How to ace a job interview: design – Guides

You’ve finally got a chance to interview at your hero agency.

You’ve done the research, sent a killer application with your best work and now it’s time for the ever-promising interview. Let’s make sure you ace it.

Research, research, research

The first step to success is to find out what the studio expects from you. Do your research as soon as you get the invitation. Find out who’s going to be interviewing you. Ask if there’s anything specific they’d like you to talk through. A particular project, your career to date, thoughts on the best process? And make sure you know how long you’ll have to talk through your work.

Look up the people in the room. What’s their career been like? What projects have they contributed to? Are there any articles that give you a bit of insight into them, and what they might be looking for in you?

Note down some of your favourite projects from the studio and read through the About or Join pages of the website. Why do they resonate with you? Do you have shared values or similar ambitions that you can connect around?

A short history of your career to date helps the studio understand you, and what’s led you to them. How did you get into design? What are your career highs and lows? And why are you looking to move now?”

This research helps you select the ideal projects to show, get a sense of the pace to talk through your work and the key points to land. You’ll also have some questions for the studio and be ready to answer some of theirs, with an understanding of the people in the room.

Finally, the venue. Is the interview in person or virtual? You’ll need to organise yourself for either.

Prepare your tech

Take time to prepare yourself and your tech, so you can make the best impression on interview day. If the interview is virtual, make sure you have the relevant software downloaded and test drive it to check audio, camera and screen sharing.

If it’s in person, find out exactly where it is and how long it’ll take to get there. Then add a time buffer. A sweaty, flustered hot mess is not the look for a job interview.

If you have print work take it with you, and make sure it’s protected so you can show it at its best. If you have digital projects or prototypes to interact with, take a separate device or be ready to allow them to drive your laptop. Remember any connectors you may need and clear your desktop, so it looks organised.

Be ready to talk about yourself

You’ll rarely jump straight into projects in an interview. A short history of your career to date helps the studio understand you, and what’s led you to them. How did you get into design? What are your career highs and lows? And why are you looking to move now?

Some of the best interviews I’ve been in had a short presentation, with photos from their world, experimentation and adventures and some work along the way. It’s much more emotive than a LinkedIn career list and, although not essential, it shows a level of enthusiastic energy to go beyond what’s expected.

Select key projects

Your work has got you this far. Now it’s time to really sell your ideas, process and skills. Use your initial research to decide the number of projects and depth of storytelling the studio will be interested in.

Pick work that shows off your capabilities and demonstrates breadth in ideas, tools, approach, style and client. Keep it varied to really show what you have to offer.

Ideally avoid pitches or self-initiated projects, unless they add a new perspective to your work. If you do show any, keep it to one and make it clear upfront why you’re showing it — perhaps it’s a passion project, using technology or an approach your day-to day role doesn’t allow. Maybe it was a challenge to yourself to keep learning, or just great creative work you’re proud of.

Plan the story

When you talk through your work, spend some time considering the narrative — the points you think the studio will want to know about.

For brand interviews we’re looking to see how you translate strategic thinking into concepts, and how that develops into a rigorous and unique design language. The studio will want to see your ‘workings out’ — those initial ideas that turned into brands or campaigns. Take them on a journey through the process involved. Show the type of questions you were asking of the work, and the exploration that helped answer them.

Write down a list of questions in advance, and be curious as the conversation develops to get a real understanding of the studio and your potential place in it. If you need more answers, ask more questions.”

At Output, we’ll want to understand what you brought to the table, the tools you used, the team you worked with and what you enjoyed about it. Were there any tricky moments or learnings you took into other projects?

For digital-focused interviews, we want to see evidence you’re thinking through challenges like architecture and content, not just visual work. Show us brave and expressive interactive moments as well as scalable and robust UI systems. Delivery is just as important as the ideas, so we may want to peek behind the curtain and understand how you organise yourself and frame the work for external partners.

As a brand and digital studio, we’ll want to know how you collaborated with a brand team or studio to translate the conceptual idea into a rigorous system.

Ask questions

Let’s be clear here: questions are important. If you have nothing to ask when prompted, or at relevant points, it will come across as a lack of interest in the process. Build on your research and what’s been asked of you so far in the interview. Imagine yourself being offered the job — what would you want to know to definitely say yes?

Write down a list of questions in advance, and be curious as the conversation develops to get a real understanding of the studio and your potential place in it. If you need more answers, ask more questions. What’s the size of the team you’ll be working in, the studio overall, the working hours and ways of working?

Ask about the projects in the studio now and think how you might fit in. What is the studio’s vision, how do their values stack up and how does this show itself in the studio?

Follow up

At the end of the interview, make sure you know what to expect next. Clearly, the studio will be talking to other designers, so when might you hear back? Is there anything missing from today that might be helpful to send over after?

Follow up on your interview with a short email. But don’t just say thank you. Let them know what resonated for you and why you’re excited about the opportunity.

Remember, busy studios often have to run interviews back-to-back, so make sure you bring energy and curiosity to the process, stand out for the right reasons and prepare, prepare, prepare. Good luck!

Our Guides are for anyone looking to get into the design industry or progress their career. If there’s a topic you’d like to know more about, let us know.

Johanna Drewe

Working in brand or digital agencies, Johanna (she/her) wondered why the disciplines weren’t more joined up. As Creative Director and Partner at Output, she ensures both are developed with equal imagination and rigour. A design leader in a male-dominated industry, she’s interested in representing women and underserved groups, using her experience and learnings to empower a new generation of female designers.