Graphic Design Interview Questions are the most wanted by every designer. A forthcoming graphic design interview can be an exciting opportunity to learn new ways to connect audiences with your creative work.
Graphic designers provide fresh visual experiences that delight and engage people as consumer tastes change. Minimalist design and branding, experimental text-based design, retro and vintage design, DIY looks, and more trends.
With all of these career options, you might be wondering what to expect in an interview, such as what questions you might be asked and how to present your qualifications and passion for design in your answers. According to LinkedIn and Upwork hiring advice, interviewers are developing questions to elicit information such as:
- Your willingness to learn new techniques and technologies
- Your comprehension of design concepts
- Your creativity and critical thinking skills
- Your willingness to receive feedback and collaborate
- Your capability to complete projects on time
- Your previous projects’ success
Continue reading to learn about 10 Graphic Designer Interview Questions and how to prepare for your interview.
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10 graphic design interview questions
While an Interviewer may ask a variety of questions, this article focuses on questions that encourage you to think critically about your Graphic Design experience and potential in the role you’re applying for.
The list includes both behavioral questions (asked by employers to learn more about your prior experience) and situational questions (asked by interviewers to estimate how you’ll fare in workplace scenarios you might encounter).
For each question, we provide insights into what employers are looking for as well as suggestions on how to formulate your response.
1. What changes would you make to our brand if you had to redesign it, and why?
Interviewers ask this to get a sense of your creativity and innovation, as well as how you evaluate existing graphic designs.
Review the company’s customer base, mission statement, values, and product offerings to prepare your response. Create concepts for how the latest graphic design trends can benefit the company’s brand and attract customers’ attention. Make sure to ask the interviewer about the company’s branding business goals and frame your response accordingly.
2. How familiar are you with the design programs you’d be using in this position?
Interviewers will ask you this to assess your existing software knowledge and willingness to learn new skills relevant to the position.
Prepare your response by thinking about your experience with Graphic Design Software. If it matches the company’s software preferences, discuss the software’s benefits and drawbacks, what you’ve been able to achieve with it in terms of design, and how it compares to other software programs you’ve worked with.
If you have no prior experience with the company’s software preferences, respond honestly during the interview and offer some suggestions for similar software programs.
Related: If you are new and not ready to pay for paid software, check out “9 of the Best Free Graphic Design Software” to choose the best free software to design your product.
3. How do you maintain a long-term interest in designing for a single brand?
Interviewers ask this to see how you’d fare as an in-house designer primarily responsible for the company’s graphic design needs rather than a designer who creates graphics for multiple brands.
Given that graphic design, like any creative discipline, is based on novelty, a prospective employer will be interested in your creative process and ability to maintain a consistent brand identity while producing fresh visual experiences.
Prepare your response by thinking about the techniques and strategies you use to inspire new designs, as well as your experience with refreshing existing brands. You could, for example, use design prompts to generate new ideas. You may have graphics in your portfolio that present a well-known brand in novel ways, such as adding a 3D look to 2D elements.
4. How do you assess the effectiveness of your designs?
Interviewers ask this to understand the metrics and tools you use to analyze the performance of a design, especially since an audience’s preferences can be subjective.
Prepare your response by considering feedback from stakeholders in design projects, as well as how audiences have responded to and engaged with designs you’ve created. Make use of any quantitative data you have available, such as the results of an A/B test comparing two web page designs.
5. Who and why are your graphic designer heroes?
Interviewers ask this to learn about the styles, approaches, themes, templates, and personalities that inspire you and how these might translate to your designs with the company for which you want to work.
Review the graphic designers you follow on social media or subscribe to via email to prepare your response.
Consider the impact they’ve had on your graphic design career. What have you learned from them? What concepts have you used in graphic design projects? What ideas from these heroes might you be able to apply to your desired role?
6. What do you think will be the next big design trend?
Interviewers ask this to learn how you stay current with your design knowledge, skills, and approaches, as well as how you apply trends to your design work.
Prepare your response by reviewing design news sources like Print Mag and Graphic Design USA, as well as recent content from your design heroes, to gain insights into upcoming trends. Design trends can change from time to time, including trends in color schemes, proportions of images, interface layout of applications, websites, etc.
