18 Essential Graphic Design Interview Questions (With Answers)

It would be awesome if you could get hired as a graphic designer on the strength of your portfolio alone. Unfortunately for most designers, a series of stressful job interviews are part of the deal. 

To help you prepare for your next interview, we’ve compiled this list of 18 very common graphic design interview questions. It’s almost a guarantee that you’ll get asked at least some of them. We’ve also included suggestions on how you should answer each question. Your experience and skills as a designer are unique, so adapt your answers to suit your situation.

It’s perfectly normal to feel anxious before a job interview because you have no idea what questions you’ll get asked. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re rambling, stumbling over your words or just flat out drawing a blank. Preparing answers beforehand is a great way to help reduce your nerves and help you sound confident and professional. 

The infographic below shows a summary of the questions and answers. Read on below for more details.

Interview questions about your creative process

1. Describe your creative process from the initial brief to the final handover of assets.

This question is designed to get an overall understanding of your workflow and to make sure you’re detail oriented, methodical and good at managing your time. Interviewers will expect you to talk about many of the following steps. 

1. Design brief / client interview

This is where you work with the client to get as much information as possible about the problem they’re trying to solve and what they’re trying to achieve. The exact deliverables (files, assets, supporting documents etc) are also specified during this stage.  

When we refer to a ‘client’, this doesn’t necessarily mean someone paying you directly. It can be any decision making stakeholder – like your boss – that will ultimately sign off on your design.

2. Brainstorming / initial idea generation

The brainstorming step is where all your design brief notes are analysed and some initial ‘rough’ design happens. This could be mock-ups, sketches or whatever else is relevant. The client should be involved in this stage to ensure everyone is on the same page.

3. Design phase

The actual design process where the initial brainstormed ideas are turned into the ‘final’ design.

4. Feedback

Some kind of feedback loop is needed where the client can request changes or provide input on the design direction. If you’ll be working collaboratively with other designers then this should also include feedback from your team.

Mention here how you would manage your time and stick to a schedule. For example, if the job will take two weeks then lay out a plan for how many days the brief, design and feedback stages will take.

5. Handover / completion

The finished assets are packaged up and delivered to the client in whatever format has been agreed upon.

2. Describe how your creative process would differ under extreme time pressure.

Like most complex projects, design projects are ruled by the opposing forces of time versus quality. Less time equals less quality (or originality, innovation etc). This question is testing whether you understand the commercial realities of the deadline driven design world.

Make it clear to the interviewer that you understand compromises often have to be made and that you’re not precious about your work. You should also point out that your focus is always on solving the design problem efficiently to achieve the desired outcome for the client. Being a perfectionist is almost never an asset when working in commercial design.

3. How do you know when your design is finished?

A great way to answer this question is to say that a design is finished when you are confident it solves the problem and meets the objectives of the client. It’s OK to joke that your designs are ‘never finished, only abandoned’ but definitely don’t make this the focus of your answer.

4. What are the most important questions you would ask a client when discussing a project?

This question is testing whether you are focused on trying to solve the specific problem the client has and deliver the outcomes they are looking for. Your answer should include many of the following questions.

1. What problem are you trying to solve?

For example, are you losing customers or not attracting the right kind of customers?

2. What are your goals and expectations for the project?

For example, do you expect increased conversion, a higher NPS score or to attract a new audience?

3. Who is the audience?

What is their age, gender, location and economic status?

4. What mood are you trying to convey?

For example, is it excitement, seriousness, fun or edgy? This might be something they don’t know and need your help to figure out!

5. How do you measure the success of your design work?

Like the previous question, this is also designed to understand if you’re focused on providing well thought out solutions to problems. The best answer is to say that a successful design achieves the outcomes the client was expecting. It’s also great to give some specific examples here like increased conversion or positive user feedback.

6. You’re asked to design something but you get almost no direction or context. What do you do?

Unfortunately, receiving very little information when you start a design project is not uncommon. Focus your answer on how you’d get started with brainstorming, mock-ups or  sketches (whatever is relevant to your process) and then use iteration and feedback from the client to help them uncover the design goals for the project as you proceed.

