Best interview questions for your hiring process
Brand Designer Interview questions
As the world of business becomes increasingly competitive, the importance of creating a strong and recognisable brand identity has never been greater. Brand Designers play a vital role in helping your business achieve this goal. A good Brand Designer will have a deep understanding of the latest trends in both design and marketing and will be able to translate this knowledge into creating powerful and effective visual communications.
Brand Designers should have the following skills:
- Top-notch creativity, communication and marketing skills
- Ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines
- Good project management skills
- Expertise in design software
Interviewing a Brand Designer
Your Brand Designer will be responsible for creating the visual identity of your business and products. Their work includes everything from designing logos and advertising campaigns to developing packaging and website layouts. In order to be successful, they need to have a broad set of skills from creativity to expertise in software.
That’s why hiring the right Brand Designer is essential, meaning that the interview process needs to be well-thought-out and thorough. To help you achieve this, we’ve put together a list of the right questions to ask your candidate.
You should note that our interview questions are meant for early-stage candidates with average work experience. They are therefore a little more general.
How to open the job interview
Even top-notch Brand Designers may feel nervous when faced with an important job interview. Too many nerves may hamper them from expressing themselves properly, which in turn might negatively influence your perspective on their skills, personality, and thought process.
To avoid this, start your interview with some easy questions that will get the conversation naturally flowing. This will benefit your candidate and you as well!
For the interview
A positive opener to start
What are some of your favourite brands, and why?
What led you to pursue a career in brand design?
Behavioral Questions
How do you feel about taking risks when designing brands?
What kind of design processes do you typically go through when creating a brand?
When creating a brand, designers typically go through a number of different steps to ensure that the end result is professional and memorable. Your candidate should be able to guide you through the process, step by step. To achieve a successful process and brand, your candidate’s answer should showcase their flexibility level and openness to feedback.
What challenges do you typically face when designing a brand?
When it comes to branding, there are a number of challenges that designers typically face. One of the most common is finding the right balance between familiarity and freshness. So, it is essential to know that your candidate understands this challenge and see how they would go about dealing with it
Can you share a project where you created an effective brand identity?
With this question, get details on a project your candidate participated in, and the specific role they played in it. Have them walk you through the project to see if they were involved in strategy, concepting, execution, etc. Understand what their task was, and see if their experience is a good match for you and your business’s
Soft Skills
How do you handle working with clients to create a brand that meets their needs?
The best Brand Designers are those who take the time to understand their client’s business, goals, and target market. Your candidate should not only explain the creative aspects of their work, but the practical aspects as well. Furthermore, your ideal candidate should always keep the client’s best interests in mind.
How do you work cross-functionally with developers, copywriters, project managers, etc.?
Team players make the best designers. They know how to conceptualise, ask questions, incorporate feedback, and collaborate. Ask your candidate for a specific example of how they worked under a tight deadline or when they had to rely on other people. Also, find out how they interacted with their team and their work style.
How do you deal with feedback?
Great designers want feedback on their work because they know it can make the final project even better. Understand how deal with criticism and how they decide to respond. They should be able to communicate with colleagues and clients respectfully.
Hard Skills
How do you go about creating a logo for a brand?
Creating a logo is an essential project for a Brand Designer. Your candidate should guide you through their process and showcase their creativity. Ultimately, the goal is to create a logo that accurately represents your brand and appeals to your target audience.
What are the key elements of effective branding?
There are a few key elements that every Brand Designer should keep in mind when creating a new brand. The brand should be recognisable and memorable, convey a clear message, and be consistent throughout the socials. Your candidate should be able to mention all of these points.
What softwares do you use?
This question is essential for Brand Designers. Analyse what softwares they know and whether their skills and experience would be a good match for your business’s needs.
Are you typically involved in the strategy or “concept” phase of a project?
You want to hire a designer who has experience in project management, incorporating feedback from stakeholders and being part of strategic planning. Your ideal hire should have an extensive skill set: from executing existing briefs all the way through to understanding why something needs doing or what the broader business goals might be.
Operational / Situational Questions
What kind of questions do you ask before beginning a design project? Which piece of information is of utmost value?
Your candidate should answer this question by describing how they design for clients, what’s critical to brands, and what information they believe is necessary to create results-driven designs.
What kind of rules, culture or structure need to exist to foster team collaboration?
Understanding what your candidate is looking for in a manager — the level of mentorship, personality and values — may help you determine if that person will be a good match for you and your team. You’ll want to know how this individual thinks about future successes as well as skill development opportunities.
What are the goals of this project and your thought process behind the solution?
Give your candidate a hypothetical project and explain how they completed it. The process should include concepting, creating the drafts, figuring out who the target audience is, revising with the client or account manager, launching the project, and then analyzing the results. Ask them why they made certain decisions, and analyze their thought process and response
How would you stay organised when provided with multiple design assets, files and ideas?
Your business is always on the go, and you need someone who can keep up with their own tasks while working efficiently. A good candidate will use any means necessary — even if that means taking charge of things without being told what needs doing — to make sure they get results fast.
Start hiring and prepare your interview
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A Brand Designer should be used to clients wanting their brand to be different, original and ahead of the competition, which means that designers have to be constantly pushing themselves to come up with new and innovative ideas. So, your ideal candidate should be able to embrace risk-taking and coming up with new ideas.