In this globalization era where the world is at your fingertips, it is very common for companies, organizations, or even small businesses to create and utilize web pages. It would be quite weird if a large organization does not have one. One of the aspects that capture viewers’ or visitors’ attention is no other but the design. Web design will create the first impression and will make up the overall impression and assumption on what kind of nature and attitude exist within the organization.
Due to the huge need for having a great web page design, a company or organization needs to be able to hire the best web designer. This will benefit the company in terms of marketing, as well as boosting up the impression visitors have towards it.
In this article, we will be looking at 25 web design interview questions, followed by the suggested answers, which may be referred by both interviewer and interviewee. Let’s have a look at the suggested questions now.
1. Why Are You Interested In This Role?
The main reason I am interested in this role is that I could see development in my skills as well as my career growth if I were to be accepted. I have been passionate about web designing for years but have been doing freelancing works up until now. I believe it is time for me to step out of my comfort zone and be affiliated with one huge organization instead. I believe aside from benefiting the organization, this will also hone my skills and boost my experience in this passion of mine.
2. What Are The Main Roles Of A Web Designer?
The main roles of a web designer include designing interesting and interactive landing pages. Besides that, it is our role to ensure enhanced performance of the web to accommodate visitors’ and clients’ needs when accessing the web. At certain times, web designers are also responsible to deliver support for customer service either internally or externally, especially during the developing and the launching stages of the web.
3. What Do You Think Are The Qualities Needed By A Web Designer To Be Effective?
To become an effective web designer, the person has to be equipped with creativity as well as critical thinking. Many people are creative but not many people can come up with original ideas that are impactful and suit the nature of the web they are working on. Aside from technical skills, they should be well-versed and keep up to date with the newest web technology and internet to keep up with changes. That aside, a good web designer should have excellent communication skills to ensure smooth interaction with the clients.
4. What Major Challenges Did You Have During Your Previous Role? How Did You Handle It?
In my previous role, I almost had a client who ran off without making payment. It was quite a huge blow to me and it was not a small project either. I had to contact the client several times but to no avail. In the end, I resorted to legal actions to serve my right as a designer. I learned a lot from the experience and my seniors helped me a lot to overcome it. Since then, I have been improving my management and organization to avoid any similar situation happening again in the future.
5. What Is The Aspect That Attracts You The Most In Web Design?
The most appealing aspect of web designing is colour and fonts. I am very drawn to designs that are pleasing and calming to the eyes, usually not vibrant. This may make people more fascinated and attracted to revisit the web, aside from serving the main purpose of navigating the main objective of the web pages themselves. My motto when designing is to bring out vivid imagery and contemporary as to what the brands or organization unfolds. For instance, web pages for sports brands give the impression of being active to the viewers, just by navigating through the pages.
6. What Would You Do If You Notice Someone Was Copying Or Plagiarising Your Works?
If I were to notice similarities of someone’s design with mine, I will firstly calm down and look into the matter professionally. Since designing is very subjective and there are multiple resources or references existing virtually, there are the chances that the similarities are pure coincidence. However, I will tread into the matter calmly but will definitely investigate if something feels odd. if the design is confirmed to be plagiarising mine, I will contact the person in charge of the design to discuss the matter. If the person does not budge, I may have to take bigger action, by reporting, to force the design to be taken down.
7. What Would You Do To Avoid Getting Scammed By Clients?
I have never been scammed by clients before. However, I do take several actions when dealing with customers for safety measures. One of the things that I do is to provide a clear written contract whenever I am about to accept any job offer. Besides that, I make it a rule for the clients to pay the deposit before I start any job. Another final step that I make is by putting a watermark on my design during the final checking. After the final payment has been done and the clients are satisfied with the product, then only I will submit the design in the highest resolution without any watermark on them.
8. Have You Ever Faced Designer Block Before? How Do You Deal With This Situation?
In my case, whenever I am facing a block, I will distance myself from my working space for a while. I will go seek inspiration from various places, either parks, public places, or many other places that may bring ideas for my job. Doing this helps me to look at photographic designs used by many other companies and ideas may pop out into my mind. After that, I will try to adjust the ideas so that the designs are befitting the niche of the web I am working on.
9. What Would You Do When You Feel Demotivated At Work?
Whenever I feel demotivated, I will stop doing my work for a bit. Stretching and taking some fresh air usually help to boost my motivation again. However, if those do not help, I will take my time to reorganize my working space for a brand-new look. These include tidying the table or organizing files and documents be it physical ones, or the documents on my computer. Motivation booster varies depending on the situation too. If all of these are not enough, I may have to talk to my colleagues about it.
10. What Is Your Motivation In This Field?
The thing that motivates me in web designing is when I receive positive feedback from my clients. It warms my heart to hear them being appealed to the designs I worked hard to build. Aside from that, I am thrilled and elated if the client offers me more jobs since it displays how much trust they put in my design, that my works are good enough to be proud of. Another thing that boosts my motivation in this field is when I meet someone who shares the same passion as me. We could go on long chats about designing and so forth.
11. Have You Dealt With Clients Who Gave You Harsh Criticism Before? How Did You Handle It?
Yes, I had. I always remind myself to prepare emotionally before submitting my drafts so that I could remain calm whenever the situation happens. Hence, I was able to remain professional and talk about the client’s dissatisfaction with my work. If the critiques were tolerable and within my capabilities and the budget allocated, I will abide by the requests. However, if the comments are beyond what was initially intended, I have to be firm in declining the requests. My experience from before was still within my control, so I managed to complete the requests necessarily and the client was satisfied with my final product.
