Ace Your Graphic Design Interview: Top Questions You’ll Get Asked
Graphic design is an exciting and competitive field that requires creativity technical skills and the ability to bring concepts to life visually. However, landing your dream graphic design job starts with the interview, where you’ll need to demonstrate your design capabilities, knowledge, and potential value to the company.
With the right preparation, you can tackle any graphic design interview question confidently. Here are some of the most common graphic design interview questions you should expect along with tips to nail your responses:
- Walk me through your design process from start to finish.
The interviewer wants to understand your methodology and approach to projects. Explain your typical design workflow from receiving the brief to concepting to creating mockups to gathering feedback to finalizing the design deliverable. Share the tools you utilize at each stage. Highlight how you collaborate with key stakeholders throughout the process.
- What graphic design skills and software programs are you highly proficient in?
Highlight programs listed in the job description first, such as Adobe Creative Suite tools like InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Share advanced skills like typography, color theory, layout, digital illustration, animation, 3D, or photo editing. Discuss your level of expertise with each program and ability to quickly learn new design software.
- How do you stay inspired and creative on an ongoing basis?
Creativity is crucial in graphic design roles. Discuss where you draw inspiration from—nature, art, photography, typography, color palettes, textures, cultural influences etc. Share how you maintain creativity through outlets like sketching, brainstorming, meditating, collaborating with other creatives, and expanding your perspective. Provide a specific example of overcoming creative block.
- What makes you a strong graphic designer?
Highlight your top design skills and qualities here like creativity, versatility, technical expertise, problem solving, communication, speed, organization, teamwork and your passion for design. Pick 2-3 standout strengths and provide specific evidence through examples of work. Align your strengths with the role’s requirements.
- Why are you interested in this graphic design position and our company?
Flattery will get your everywhere. Research the company beforehand. Share something specific about the company’s design work, culture and mission that excites you based on their website, campaigns, products or services. Demonstrate you’re familiar with the company and eager to contribute your skills.
- What graphic design trends are you most excited about right now?
Show you are passionate about design and aware of the latest trends by discussing a current trend in typography, color, animation, layout, or any other area of design that appeals to you. Share why the trend is effective, examples of it done well, and how you have or could implement it effectively. Stay up on trends!
- Tell me about a design project or campaign you worked on recently.
Choose a relevant graphic design project that demonstrates abilities needed for the role. Set the stage by explaining the objectives and requirements. Share your specific contributions and the various design elements involved Highlight how your work led to positive results for the client or company Share lessons learned.
- How would you handle a tight deadline on a graphic design project?
Deadlines are the nature of the game in design. Discuss proven strategies for maintaining productivity and prioritizing tasks under pressure like limiting distractions, batching similar tasks, requesting support if needed, communicating timeline challenges proactively, or even negotiating adjusted timelines if reasonable.
- Tell me about a time you had to be flexible or adaptable as a designer.
Design often requires pivoting based on feedback throughout a project’s evolution. Share an example of receiving difficult feedback that required a new direction. Demonstrate how you remained open minded, responded professionally, identified solutions, and quickly made the necessary adjustments to create a design the stakeholders were ultimately happy with.
- How do you stay on top of latest design technologies, software, and best practices in the industry?
Employers want candidates committed to continuous learning. Discuss how you actively strengthen your skills through online tutorials, LinkedIn Learning courses, design blogs, meetups, design conferences, social media networking with other designers, internships etc. Share your excitement for learning new programs, techniques, and design capabilities.
- How would you convince a client to go with a design they were unsure about?
Client management is key in graphic design. Provide an example of gently persuading a client to approve a design you felt strongly about through data, examples, addressing concerns, educating them on design rationale, making minor tweaks to the design, and guiding them to see your vision.
- Tell me about a time you struggled with a client. How did you handle it?
Demonstrate maturity by sharing a diplomatic response to a challenging client. For example, describe a client with unrealistic expectations and how you listened to frustrations, set clear boundaries, compromised where possible, remained patient and focused on solutions. Share the end result.
- Have you ever made a mistake on a design project? How did you handle it?
Everybody makes mistakes but overcoming them shows resourcefulness. Describe a minor error like missed files, missed deadline, incorrect dimensions etc. Explain how you took accountability for the mistake and quickly made adjustments or corrections to remedy the situation to the client’s ultimate satisfaction. Share lessons learned.
- How do you stay organized while working on multiple design projects at once?
In graphic design, you’ll often juggle various projects simultaneously. Discuss proven time and project management tactics you use like to-do lists, detailed schedules, calendar reminders, file organization, focusing on one task at a time, asking for extensions or help when needed, and clear communication with clients on timelines and expectations throughout projects.
- Are you more productive working alone or collaborating with creative teams?
There’s no right answer here – discuss your preference and why you thrive in that work style. Introverts may enjoy solo design time while extroverts energize off collaboration. Share how you capitalize on your individual style to maximize productivity and creativity. Offer to work collaboratively or independently based on project needs.
- How do you give and receive feedback with designers, clients and stakeholders during projects?
