119 User Experience Interview Questions & Answers — Part 1
Why 119 UX Interview Questions?
Recently, I was approached with an excellent opportunity to join a fantastic design team in Charlotte, NC. So, of course, I wanted to make sure I put forth my best effort in the interview. I studied the company using Youtube, social media, the company website, and looked up my interviewers on Linkedin to read their articles and profiles.
During this discovery process, I also read a book titled “Loops” by J.Cornelius. I recommend this book for any designer, regardless of a scheduled future interview or not. “Loops” is an excellent review of design cycles and how to get your idea from concept to production.
Another resource I found was an article with 119 UX interview questions. Right, 119 interview questions — I took a second to think — and then, I decided to write out my answers to all 119 items. These questions took a whole weekend plus a full Monday, no lie. Dedicating this much time to interview questions, I figured utilizing them as an article series would be a good idea. So here, I will share my responses to these 119 UX interview questions and add a little commentary about each answer. We can review 10 to 15 at a time.
So, let’s get started.
1. How do you define UX design?
Answer: To me, UX design is to intentionally create engaging solutions that meet user needs, increase simplicity, and satisfy business requirements.
Commentary: I was told early on that quality UX design should have a purpose — UX design is not art for the sake of art. We use data and reason to create solutions for user problems that make our services enjoyable and worth it.
2. What is your design process? Describe what methods you follow
Answer: My design process is an inquiry-based approach. Start with understanding the problem, the business requirements, and collaborating early with project manager/business analyst to set expectations, timeline, and project goals. Broken down it looks like:
Discovery
- Define the problem
- Stakeholder questionnaires
- Review business requirements
- Do my best to gather as much information as I can that the business already has on its users and needs
- Competitive analysis and comparative analysis
- Start a content checklist
- User Research
- User testing
- Social feedback — use social media where possible to gain unfiltered feedback
- Google analytics or available analytics to see how users are using the site or would like to use the site
- Information Architecture and User Flows created
Presentation(s)
- Share insights with internal team and client for approval to move forward
- I present multiple throughout the design process to keep transparency and receive feedback from key stakeholders along the way to the finish line.
Design Exercises, Wireframe, and Prototype
- Build creative brief
- Creative exercises — design work should be a little fun.
- Draw and Sketch
- Test
- Develop Idea
- Wireframe concepts
- Write up any documentation that assists in communicating the solution to our team, stakeholders, and, most importantly, our developers.
- Present for feedback
- Iterate to improve on the design (Test some more)
Handoff Process
- Write out interactions and notes in a sketch layer or using Sketchnotebook
- Meet with visual designers and developers to answer questions and present design solutions
- Upload to the shared workspace (currently we use Abstract and Box) for production level visual design to start.
- A reliable design process method to follow https://www.discoverdesign.org/handbook.
3. What is a visual hierarchy?
Answer: Visual Hierarchy is arranging the most relevant content to have priority for a user. In other words, influence the order in which the human eye perceives what it sees. The visual hierarchy shows through the use of placement, colors, size, fonts, and the overall layout composition.
Commentary: To be fully transparent about my production level visual design, it is not my best design skill. I am more a data, content, tech, and function kind of guy. However, I am not complacent with my visual design skills, and I work to improve continually. I am a believer that designers should be able to produce high-level visual comps (with the assistance of a design system.) I know, I know — but it only helps.
4. Can you speak to the difference between information architecture, interaction design, usability, and user research?
Answer:
- Information architecture, to me, is the organization of content to be useful, approachable, and understandable. Normally mapped out with a sitemap, user flow, journeys maps, and more
- Interaction design, to me, is how a product will move and behave when in the presence or hands of a user. What is our product communicating? Is it useful? Is this what the user wants, familiar with, or expecting?
- Usability is not determined solely by you, but through testing. Are users accomplishing their goals? What are the barriers impeding them from using your product? Are we following industry best practices for design or introducing something new just because? I will use a heuristic evaluation to help measure usability as well.
