Hi, this is Anne for Graphic Design How To, and today is graphic design interview questions
and answers, part three.
So today, my husband will be asking me some questions, and I'll answer them as if I were
in a graphic design interview.
And then I'll kind of analyze them from the interviewer's perspective and give you some
insight into maybe, like what the interviewer was looking for.
So let's get started.
Question number one.
What qualities and skills should a good graphic designer have?
I think first and foremost, a good graphic designer needs to have a really strong sense
of creativity, and a good aesthetic eye and the ability to use those together to create
really awesome designs.
But secondly, I think they really need a strong attention to detail, because you can't really
give your work to the next department over and over with mistakes.
Yes, you're allowed some mistakes sometimes, but it's best to never make them, of course.
So that's something that I personally really focus on.
Just developing my creativity and creative eye and also maintaining a very strong attention
to detail.
A good graphic designer is also going to need really great problem-solving skills and they'll
need to, of course,know the programs inside and out.
That's...that's a given.
The analysis: With this question, I think the interviewer wants to know if your idea
of what a good graphic designer is aligns with his or her idea.
This question is probably also a lot about fit, how well are you going to fit into their
expectations, how well you're going to match up with the rest of the team.
Number two: How do you meet tough deadlines?
Tell me about a time you had a tight deadline, and how did you deal with it?
When I have tough deadlines, a whole bunch of things piling up at once,I'll just make
a list of all of those things, write them out, and then go through them and prioritize
them in order.
And if it looks like I can't get everything done, I think it's a really great idea to
delegate overflow to maybe a junior designer, if there is one.
At my current agency, we actually had a tight deadline recently, where we had to get an
entire web design completed for a client the next day.
And so this is something I couldn't do on my own.
So I delegated and the whole team pulled together.
And it was really awesome to see everybody come together.
A lot of people did stuff that they're not used to doing in their position, but we worked
together and got it all done as a team, and we did have to stay a little late.
That's another thing.
If the deadline is approaching, and you don't feel like you can get it done in regular work
hours, I think it's really important to stay late and I'm okay with doing that.
The analysis: With this question, I think the interviewer definitely wants to know if
you have experience with deadlines.
They want to know if you'll do what it takes to get a product to the client when it's been
promised.
So if a designer doesn't really care about deadlines, they're probably not going to succeed
very well like in an agency setting.
Number three: What have you learned from all your mistakes
as a graphic designer?
I think as a newbie graphic designer, one of the things I found myself doing a lot was
just not double proofing my work.
And so I really learned over time to double check every single thing so that the next
department doesn't get any mistakes from me.
I know from experience that it can be frustrating when people don't check their work because
you just have to send it back, tell them to make changes, it is probably not the most
fun thing for them.
So I make sure to always check my work.
That way, the agency doesn't lose face.
If it goes out to a client with a mistake on it, that's always the worst.
The analysis: I think with this question, the interviewer wants to find out how you
learn and how you take a bad situation and learn from it and improve on it.
And he or she wants to know if you're willing to take responsibility for a mistake.
Question number 4: Why don't you just stay at your current company?
Well, I actually really like working at my current company.
I like the people, and I like the environment.
But I just feel like it's not challenging enough to me, as a designer.
I want to continue to grow and learn new things.
I don't feel like I'm learning a lot in my current position.
So that's really the reason why.
But I do like working there.
The analysis: With this question, the interviewer wants to know if you're going to badmouth
your current employer.
If you badmouth them, the interviewer knows that you'll probably badmouth this company
too.
So try to stay away from any negative things about the old bosses or old co workers or
anything like that.
Just focus on something that's a positive if you can.
Question number five: What have you done to improve your knowledge
as a graphic designer?
Well, on my own time, I like checking Pinterest and Behance, and seeing other people's styles,
and just in my free time, I like to take those ideas and create something in that style to
see how well I could have that work for me.
And in doing so, you really learn a lot about other people's processes, you kind of add
tools to your toolkit.
So I really think it's important to try to emulate other people's styles.
So that's something that's really worked for me.
As far as program knowledge, I think lynda.com is really awesome.
I do YouTube tutorials a lot.
And I also subscribe to some email newsletters, that kind of thing, just to kind of stay on
top of trends and know what's going on in the industry.
The analysis: I think with this question the interviewer wants to know, if you're the type
of person who wants to keep on learning and keep on bettering yourself, if you have that
drive and motivation to be the best designer you can be.
Alright, I hope you liked my video for today.
If you liked it, please click on the 'Like' button and I'll see you next Thursday.
Thanks, guys!!!