UX Designer Interview Preparation Guide

This is an important question because the employer is really questioning your values as a designer. Again, with this one, there’s no definitive correct answer, however this one is probably going to crop up at most UX interviews so it’s worth trying to prepare an answer. Have a think about the whole research process and how it might be possible to streamline the process so that there’s still time to complete at least some research on which to base designs on and improvements on.

With this question, the employer is also looking to see how much initiative you have as a designer and how you can help to streamline processes within their business – so be sure to keep this in mind when compiling your answer.

Cards are fast becoming one of the best design patterns for mobile devices. They collect individual pieces of content aggregated together into one experience.

We are currently witnessing a re-architecture of the web, away from pages and destinations, towards completely personalized experiences built on an aggregation of many individual pieces of content. This is a result of the rise of mobile technology, which resulted in billions of new connected devices, using different resolutions, pixel densities, and form-factors.

The idea behind cards is to show the user only relevant information at the right time. This way user focuses solely on the most important message, while most clutter is removed.

The best time to use cards would be when we need to show a particular bit information, deemed important to the user at a given time. While the card approach could be used all the time, the way Twitter separates tweets one from another, this is not always practical.

There are many services and websites already using the card system to display information. This way they visually separate or highlight information.

Displaying faceted-search controls on mobile devices in a ‘tray’ overlay is a new and effective way of displaying both results and filters on relatively small mobile screens.

Faceted search lets users refine a set of results by applying filters that comprehensively describe the search space. The ability to narrow down searches is invaluable for users who need to find something specific within a large content set. This type of search has become common for e-commerce/m-commerce and travel websites, as well as many different types of document and media collections.

A faceted system includes two critical elements:
Simple controls to construct sophisticated searches - providing familiar controls like drop-down menus and checkboxes with natural-language labels. This allows ordinary users to narrow down a large set of results to a smaller set that meets their exact criteria, without any knowledge of Boolean logic or query syntax.

Simultaneous display of the facet controls and the results - Showing both the filters and the results at the same time makes it easier for users to understand the relationship between the two; ideally, this is reinforced by dynamically updating the results set as soon as the user selects filter criteria.

Big players like Google and Apple are already using this approach to provide better UX while using their mobile platforms. Apple has Siri, while Google has Google Now. In order to enhance UX at some point, we can use voice for certain actions.

Cars can teach us a couple of basic things about designing with audio input for better user experiences. The first is that user experience design should not be limited to the usual graphic user interface (GUI).

For example, automotive apps could use voice to enhance user experience while the user is focusing on driving. Various car manufacturers have been integrating voice controls in their automotive infotainment systems for years.

Let’s imagine you are building an app that will alert the driver when the vehicle is approaching a speed camera or a built-up area. All it will take for the driver to take notice and adjust their speed is a simple audio alarm. The car has no means to visually inform drivers that they are about to hit the curb, which is why audio warnings are used for lane departure solutions as well, and similar audio warning systems have been employed in aviation for decades.

Sound tends to be very useful when we go beyond the GUI, especially when it’s necessary to alarm users and prompt them to act as soon as possible. This could be one of the examples how audio can enhance the user experience well beyond the screen.

User onboarding is the process of increasing the likelihood that new users will successfully adopt your product.

When launching a product, you need to spend a lot of time and resources to attract a sufficient number of users. There are a variety of means to attract users to your app, including advertising, referral programs, public relations, and content marketing. But when people finally download the app, they sometimes feel abandoned or let down. Therefore, you must do a good job at showing users why they need your app and how they should use it.

Onboarding can sometimes be an integral part of the app, where we show the user how to behave within the app. This dive in effect is especially useful if we incorporated some new features that might be unfamiliar to our users. Tooltips can also be used to show them how things work.

The same approach can be used when we have complex systems. With tooltips we can explain why some things are there or why others are not. It’s something like a guided tour of your app, where hints are only triggered when the user reaches an appropriate point in their experience. Thus, hints may appear in different orders for different users and actions.

Retaining an object means the retain count increases by one. This means the instance of the object will be kept in memory until it’s retain count drops to zero. The property will store a reference to this instance and will share the same instance with anyone else who retained it too. Copy means the object will be cloned with duplicate values. It is not shared with any one else.

KVC stands for Key-Value Coding. It's a mechanism by which an object's properties can be accessed using string's at runtime rather than having to statically know the property names at development time. KVO stands for Key-Value Observing and allows a controller or class to observe changes to a property value.

MVC stands for Model, View, Controller. It is a design pattern that defines how to separate out logic when implementing user interfaces. In iOS, Apple provides UIView as a base class for all _View_s, UIViewController is provided to support the Controller which can listen to events in a View and update the View when data changes. The Model represents data in an application and can be implemented using any NSObject, including data collections like NSArray and NSDictionary.

Focus on crafting a unique and specific definition that sheds light on who you are as a designer. Use this also as an opportunity to tell a story that provides context for your design perspective. However you define UX, make this a chance to add something personal.

I focused my definition around empathy and the importance of understanding the people I’m designing for. It allowed me to touch on my background in psychology, allude to past experiences I had doing anthropological research, and brought to light the importance of designing human-centered experiences.

Don’t fudge this question! Find some members of the design community now that you admire and start reading — there are a lot of incredible designers out there to source inspiration. If you don’t have a list, check out LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter or design blogs to get started. If you’re feeling brave, reach out to members in the community and begin to cultivate a relationship. It’s remarkable how friendly people in the design circle can be.