12. Briefly Explain Your Process When First Received An Offer From A Client.
When I got offered a job, I will ask for the expectations they set upon the final product. If the task is doable, I will accept the offer. We will then go through the rules and the flow of my working stages before agreeing with the contract. I will set up at least two meetings for drafts submission for my clients to ensure I am on track and the designs are appealing to the client. After the final draft is submitted and approved by the client, I will then proceed to submit the final product to my client after all transactions have been successfully made.
13. What Would You Do If You Do Not Agree With The Clients’ Comments?
During the meetings for draft submission, we will discuss the draft made. If the clients’ comments are doable and okay to be applied to the designs, I will have no issue proceeding with their ideas. However, if the comments go against the norms of designing aspects, I will clearly tell them that the changes may not able to deliver the messages intended successfully, explaining the aspects of designing in simpler words. However, if the client insists, I may have to respect their decision and go ahead with their requests.
14. What Tools Do You Usually Use For Web Designing?
In my previous job, I used Adobe Dreamweaver since it was the software standardized in the company. Aside from Adobe, I am well-versed with Weebly, Figma, and Wix. I love exploring new applications and tools and would be open to learning and utilizing any other tools as requested by the clients.
15. What Is Your Advice For People Who Wants To Be Active In This Industry?
Nowadays, I often see freelance web designers who do part-time jobs for this. Some are qualified while some are not. There is no problem trying to get jobs in this industry but it is very commendable if you received qualifications for it. I will highly suggest they join any courses to obtain more insightful tips in designing as well as being certified as a professional designer. This will enhance clients’ trust more in use aside from providing more knowledge in web designing.
16. Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement.
My greatest achievement was back when I was instructed to lead a collaborative project. It was my very first time becoming a leader for a quite demanding project but everything was under control. Some issues happened among the members, in terms of clashing ideas, but we managed to overcome our differences and come to terms with a final fair decision. It was a great achievement for me. Since it was my first time being involved in leading a collaborative project and our product was able to appeal to the clients.
17. What Are Your Strategies And Mindset For This Role?
I always bear in mind to keep up with new trends while staying on track with the objectives of the project. Designing work generally is subjective work. Hence, it is important to always explore new trends, styles, and presentation layouts. My mindset ever since I stepped into this role is to be flexible with my style and not be too stuck up to one technique only.
18. Describe A Time You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned.
One time, I was occupied with a project but got a job that offers a higher rate. However, the project was quite complex. I was interested in the projects and accepted the job, thinking I might be able to pull them through. Taking multiple projects at that time took a huge toll on my health. I had several sleepless nights and even had to ask assistance from my acquaintance to meet the deadlines. The projects were delivered successfully but I was quite disappointed with my performance at that time. I learnt to always prioritize well and double-check if the projects are feasible to be done simultaneously or not.
19. What Is The Biggest Challenge That You Foresee In This Position?
One of the challenges that I foresee in a web designer position nowadays is to ensure the web is device-friendly. There are emerging numbers and types of devices nowadays. For example, computers, smartphones, tabs, and it is possible that there are going to be new devices introduced in the future. It is a necessity to be able to build a web that is accessible and friendly to all kinds of devices hence, designers have to visualise and come up with the layouts to cater to different kinds of devices.
20. Can You Handle Conflict In Your Working Group?
I am confident with my skills to resolve issues within my working group. Having different ideas is inevitable but I always resort to brainstorming and having discussions. This may help to ensure everyone is on the same page and able to come to a consensus on the final decision that is going to be made. I can listen to both involved persons’ perspectives fairly before deciding on the solutions.
21. How Will You Organize Your Tasks If You Are Working On Multiple Designs At The Same Time?
I will first look at the deadline of the works. While it is important to prioritize designs, which deadlines are closer compared to the other, it is also necessary to look at the complexity of the designs. I might opt to do the works at the same time or complete one design then start on the other, depending on these two aspects, deadlines and complexity.
22. Do You Have Any Experience Working With Someone Who Has Different Opinions From You?
I never worked with someone who is not on the same page as me before. But I think our clashing ideas could be resolved if we sit together calmly and talk about our opinions. Communication is the key. We may get critical with our opinions and these may result in better designs since two brains are working on it instead of just one person.
23. Do You Have Any Favourite Sites Or Blogs That You Read Regularly?
Yes, I often read this blog whose niche is on travelling. I am very captivated with the layout of the web, aside from the creative use of colours. The writing content is very detailed yet simple to be read too, accompanied by attractive photos. Aside from travelling blogs, I often find inspiration by reading cooking blogs too.
24. Share Your Techniques On Your Colour Choice.
My mindset when choosing a colour scheme for any of my projects is to keep it simple. I try to set a limit to the number of colours that appear in one design since multiple colours may create the impression of unprofessional. I often associate colours with psychology and how they can stimulate our feelings.
25. What Are The Aspects That May Hinder Readability In A Web Design?
Some of the aspects that may hinder readability among viewers are a poor choice of colours as well as too elaborated writing content. Colour plays a huge role. Too vibrant colours may be unpleasing to the eyes, while very little contrast between the font and background may be a huge hindrance too. Besides, some people are not too keen on reading hence it is important to keep the content simple, attaching infographics where seems fit.
Conclusion
Setting up a great first impression when interviewing plays a huge key to increasing the successful hire rate. Display your knowledge of the field you are interviewing for and be confident that you are indeed the web designer sought by the company or organization. Best of luck with your interviews!