The ability to give and receive feedback tactfully is critical in design work. Discuss how you provide constructive criticism focused on improvements not opinions; actively listen and ask clarifying questions when receiving feedback; determine what is actually feasible to implement; compromise where possible, and maintain an open, professional dialogue with all parties to reach positive solutions.
- How would you explain a design concept to a client who lacks technical knowledge?
Great client communication requires articulating complex design elements simply. Share techniques like using laymen’s terms over industry jargon, avoiding technical details that may overwhelm and instead focusing on driving the creative vision, using visuals and examples to make explanations more concrete, and checking for client understanding throughout explanations.
- What do you do when you disagree with a client on the direction of a design?
Tactfully explain you advocate for your designs while recognizing the client’s perspective is priority. Share your strategy of professional dialog focused on understanding the client’s desired outcome, educating on your design rationale, making your case persuasively, suggesting reasonable compromises, and ultimately adjusting the design to appease the client. Position yourself as flexible.
- What is your design specialty or your favorite type of design projects to work on?
Share your graphic design passions like typography, branding, packaging, digital design, animation, logo creation etc. Discuss what excites you about your specialties and how you have developed specialized expertise that makes you uniquely valuable compared to other designers. Provide portfolio samples or examples of successful specialty projects.
- Why should we hire you?
Summarize your strongest qualifications and achievements from throughout the interview. Share standout strengths that make you uniquely qualified for the role compared to other candidates. Convey genuine enthusiasm for the company and position. End by reiterating how your graphic design expertise and experience will immediately benefit the team if hired.
- Do you have any questions for me?
Always close interviews by asking 1-2 thoughtful questions that demonstrate your engagement and interest in the role and company. Ask intelligent questions about the position, design team, projects, software, learning opportunities, company culture and values, or timeline for hiring. Avoid questions with easily found answers on the company website.
With preparation centered around likely graphic design interview questions, you can highlight your skills, experience and passion that make you the right design hire. Use these sample questions to develop your own winning interview answers that land you the job!
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Questions and answers sent in will be looked over and edited by Toptal, LLC, and may or may not be posted, at their sole discretion.
Toptal sourced essential questions that the best graphic designers can answer. Driven from our community, we encourage experts to submit questions and offer feedback.
What do you do to stay up to date on the latest software, trends, etc.?
There are a lot of magazines, blogs, and other online and print publications that write about the design business. Graph designers who are really into their work probably have a few places they regularly check to see what’s new in the world of graphic design.
It can be beneficial for interviewers to check out the sources designers mention. Looking at these can show how skilled the designer is, what style they have, and how they feel about the industry as a whole. A designer should have a wide range of sources that help them learn about different parts of the industry. 2 .
What makes a successful design?
Every designer’s answer to this question is likely to vary on the details. Some designers may place all of their emphasis on how the end user feels. Other designers might put their focus on how happy the client or other stakeholders are with the project. Some people might say that a design they’re proud of or one that is finished on time and on budget is a success.
It’s important that the designer’s idea of success matches the company hiring them, no matter what they say. There’s no right answer, but the designer’s definition needs to mesh with their employer’s company culture. 3 .
What kinds of design projects are you most interested in?
While the job is mostly about package design, just because the graphic designer candidate loves making posters doesn’t mean they’ll be a bad fit for the job. Even if a designer says they like one type of project more than others, that doesn’t mean they can’t handle any project that comes their way. But finding a designer who’s passionate about the projects they’ll be working on is a distinct advantage.
People who say they love all kinds of design but don’t seem to have any preferences are one of the worst things to hire. While that might be true, they almost certainly have particular projects they prefer. And in some cases, they’re simply stating what they think the interviewer wants to hear.
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Who are your design heroes? What designers or brands do you admire?
All designers have influences. It may not be a particular designer, but rather the design team for a specific brand. It could also be a web designer, a product designer, or even an industrial designer or architect instead of another graphic designer.
Finding out who the person you’re interviewing looks up to can help you understand their style, or at least the style they want to develop. Some designers have diverse influences, which can be a good sign that they strive to be adaptable. But designers who look up to designers from a certain style or movement can still have a wide range of skills. 5 .
What do you do when you hit a creative block? How do you overcome it?
Every designer hits creative blocks at one point or another in their career. They might not be motivated to work on a project, or they might have received negative feedback. Or they might just be stuck and not know why.
Seasoned designers have strategies for dealing with creative blocks because they know they’ll encounter them sooner or later. These strategies could be anything from going for a walk to talking to other designers to looking for new ways to get ideas. They don’t just wait for inspiration to strike again is the most important thing to look for in an answer. 6 .
Think of a time when you made a big mistake on a graphic design project. How did you recover from it?.
Everyone makes mistakes. The level of professionalism shown by a designer who can own up to their mistakes and show that they know how to fix them or make things right for their client is something that not all designers have.
A designer’s answer should be candid without being too self-deprecating. They should be able to talk about the mistake in a fair way, explain why it happened, and say what they did to learn from it and not make the same mistake again. They should also address what they did to fix the issue at the time. 7 .
Why did you choose graphic design as a profession?
Graphic designers should be passionate about the work they do. A lot of graphic designers got their start because they liked art and found that graphic design was a good way to follow their passion.
