Video summary

Do These 3 Things & You Will Nail Every Design Interview

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / lessons

  1. Talk confidently through your work using “problems and solutions,” not design trivia

    • In interviews, don’t default to discussing fonts, color palettes, favorite typography, or favorite designers.
    • Instead, focus on:
      • What problem you solved
      • Your approach/method
      • Your process/system
      • The solution and impact
    • Doing this well makes you “head and shoulders above the rest” because you demonstrate real problem-solving.

  2. Be prepared before the interview (research + come with ideas)

    • Research the company before going in and learn:
      • What they do
      • Their core beliefs and mission/values
      • What they accomplished recently
      • What they’re trying to accomplish next (roadmap if available)
      • Whether their website/app has issues you could fix
    • Come up with a few actionable ideas you can mention in the interview.
    • If asked about problems, be ready to say what you’d improve and how quickly you could help (showing you want to contribute immediately).

  3. Speak the language of business (value metrics over visual aesthetics)

    • Design goals (e.g., “make a website/app”) are meaningless if they don’t serve a business purpose.
    • Emphasize business outcomes such as:
      • Leads
      • Traffic
      • Monthly active users
      • Revenue / increased revenue
      • Reduced friction / better user experience
      • More traffic and sales
    • Frame your design work as increasing company value, not “just making things prettier.”

Methodology / instructions (detailed)

1) Present your work confidently: problems → solutions

  • Create a case study or slide deck that tells a story like:
    • Here’s the problem
    • Here’s how we solved it
    • Here was the challenge
    • Here was what was interesting
  • Practice speaking it repeatedly until you can deliver it smoothly.
  • Film yourself (phone/camera/webcam) while talking through the case study.
  • Watch the recording and refine for:
    • Whether you look away when you should be speaking
    • Whether you focus on your fingers
    • Whether you fumble, bumble, or mumble
    • Whether you say “um” repeatedly
  • Get feedback by sharing the video with a friend/family member or someone in the design community and asking for critique.

2) Interview preparation: research + ready-to-say ideas

  • Research the company before the interview:
    • Understand what they do
    • Mission statement + values/core beliefs
    • Recent accomplishments
    • Upcoming goals/roadmap
    • Check their website and/or app for broken or improvable areas:
      • mobile / web / desktop
  • Prepare 2–3 ideas tied to problems you noticed.
  • Be ready to discuss value-focused improvements, e.g.:
    • “I’d love to work on the checkout flow because I saw issues there; I think we could solve them quickly. Here’s how I would approach it.”

3) Business language: connect design to metrics

  • When discussing your work, hyper-focus on value-based outcomes, such as:
    • Leads
    • Traffic
    • Monthly active users
    • Revenue (and increased revenue)
    • Less friction / improved user experience
    • Conversion to sales
  • Avoid making your justification primarily about:
    • Colors, typography, visual preferences
    • “Just for fun” design goals

Sources / speakers

  • Speaker: The video narrator/host (unidentified by name in the subtitles; referenced as “those are my three tips” and “I promise/ I recommend”).

Original video