Form your response to this question based on what you discover, and make sure to tie the trends to ideas you have for filling the position you’re applying for.
Related: You may be interested in the unique color schemes of each brand. Learn more by reading “30+ Best Modern Website Color Schemes“
7. How do you respond to design feedback?
Interviewers ask this to assess your willingness to revise and shape your work, including how you handle negative feedback from supervisors, peers, stakeholders, and customers.
Prepare your response by reflecting on previous project feedback, how you implemented it, and the outcome. Consider the most beneficial feedback you’ve received and how it has shaped you as a graphic designer. Additionally, generates ideas for the significance of feedback in real-world business situations.
8. How do you hone your design abilities?
This is a question that interviewers ask to assess your commitment to continuing your education throughout your career.
Prepare your response by reviewing your graphic design courses, certifications, boot camps, and other educational experiences. What were the key takeaways for each, including skills, credentials, and projects? How do these relate to the job you’re applying for?
9. What impact can graphic designers have on society through their work?
Interviewers will ask you this question to learn more about your motivations for becoming a graphic designer, the value you place on the profession, and the design philosophy that guides you.
Prepare your response by researching various examples of effective graphic design, ranging from visual branding that encourages consumers to buy products to posters and signage that encourage citizens to make environmentally conscious decisions.
Military recruitment posters, anti-smoking advertisements, and brands that can be identified solely by their logo are historical examples (Nike, Apple, and Starbucks).
10. Could you explain the importance of communication skills in your work as a graphic designer?
Interviewers ask this to assess your ability and willingness to present designs to coworkers, clients, company leadership, and other stakeholders. Emails, oral presentations, slides, phone calls, and video conferencing may be used to communicate in the position you seek.
Prepare your response by considering various situations in which you may need to communicate information about a design project, such as branding elements and social media graphics, as well as book and magazine covers.
Cite specific instances when you successfully presented your graphic design work, such as pitching a potential client or explaining a design to a boss.
How did you describe your design process? What were your reasonings for your design choices?
How to Prepare for an Interview in Graphic Design
You may be wondering how to prepare for the interview now that you’ve anticipated some questions an interviewer may ask you. Use the following best practices and tips to make the most of your interview with a potential employer.
Be prepared for introductory and technical questions from the interviewer
In addition to the critical thinking questions discussed in this article, you’ll need to practice answering other types of questions.
Some may be introductory and thus posed at the start of the interview as “icebreakers,” allowing you and the interviewer to establish rapport before moving on to a more detailed discussion of your qualifications. “Tell me about yourself,” and “What inspired you to apply for this position” are two examples of such questions.
Other questions to test your technical knowledge of graphic design may include:
- What are the fundamental principles of graphic design?
- What are the distinctions between user experience, visual design, and graphic design?
- How would you explain the color theory to someone who has never worked in graphic design?
Improve your interviewing abilities
Having some basic interviewing skills can help you feel more confident when speaking with a potential employer.
Before your upcoming graphic design interview questions, practice the following skills and commit to honing them as your career progresses:
- Investigate and consider the most recent trends in graphic design, the needs of businesses in various industries, and how you’ll address these trends specifically in the position you’re applying for.
- Investigate the brand values, mission statement, products and services, leadership, team structure (including full-time employees and contractors), company culture, customer base, news, and competitors of the company.
- Examine the look and feel of the company.
- What design decisions are currently driving content strategy, web design, and social media presence?
Make a list of questions to ask the interviewer
Throughout the interview, ask the interviewer questions to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the role and to gather the information you need to make an informed career decision. You could ask the following questions:
- What are the specific applications for the graphics I’ll be creating?
- Who is the intended audience for the various designs?
- What is the design team’s organizational structure?
- What team skill gaps do you hope to fill by filling this position?
Listen carefully for information about the types of customers you’ll need to reach, brand awareness goals, internal resources you’ll create for use by coworkers and teams within the company and job skills.
Read More: Graphic Designer Salary: Tips And Skills To Earn More
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