When I built my first team as a Product Design Manager, I hired 36 designers in 10 months. My interview process was simple for all levels and disciplines: a quick 15-minute screening call, and if that went well, a one-hour in-person portfolio review. That was it.
I was lucky with the first 35 hires, but the 36th hire was unsuccessful and disruptive to a new and growing team. Within the first few days, I realized my new hire was unable to take a problem and solve for it. This led me to rethink my entire hiring strategy.
I created a new hiring process that kept the traditional screening call and portfolio review but added more people from the team to get different perspectives, as well as additional activities to evaluate problem-solving, collaboration, communication skills, and culture fit.
Today, while every company is different, many high-performing teams use a variation of the following methods to evaluate both hard and soft skills. Here are a few common interview methods and what they look for.
Screening call
Format: 30 to 45-minute phone or video call conducted by a recruiter.
Purpose: Evaluate communication skills and general fit for the role at a high level.
What they look for: How you articulate the type of projects and problems you work on and how your experience maps to the role. Being concise is key. You have 30 minutes to answer 5 to 6 questions, so aim to keep answers around three minutes each.
Sample questions: Tell me about your background as a designer. How do you typically approach a complex problem?
How to prepare: Practice communicating your value in a clear and concise way. When asked about your experience, keep it brief and relevant to the role.
Portfolio review
Format: 60-minute session with the hiring manager and or senior designers.
Purpose: To evaluate the “why” behind your work.
What they look for: Your approach as a designer to see if the complexity of your work aligns with the role requirements. Specifically, they look for how you frame problems and define user needs. They assess how you work within constraints, make decisions, and balance business goals. They also want to see how you collaborate and what you learn from both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.
Sample questions: What options did you explore and why did you choose this direction? How did you validate your designs? How did you collaborate with cross-functional teams?
How to prepare: Select 2 to 3 case studies aligned with the company. Use the CARDIO framework to describe your work. This includes Context, Assumptions, Research, Discoveries, Iteration, and Outcome. Rehearse the story and highlight key points. Show not only successes but also what you learned and how you pivoted.
Deep dive case study
Format: 60-minute session with the hiring manager and or senior designers.
Purpose: To understand your end-to-end craft and ownership.
What they look for: Your full end-to-end process. This includes everything from problem definition and user interviews to collaborating and iterating through to final deliverables. This interview is not about your final solution. It focuses on the path you took to get there and how you dealt with ambiguity or difficult stakeholders. They also assess your ability to frame user needs, connect designs to business goals, prioritize issues, and define measurable success indicators.
Sample questions: What tradeoffs did you have to make? What was the most challenging aspect of this project? If you could redo this project, what would you do differently?
How to prepare: Prepare 1 to 2 end-to-end projects, structure your story, highlight tradeoffs and impact, and practice explaining your process clearly. Time yourself to ensure you can cover everything in 20 to 30 minutes, leaving room for follow-up questions.
Whiteboard or live problem-solving session
Format: 45 to 60-minute collaborative session with 2 to 3 designers using a whiteboard or digital tool.
Purpose: To evaluate real-time problem-solving and your ability to give and receive constructive feedback.
What they look for: They do not expect a polished solution. They want to see your approach. They want to see you ask clarifying questions, define user personas, verbalize your thought process, and collaborate with your potential co-workers.
Sample activities: Design a mobile app to help people plan weekend trips. Redesign the Netflix homepage for mobile users.
How to prepare: Practice structured problem-solving, ask clarifying questions, think aloud, break problems into steps, and focus on clear sketches and reasoning over polish. Try practicing with a fellow designer, as this activity is highly interactive.
Design critique
Format: 30 to 60-minute session with the hiring manager and or senior designers.
Purpose: Assess judgment, analytical skills, and ability to give actionable feedback.
What they look for: How well you identify usability issues, prioritize them, and propose solutions. Strong critiques balance user needs, business goals, and technical constraints. Specific recommendations show experience and strategic thinking, while vague feedback focused on visuals shows a lack of depth.
Sample questions: How would you improve this design? How would you measure success for this design? How would you balance competing priorities?
How to prepare: Practice critiquing products you use daily using the Heuristic Evaluation framework. Focus on the why behind your feedback, not just what is wrong. Be ready to explain tradeoffs and alternative approaches.
Cross-functional interviews
Format: 30 to 45-minute conversations with product managers, engineers, researchers, or other stakeholders.
Purpose: Evaluate collaboration, communication, and influence.
What they look for: Empathy for other disciplines. Engineers want to know if you understand technical constraints. PMs want to know if you understand business goals and data. Strong candidates demonstrate clear communication and the ability to influence outcomes without authority.
Sample questions: Tell me about a time you used data or user research to convince a stakeholder to change direction. Tell me about a time you designed something that was too technically complex to build. How did you adjust?
How to prepare: Think of examples where you had to compromise on a design for technical reasons or where you used data to settle a design disagreement. Show how you contributed to shared goals and navigated challenges collaboratively.
Behavioural or culture interview
Format: 30 to 45-minute conversation with a leader or a peer from another department.
Purpose: Determine alignment with company values and team dynamics.
What they look for: Evidence of ownership, accountability, growth mindset, and resilience. Interviewers want concrete examples of how you behave under pressure, handle feedback, and contribute positively to team culture.
Sample questions: Tell me about a time you had a significant disagreement with a colleague. How did you resolve it? Describe a time you had to work with a high level of ambiguity. How did you determine your next steps? Tell me about a time you saw a problem that was not your responsibility and you took steps to fix it.
How to prepare: Use the STAR method, Situation, Task, Action, Result, to structure responses. Read the company core values on their website. Prepare stories from your past that show you practicing those values in difficult situations.
The takeaway
Hiring is a two-way street. The complexity of the modern design interview exists because a portfolio alone cannot predict how a person will perform in a team environment.
My 36th hire taught me that technical skill is only half the battle. By introducing these rigorous steps, you protect the health of your team and ensure that every new designer is set up for success from day one.
If you are a candidate, remember that these sessions are your opportunity to see if the company culture and challenges align with your own professional goals.