Graphic designers should talk about their background and education, including why they became interested in design in the first place. Their answer should show that they are passionate about the job and show that they have a well-thought-out plan for how to get into the field. 8 .
What do you do to meet tight deadlines on time while still delivering great work?
Some creatives have issues with meeting deadlines, while others thrive under pressure. Graphic designers should know where they fit on that range and have set up systems to handle their work that are based on how they work best when they are pressed for time.
When hiring designers, look for ones who are sure they can meet deadlines, even if they don’t always do well under pressure. Good designers have found ways to make up for their flaws. This probably goes for any other flaws they may have, whether they are design-related or “soft” skills like communication. 9 .
What skills and qualities should a great graphic designer possess?
Great graphic designers should possess above-average design skills to start with. They should know how to use the software they pick, whether it’s Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketch, or something else. They should also be familiar with established design principles, color theory, and typographic design.
While design skills are of paramount importance, they should also include soft skills in this answer. The fact that graphic designers often work with others makes skills like working together and being able to take and use feedback very important.
Also, even designers who work alone most of the time need to work with clients and other people who have a stake in the project. This means that they need to be able to communicate with people who aren’t designers, do user research, and give presentations.
Great designers should be curious and eager to learn. They should also be effective problem-solvers who approach design problems with enthusiasm and innovation. 10 .
Do you work better independently or with a team?
Ideally, a graphic designer will be able to work effectively in either situation. But finding out how they like to work can be useful if the project is going to be mostly team-based or more independent. Because they will be working alone on a project for the most part, designers need to be sure they are comfortable with that and can still get things done. And the opposite is also true, of course.
Be aware of how a graphic designer responds to this kind of question. Even though they may say they’re great in both, listen to which one they talk about more passionately. If they can work either way, this gives us more information about where they’re most likely to do well. 11 .
How do you incorporate feedback into your designs?
Feedback is an integral part of the design process. Without it, designs will never reach their full potential. Artists must feel at ease asking for feedback from end users, other artists on their team, and people who have a stake in the project.
The best designers embrace feedback as an essential part of creating exceptional designs. They should be excited about receiving feedback and eager to make better products by incorporating it. If a graphic designer doesn’t want to hear feedback or is resistant to it, it could mean that they have a big ego and can’t follow directions in general. 12 .
What are the major steps in your creative process?
There is no “right” answer to this question. This tells us a lot about the designer’s process, which they’ve improved over time to be both quick and good.
There are a few things that should be included in any creative process, though. An experienced graphic designer should do research, come up with ideas, test, iterate, and collect feedback as part of their creative process. Watch how designers talk about their work to see if they seem sure of themselves or unsure about how they go about creative projects. 13 .
What do you think of our company’s work/branding?
Many designers wouldn’t even bother applying for a job with a company whose branding they didn’t think had potential. So it’s not common for designers to criticize a company’s logo in an interview. If they do, it could be a sign that they have a big ego.
Some designers will talk about changes they’d like to see made to a brand. This is a good sign that they want to share new ideas. Other designers may not have any negative or neutral feedback, which is also a good sign. It means they care about the look of the brand and won’t have any trouble following the design guidelines that are already in place.
Of course, if the goal is to change the look of the brand or even the whole thing, it might be best to find a designer who already has ideas for how to make things better. Letting the designer know that this is a possibility is helpful. See what ideas they can come up with on the spot.
Any ideas they give you on the spot shouldn’t be taken against them because they don’t know why the revamp is needed or wanted or what the goals are for it. You should instead pay attention to how they come up with their ideas and how well they seem to know the brand and market. 14 .
How do you handle disagreements about feedback given on a project?
No graphic designer agrees with the feedback they get 100% of the time. But how they handle feedback they don’t agree with says a lot about how well they can work with others.
Graphic designers should be willing to consider any feedback they receive. They should have data to back up their point of view if they don’t agree with the feedback. This could be case studies from other projects, quantitative data, or qualitative data from user research. If they don’t have evidence to back up their point of view, they should be ready to admit defeat and make changes based on what people say.
Anyone involved in a project, even the graphic designer, should be able to find a middle ground so that the needs of the people the project is for are met. The best graphic designers always keep those end users in mind and put their needs first. 15 .
What would you need to learn about our brand in your first week of work?
Before going on an interview with a company, a designer should have done some preliminary research and know what the brand stands for to the public. Most people can easily notice if they think they need to start with the most basic things. This could mean they haven’t done much research and aren’t really committed to the job or the brand.
Most designers will want to familiarize themselves with two essential things immediately. First, there are official style guides and brand guides that spell out how to use colors, fonts, logos, and other visual elements. The second is the exact workflow that the graphic design team in place now uses (or has used in the past if there isn’t a design team in place now).
In addition, they might want to learn about the project(s) they’ll be working on’s stakeholders and what they expect from them.
There is more to interviewing than tricky technical questions, so these are intended merely as a guide. Not every good candidate for the job will be able to answer all of them, and answering all of them doesn’t mean they are a good candidate. At the end of the day, hiring remains an art, a science — and a lot of work.
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