Interview questions about taking feedback

7. You strongly disagree with some design feedback you’ve received from an important stakeholder. What do you do?

This question is designed to test how flexible and willing you are to listen. Make it clear that you’re never precious about your work and never take criticism as a personal attack. If the requested changes still achieve the design objectives then you’d be happy to incorporate them into the design.

If you really, really disagree then the best move is to go back to the design brief and have a rational discussion about whether the changes will help or hinder the goals of the project.

Interview questions about your graphic design portfolio

8. Walk me through your portfolio and tell me about each piece.

When discussing your portfolio – as always – it’s important to tie your discussion back to the problem you were trying to solve for the client and how you went about solving it. If possible also talk about any data you have to measure the success of each design.

9. Which is your favourite piece in your portfolio and why?

A great answer to this question is to talk about the piece that achieved the best tangible outcomes for a client. It’s also equally valid to get excited about a piece that was particularly innovative or you think is just plain awesome. Just make sure you clearly articulate why it’s your favourite – and again – what problem you were trying to solve.

10. If you had to cut one piece from your portfolio, which one would it be and why?

A good approach here is to pick a piece that delivered a great outcome for the client but that you personally feel less inspired by. Cutting a successful piece shows that there is no weakness in your portfolio but also that you are excited to produce innovative and inspiring work.

Interview questions about teamwork and collaboration

11. Have you worked in a cross functional team? If so, describe the team structure and how you fitted into the delivery process.

This question is designed to understand if you’ve worked on a team with non designers such as product managers, engineers, web designers or copywriters. Make sure you call out how you collaborated successfully with the team to complete a project. Focus on task management, scheduling and feedback. If the team had any bottlenecks or roadblocks, discuss these and offer solutions on how they might have been resolved.

12. How would you successfully collaborative with a fellow designer who has a very different vision for the project?

As with the question on taking feedback, it’s important to make clear that you’re a team player who isn’t driven by ego and wants the best outcome for the project. If there is real disagreement then the best approach is to revisit the design objectives and have a rational discussion about the best way forward. Emphasize that you never see criticism as a personal attack on your design abilities.

Interview questions about personal development

13. How do you stay current with the latest graphic design trends?

This is a great opportunity to demonstrate that you’re continuously learning and staying current with the latest design trends. Mention any designers you follow on social media, design websites you follow, conferences or meetups you attend and any courses you’ve done on your own time.

14. What are the most important skills a graphic designer should have?

Apart from the obvious technical skills, design talent and experience, a great way to answer this question is to emphasize your communication skills. Good communication skills are vital for designers to help communicate the vision, get buy-in from stakeholders and help the client articulate what it is they are trying to achieve.

15. What is your biggest weakness as a graphic designer?

The trick here is to actually describe a real weakness – everyone has one – but make sure it’s one that won’t interfere with your ability to do a great job. Interviewers will respond much better to an honest answer than an evasive one. Just make it clear that you’re always working on your weaknesses and trying to improve. Give concrete examples if you can.

A couple of good examples for graphic designers are:

• I’m used to working in fast paced environments and I need to make sure I’m tolerant of people who work more slowly.

• I’m extremely organized and focused as designer but I need to get better at making sure I get to meetings on time and stay on top of emails. I’ve recently started using calendar reminders to schedule my non design related tasks.

16. Who are your graphic design heroes and why?

There aren’t any wrong answers here but make sure you give a well thought out answer around why you love the work of that particular designer. It can also be an opportunity to show your knowledge of the history of graphic design.

17. What are your favorite brand identities and why?

If you’re interviewing for a job with a organization that has a strong brand identity, try and craft an answer that highlights parallels with their brand. This will show you really understand what makes their brand unique, interesting or important.

18. How do you see graphic design changing in the next 25 years?

We’ve seen this question asked more often than you might think. It’s an opportunity for you to show excitement for new technologies and new ways of working. VR, AR and other new types of visual interfaces are great topics to discuss. Mentioning the role that AI and automation might play in the graphic design industry is also a great way to show that you’re thinking ahead to the future.

Conclusion

Hopefully these interview questions will help you be better prepared and less nervous in your next job interview. The key takeaway would be to always try and focus your answers on how you solve design problems to achieve the goal or desired outcomes of the project. If you can do this you’ll always come across as professional, results focused and a team player.