UI/UX interviews are rarely about memorising definitions. Interviewers want to understand how you think, how you work with others and whether you can explain your decisions. That said, the same UI/UX interview questions come up again and again, so preparing structured answers helps a lot, especially if you are nervous or interviewing in your second language.
Below are thirty common UI/UX interview questions, grouped by topic, with notes on what the interviewer is looking for and how to structure your answer. Do not memorise word-for-word answers; use the outlines to prepare your own examples from your projects.
How UI/UX interviews are usually structured
The exact process varies between companies, but many include some of these rounds:
| Round | What happens | How to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Screening call | A recruiter or HR checks your background, availability and interest | A clear two-minute introduction; know why you want this role |
| Portfolio review | You walk through one or two case studies | Practise a 10–15 minute walkthrough focused on decisions |
| Design task | A take-home or live exercise, such as redesigning a flow | Practise timed exercises; show process, not just visuals |
| Design critique | You critique an existing app or website | Use heuristics and accessibility as a framework |
| Team or managerial round | Collaboration, conflict, priorities, growth | Prepare stories from real projects |
Section 1: About you and your basics
- Tell me about yourself. Give a short story: your background, how you got into design, what you have worked on, and what you want next. Keep it to about two minutes.
- What is the difference between UX and UI? Explain clearly with an example. UX is about the overall experience and flow; UI is about the screens and their details. See UX vs UI design.
- Why do you want to be a UI/UX designer? Be genuine and specific. Mention what you enjoy: solving problems for people, research, visual craft.
- What is your design process? Describe a process (for example the design thinking stages) but stress that you adapt it to the project. Give a quick example.
- Which designers, products or resources do you learn from? Mention specific sources and what you learned, not just names.
- What is good design to you? Talk about usefulness, usability, accessibility and fit with business goals, not only looks.
Section 2: Research and UX
- How do you start a new project? Clarify goals and constraints, understand users, review existing data, then define the problem.
- How do you conduct user interviews? Mention recruiting the right people, preparing open questions, asking about past behaviour, avoiding leading questions and taking notes. See user research basics.
- What would you do if there is no time or budget for research? Use what exists: analytics, support tickets, reviews, quick guerrilla tests with a few people, and teammates who talk to customers.
- What are personas and when are they useful? Explain that they summarise research about user groups, and are useful only when based on real data and used to make decisions.
- What is information architecture? The organisation, labelling and navigation of content. Mention card sorting and tree testing as methods.
- How do you run a usability test? Define goals and tasks, recruit representative users, observe without helping, note issues, prioritise and iterate. See usability testing.
- Name some usability heuristics. Mention a few of Nielsen’s heuristics with examples, such as visibility of system status and error prevention. See Nielsen’s 10 heuristics.
Section 3: Visual design and UI
- How do you create visual hierarchy? Size, weight, colour, spacing, position and grouping. Give an example from your work.
- How do you choose colours for an interface? Start with brand, build scales, assign semantic roles, check contrast. See colour theory for UI designers.
- What typography decisions do you make for a new product? Typeface choice, a type scale, line height, line length and language support. See typography rules for UI.
- What is a design system and why use one? Tokens, components, patterns and documentation that keep products consistent and speed up work. See design systems for beginners.
- How do you design for different screen sizes? Mobile first, flexible layouts, breakpoints based on content, testing on real devices. See responsive design breakpoints.
- What is the difference between a wireframe, a mockup and a prototype? Structure, appearance and interaction. See our comparison.
Section 4: Tools and handoff
- How do you use Auto layout in Figma? Explain direction, gap, padding, hug and fill, wrap and nesting, and why it matters for responsive components. See Figma Auto layout guide.
- How do you set up components and variants? Build with Auto layout, group states and sizes as variants, use component properties for text, icons and booleans.
- What are variables in Figma used for? Storing reusable values such as colours and spacing, aliasing semantic tokens to primitives, and switching themes with modes.
- How do you hand off designs to developers? Organised files, consistent components, annotations, all states designed, frames marked ready for development in Dev Mode, and staying available for questions.
- Do you know HTML and CSS? Be honest about your level. Even basic knowledge of the box model and Flexbox helps you design realistic layouts.
Section 5: Accessibility
- What is accessibility and why does it matter? Designing so people with disabilities can use the product. Mention benefits for everyone, such as captions in noisy places.
- What are some WCAG requirements you check? Text contrast of 4.5:1, non-text contrast of 3:1, visible focus, not relying on colour alone, labels for form fields, text alternatives for images. See web accessibility basics.
Section 6: Collaboration and situations
- Tell me about a time a stakeholder disagreed with your design. Describe listening, understanding their concern, using evidence (research, testing) and finding a solution together.
- How do you handle feedback you disagree with? Separate the problem from the suggested solution, ask questions, test if possible, and stay respectful.
- How do you prioritise when everything is urgent? Clarify impact and effort with the product manager, focus on user-critical issues, communicate trade-offs.
- Describe a project that did not go well. Be honest, focus on what you learned and what you now do differently.
Tip: For behavioural questions, use the STAR structure: Situation (context), Task (your responsibility), Action (what you did), Result (what happened and what you learned). It keeps answers focused.
Handling the design task
Design tasks test your process more than your pixel skills. Whether take-home or live, follow these steps:
- Ask clarifying questions: who are the users, what is the goal, what are the constraints, which platform?
- State your assumptions when you cannot get answers.
- Sketch the flow before any screens.
- Explore a few options quickly, then choose one and explain why.
- Design the key screens, including at least one error or empty state.
- Explain how you would test it and what you would measure.
- Respect the time limit. A clear, well-reasoned solution beats a half-finished polished one.
Watch out: Be careful with very large unpaid take-home tasks. A reasonable task is scoped to a few hours. If a task looks like real production work, it is acceptable to ask politely about the scope and how it will be used.
Questions you can ask the interviewer
- How is the design team structured, and who would I work with most?
- How do designers and developers collaborate here?
- How do you involve users in the design process?
- Is there a design system, and who maintains it?
- What would success look like in the first few months in this role?
Preparation checklist for UI/UX interview questions
- A two-minute introduction, practised out loud.
- One case study ready to present in 10–15 minutes.
- Three or four STAR stories: a conflict, a mistake, a success, a tight deadline.
- Clear answers on UX vs UI, your process, research methods and accessibility basics.
- A refreshed portfolio (see UI/UX portfolio tips).
- A few thoughtful questions for the interviewer.
- A quiet place, stable internet and Figma ready for online interviews.
Frequently asked questions
What questions are asked in a fresher UI/UX interview?
Expect basics such as the difference between UX and UI, your design process, a portfolio walkthrough, simple research and usability testing questions, Figma skills and sometimes a short design task or app critique.
How should I answer "What is your design process?"
Describe a clear process, such as empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test, then show how you adapted it in a real project. Interviewers prefer a flexible process explained with an example over a textbook list.
How do I prepare for an app critique question?
Pick a framework such as Nielsen’s heuristics plus accessibility basics. Start with the user’s goal, mention what works, then point out specific problems with reasons and suggest improvements.
Do UI/UX interviews include coding questions?
Pure design roles usually do not. Hybrid roles such as UI developer may include HTML, CSS and JavaScript questions; check the job description and prepare accordingly.
