The Big List of 119 UX Interview Questions

January 4th, 2017 by lewis

UX Interview Questions & Answers

Here are our favorite UX interview questions.

If you’re a hiring manager, select the interview questions based on the competencies you’re evaluating.
If you’re a candidate, prepare and practice using this common list of UX interview questions.

UX Design Process Interview Questions

How do you define UX design?
What is your design process? Describe what methods you follow?
What is visual hierarchy?
Can you speak to the difference between information architecture, interaction design, usability and user research?
How do you get into the mindset of a user and anticipate their needs and actions?
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?
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 in your work?
What are the basic philosophies or principles that inform your designs
How do you incorporate usability into the design and testing process?
How do you balance business needs and technical restrictions with good design?
Do you have a technical/data-influenced background?
What tools and applications do you use?
What is the most important thing on a page/wireframe? Why?
Do you specialize in wireframing and functionality design, or graphic design? Which do you prefer?
When an engineer says, “Hey, I don’t like this design”, what do you do?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of following a web style guide?
Can you explain the process behind each (or a specific) design piece in your portfolio? What research or testing did you do to validate your design decision?
What are your favorite apps? Why?
What is your approach to making websites and platforms accessible to all user groups, including users with visual, hearing, and motor disabilities?
What would you say will be the next big trend in the UX Design industry?
What design trend can you not stand? Why?

UX Research Process Interview Questions

What attracts you to research?
What is your experience with qualitative research methods? (ethnography, focus groups/group discussions, one-on-one interviewing, contextual inquiry, observational research, etc.)
Since your experience is primarily in qualitative methods, how do you feel about quantitative research?
What skill do you possess that you think you do better than 99.9% of the entire population?
What do you excel at (your superpower) and what can you improve on (your kryptonite)?
What is your research process?
How do you choose which method(s) you’re going to use for particular projects?
Which methods and approaches do you think are the most useful or effective?
What is the value of doing contextual research over facility-based research (e.g., focus groups, interviews)?
How do you incorporate theory into your research?
What are your favorite social science theories?
How do you approach qualitative data analysis?
What tools do you typically use for analysis? (e.g., affinity mapping, coding, Excel, etc.)
How do you analyze ethnographic data?
Have you used any qualitative data analysis software?
At what point in the design process should user experience come into play?
Talk about a time when you had to change your plan or approach.
Our company hires heavily from our own user base. How would you balance the perspectives of internal users versus external users?
What is your experience working in Agile environments?
Have you ever used a Lean approach in your research?
How do you visualize data?
How do you visualize results for designers and developers?
Give me an example of a project you worked on for which you had to translate research data into insights.
Do you have experience with videography or video deliverables?
How would you sell the value of User Experience research to a VP of Product versus a VP of engineering?

UX Technical Skills Interview Questions

Show me a design example where you set out to solve a business problem.
How do you balance design aesthetic with revenue-generating activities on a website?
How do you balance the goals of the end user with those of the business.
What kind of data have you used to validate a design?
Have you created personas before? How did they help you?
Do you have any experience with e-commerce?
Do you have experience with mobile software or hardware?
What is your experience working with web analytics?
How would you do a competitive analysis of two websites?
How would you measure the success of a launched product?
What would you consider a UX Design failure on the newly launched project?
What questions do you need answered before you start designing an experience?
How do you estimate the timeline of your own design process?
You’re under a tight deadline and not all features in the project scope can be met in time. How would you decide which features to keep and which to cut?
What is a recent project that you were challenged by, and tell us how you approached the problem?
You want to redesign some part of a website but the client says they don’t want to spend the time or money to make the changes. What would you say?
How do you stay current on UX innovations?
Given a situation where there’s not enough time to research, what do you do?
What would you do differently if you had more time for research?
What is an instance where you delivered something exceptional, made you really proud of the result?

UX Commercial Application Interview Questions

How would you design an interface for an elevator in a 1000-floor building?
How would you design an ATM?
How would you design a microwave?
Can you estimate how many traffic lights there are in the United States?
Imagine we’re designing a kiosk at a transit stop. Its purpose is to let regular commuters refill their transit cards. We have an engineer coming in 20 minutes and he needs a spec. How would you explain how the kiosks works in that time? Solution
How would you describe the Internet to someone who just woke up from a 30-year coma? Solution
What are the advantages and disadvantages of contextual inquiry/field studies when designing an application or website?
How would you walk me through a brief analysis of our home page?
What is an example of a site you think has bad user experience? Why?
What are 3 examples of online products that have a great user experience?
If you had the power to change one feature for a website or application, what would you change?
What do you think makes a great UX designer vs. an average one? What makes you a great UX designer?
What are your thoughts on designing the user experience of a startup vs. a more established brand?
Are you familiar with the idea of a minimum viable product (MVP)?
Is UX only for huge agencies and global brands or can the little guys & gals get involved?
Why should business owners and/or marketing people care about UX?
Now let’s say that after 6 months, there is no jump in sales. What is at fault? Normally, sales and/or marketing gets blamed for having the wrong message, appealing to the wrong audience, not enough of this, too much of that. What if the reason for flat-lined sales had to do with user experience?
What’s the best way for UX and Marketing teams to work together
What’s the downside to omitting UX from the discussion?
Does your UX end once the website or app launch?
Is UX work expensive?
Does it make sense when people say something like “Looking for a UI/UX designer”?

UX Culture Fit Interview Questions

How do you advocate for usability in your organization?
What would be the most difficult personality for a coworker to have? How would you deal with this?
What would be the most difficult type of client to work with? How would you deal with this?
Have you ever faced a situation in which your feedback/recommendation was not taken? How did you handle the situation?
How do you form positive relationships with teammates or stakeholders?
How do you work with others?
What best practices do you use when working with engineers?
How do you approach working with designers?
How do you approach working with developers?
How have you provided guidance to your clients in the scoping of projects?
How do you deal with stakeholders (e.g., marketers) with really strong perspectives?
What do you do when a stakeholder disagrees with the results of your research?
What is your experience working with people who are unfamiliar with User-Centered Design?
Have you played more of a lead or support role on projects?
What phases of research were you most often involved with?
Have you worked with recruiters?
What is your experience with project management?
What is your experience with project scoping?
Have you managed external research vendors?
What is your ideal work day as a UX designer?
Where do you see yourself in 5–10 years?
How have you previously worked with product managers and engineers?
What are you looking for when it comes to a workplace?
How do you feel about working for a small agency versus a large corporation?
Can you describe a time when the requirements changed in the middle of a project, and how you handled that?
What’s your biggest pet peeve when engaging on a UX project?
Have you worked in a Lean or Agile process before? How so?
Do you have a side project you’d like to talk to us about?
What books/exhibitions/conferences or communities do you attend or admire?
Where do you go for inspiration?
How do you keep on top of current design trends?