Physical Product Designer

This should help you to determine the person's attitude toward coming up with ideas, how he fights the tendency to procrastinate, and the out-of-the-box technique he uses to bring fresh concepts to his work. It should also show how self-aware he is about what he personally needs to do his best work in stressful environments.

Oftentimes, an agency will take on a last-minute project for a client, or a project you thought was completed will need additional adjustments. When these projects are thrown at someone who already has a full plate, it can be frustrating and stressful. The candidate's answer should show that he can ask the right questions of his manager to determine what he should focus on.

Rather oddly, polymers are both solid and liquid at the same time. They behave unlike any other material. The career of a designer lasts hardly long enough to gain thorough understanding of the polymer nature, but in order to avoid the most obvious pit falls of plastic design it useful to have knowledge of the reasons and mechanisms behind them. Mechanical loads, environmental conditions and time - especially in combination - challenge every plastic product. If they have not been properly considered in design, the product is unlikely to last to the end of its expected lifetime .

I always had an interest in web design, but it’s hard to have all the skills of both a developer and designer. I think knowing HTML and CSS can help a designer bridge the gap to communicate better with developers, especially on the front-end. Learning HTML and CSS is relatively easy, but it’s a bit like learning a language; you have to practice and keep up with it. I love that I get to touch the code. It’s important that a designer follows up on his or her vision (or the mockups).

Your interviewer wants to get a sense of your working style. Design is a team sport and, as a UX designer, it’s crucial that you know how to effectively communicate design decisions with the team from the beginning of the project right through to implementation.

Keep in mind that each team member probably sees a given project through different contextual lenses, but you need be able to communicate with all of them to quickly spot any problems or misunderstandings.

There are so many areas within design it’s almost impossible to be a master of all. You can probably become proficient in certain areas in as fast as a year. If you want to be really proficient, focus on specific areas you prefer, like web design, then you’ll naturally become a specialist.

This is a really hard question to answer because it is very dependent on context. If the question is asked in context of building a new piece of software, you can talk about how an MVP (minimum viable product) could be developed.

If the question is asked in context of an existing product, you should focus on the fundamentals of product strategy. Before drilling down on specific features, you will need to develop a clear picture of the business goals and user needs. You should be ready to answer the following questions:

☛ Who is the user?

☛ What are the user’s goals?

☛ Why should the user care about a feature? What problems does it solve?

You want to get a better idea of how this person thinks about the creative process: Does he rely on inspiration? Data? Just plain hard work? The answer to this question will also provide you with more information about what the designer thinks are the most important steps in the process -- such as research, interviews, the critique process, etc.

This should reveal how the designer thinks about designing for clients, what's important to brands, and what information he thinks is essential to creating results-driven design work.

If you are managing a technical product (e.g. developer tools, debugging tools) for a technical user base (e.g. software engineers, system analysts) then I would say that the Product Manager need to be technical enough to use every aspect of the product in the same way as the end user will in their daily jobs.

Is the person accustomed to being included from the very beginning? Or is he used to being handed a creative brief to work from? This might also show you how interested the candidate is in working face-to-face with clients, his level of experience, and if he has an interest in working through the entire design process.

Depending on your agency's organizational structure, the designer will need to collaborate with other designers in the agency and with a client team made up of an account manager, a strategist, marketer, or developer. He should value clarity around timelines and responsibilities, communication, trust, and a willingness from each team member to pitch in when complications arise.

For young designers, this can feel like the toughest question to answer. Without a lot of design experience, what you can offer is your hustle and a proven willingness to learn. Emphasize it. And don’t just talk about it —show it. Point to personal projects, blog posts, and other forms of commitment to design that you’ve taken.

As a young designer, you’ve taken an enormous leap into a new career. Talk about this experience and share the strides you’ve taken to get to where you are now and where you want to be. You have enormous potential — be confident as you go.

Even though this is a fairly general question, don’t provide general answers. Focus on giving a specific definition that sheds light on who you are as a designer. Your explanation should be clear and accessible. (Imagine that you’re explaining it to a 10-year-old).

For the “why does this matter” question, use it as an opportunity to showcase your passion for the company’s approach to design. You can also use it to tell a story that provides context for your own design perspective and focuses on the importance of human-centered experiences.