- User research is ace in UX design. You need to understand the people’s problems who use and will use your product, so you see how they use and interact with the product. User research is the discovery and validation aspect of good design.
5. How do you get into the mindset of a user and anticipate their needs and actions?
Answer: Empathetic inquiry. Ask real questions and listen. Observe users interacting with the product in the wild — which is my favorite.
Read social media comments — they are speaking their mind under your pictures and on their facebook pages. 🤣
If anyone has reliable techniques to get into the mindset of a user and anticipate their needs and actions, I am open to learning. Please leave a comment or reach out to me.
6. Describe to us a basic user experience process. Would that process be different depending on the type of project, for instance, responsive website versus mobile app?
Answer: I will describe a process I am currently working on for a neat ass side project called AEGIS.
I am creating a user profile to keep track of your game stats.
Yes, and no. Most people using the web have created user-profiles, and they are generally the same experience across the board — however, some more unique than others.
So for AEGIS, in our mobile version, we focus more on speed to sign up; most times, a user will be in line and ready to start the game. Did I mention this is a real-life game? So we are working with people registering in line while being excited about seeing the game played. On a desktop, most times at home, users have less anticipation, and hopefully, time, so we use this opportunity to share and teach more about the game and highlight the story. The space on our desktop experience will use the background to create more engagement.
The main point here is to design a solution with different user priorities in mind, but we want the experiences to feel cohesive if you were to use both.
7. How do you know that what you’re designing works for the user? Tell us a bit about personas and your approach to research and incorporating research into your work?
Answer: Be confident you are solving the right problem. Honestly, testing is the best way to find out if what you are designing works for the user. Test sketches, wireframes, and prototypes to help validate your hunches. Testing will provide the confidence you are building the proper product.
Personas or “Roles” serve as a snapshot of a user or user group. They are built with real information and have use cases for the solutions based on research and data you have gathered from people interacting and using your products. Because personas act as living documents throughout my design phase, I would like to work on a project to build automated dynamic personas. More to come on this later.
8. What are the basic philosophies or principles that inform your designs?
Answer:
- Value — Is this product/solution worth the attention I am asking. If this is necessary, how do we create the most user value?
- Flow — How is information driving the experience or task to allow for a user to create their journey what mindset or situation is the user in when they engage with our product or solution.
- Clarity — Am I communicating what a user needs. Is all of the information adding value or just fluffing up the product?
- Storytelling — Is it memorable? Does it develop feelings or create an impact.
- Gamification (My Heart) — Is there a way to make this experience or product engaging within context? Can we involve an aspect of competition, rewards, or achievements?
Commentary: I come from a gaming background. Shout out to the Yu-Gi-Oh! , and Magic Players, who travel to top these tournaments. And all of my Halo and Street Fighter peeps, play hard. With this experience in my life, I have strong feelings about gamification in the design industry. Gamification should be thoughtful and appropriate; please do not buzz word something so close to me.
9. How do you incorporate usability into the design and testing process?
Answer: Testing prototypes throughout the design phase. Early on, for existing products, I will test them for benchmarks. As I work on new solutions, I will check against my initial tasks that I asked users to perform. Allow time to get feedback on prototypes, wireframes, and user flows from actual users or even your teammates. You will help ensure the design is usable and does not get siloed with your assumptions.
10. How do you balance business needs and technical restrictions with good design?
Answer: Communication, transparency, data, understanding, and prioritization is an essential aspect of this well. Using these pillars as guides will allow everyone to focus on the necessary items to make and improve good designs. When you understand business needs, you can make recommendations from a stakeholder standpoint. In creating excellent digital experiences, there is more than one way to skin a cat. As long as you are creating value for the business, using proper communication, you will help move the idea forward. Technical restrictions require creativity. Use technical restraints as the bounds in which you communicate with your team and seek transparency from your development team on what is feasible and how they suggest approaching the problem.
Wrap-up
I appreciate you taking the time to read the first of many blog articles about these 119 interview questions; hopefully, I was able to share information worth retaining.
Written with care,
Bilal
