level of the designer you want to hire, you can supplement these web design interview questions with additional questions. For example, our guide to interaction designer interview questions can be helpful for hiring a senior web designer.

Choosing the correct tests is essential to optimize your hiring process. You need tests that will help you bridge talent gaps, find talent that will add to your culture, and avoid making a bad hire. 

For example, you can use a Culture Add test to gain insight into a candidate’s behaviors and long-term expectations. When completing these tests, they must answer questions regarding their aspirations or goals for a web design position. 

To enhance your hiring process, screen applicants using skills tests, and interview those with proven design skills, work experience, and knowledge of the web design industry. 

Hire creative professionals using our skills tests and web design interview questions

Finding top talent doesn’t have to be a challenging task. With the help of skills tests and web design interview questions, you can find creative professionals with the expertise to produce an attractive website. 

So, what should you do next? Learn how to structure a unique assessment that helps you find the strongest candidates. Take a product tour of our comprehensive test library to find a range of high-quality assessments.

If you’re still eager to find out more, book a free demo to chat about your hiring process with one of our experts.

TestGorilla continues to support companies by enhancing their recruitment strategies. Don’t miss out on skills-based hiring. With more than 300 tests to choose from, it’s time to find creative professionals for your organization. 

Hire top designers using our skills tests and engaging web design interview questions.