How to run a design interview that tests craft

Most design interviews reward fluency. Candidates who present well, tell tidy stories and know the vocabulary do better than candidates who are quieter but sharper. If you want to see craft, you have to make room for it.

Swap the presentation for a walkthrough

Instead of a forty-minute deck, ask for one project and sit beside them while they open the real files. You will see how they name things, what they kept and what they threw away. Files are harder to polish than slides.

Work on something real, together

An hour on a genuine problem from your product, with someone from your team, tells you more than a weekend of unpaid homework. Pay attention to the questions they ask before they draw anything.

The questions someone asks before they start drawing are the interview.

Ask about the details

• What did you change after people started using it?
• Which part are you still not happy with?
• What did you leave out on purpose?

None of these have right answers. They have honest ones, and honesty about craft is exactly what you are trying to find.