Common Design Interview Questions, and How to Answer Them
As a freelance web designer or independent contractor, your clients will likely have many questions before they choose to work with you.
Similar to the consultation phase of working with clients, design interviews are an essential part of gaining new clients and earning their business. These interviews are opportunities for you to meet prospective clients, showcase your expertise, and share your experience.
You may be asking yourself: What types of questions do potential clients ask? How can I prepare for an interview? What are great answers that I can provide to address any concerns they might have?
Knowing common design interview questions means you can prepare to answer them and nail your next interview.
The interview phase
As a creative professional, the interview phase helps you get to know your prospective client better. For your client, the interview offers insight into your workflow and creative process.
Preparing for interviews can give you a big advantage over your competitors by showcasing your best self. It’s also a great way to establish expectations early on to avoid any potential points of friction during a project.
Common questions
Every client is unique and will interview you with their own queries. However, there are several questions you can expect to answer frequently. The following is a list of common questions and advice on how to best answer them.
What is your process?
Present a clear and simple process you can explain in five steps or less.
Prepare by breaking up your process into a few main steps ahead of time. Write them down and summarize each step with a brief description. You’ll come to rely on these notes less and less as you become more comfortable interviewing and talking through your process.
When writing out your process, think through your dream project and the ideal project management style. The result should be something you’re very happy with—this answer will help guide your responses to additional questions about topics like payment, timeline, and more.
Tell me about your experience
In your response, discuss your experience as a web designer and any other experiences that highlight your expertise with site creation. This can include previous jobs or experience related to your prospective client’s industry, as well as skills like graphic design, copywriting, SEO, custom code.
You’ll want to prepare clear, quick answers, such as the following:
I’ve been building websites for five years.
I’ve built over 20 sites across eight different industries.
While I haven’t built a site in real estate yet, I can leverage my extensive experience as an agent to create an effective website for you.
Do you have similar websites I can see?
To get a sense for your experience and aesthetic, clients will want to see your previous work. Be ready to provide a link to your portfolio or a list of links to sites you’ve built.
Even if you haven’t worked on sites for their industry, show a selection of your site designs that will appeal to your prospective client based on the information you learned in the consultation. As you go through sites, help them visualize the website you would design for them by pointing out which relevant elements, style, and tone you would use or exemplify for their project.
What kind of timeline are we looking at?
Once you’ve identified your potential client's needs during the consultation, you can estimate the duration of the project. You’ll also want to consider space for communication, design, possible delays, and scheduled calls.
When your process is clear, your timeline is easy to project.
As a point of reference, I quote 60 days for most site builds that are under 10 pages and don’t include copy or logo design. The language I use with a client is: “If everything goes as planned, it should take X weeks/months to launch your new site.”
What makes you and your work stand out?
Think about why people choose to work with you. If you need guidance, ask former clients to speak to this and make note of areas of consistency. You don’t need to oversell yourself, but answer the question directly and confidently: What do you offer that makes clients want to work with you specifically?
Perhaps it's your professionalism or understanding of business value. Maybe it’s your unique approach to design or your ability to deliver a high-quality experience from start to finish. You may even have a little bit of everything. Regardless, you’ll want to come up with your own list of a few reasons that clients choose to work with you.
How many rounds of revisions can I expect?
Revisions are an important part of the process. Not because your client may not trust you, but because they want to ensure they can really personalize their website. A typical project can have between one and three rounds of revisions, so you’ll want to avoid offering unlimited revisions as this could lead to unnecessary back-and-forth and a project that never launches. Set the boundary early on by finding a number that works for you and sticking with it.
How does payment work?
If you’re vague about how the payment process works, you’ll risk making the client uneasy.
Expectations around payments is a big fear for many small businesses. You can mitigate your clients’ hesitations by having a clear process in place about how and when you collect payment. If you plan to share a project proposal with your prospective client, remind them that payment information will also be included in the proposal document(s) for their review.
What are the other costs associated with having a website?
In addition to your fee for creating their website, there will be other costs that clients will need to pay in order for the site to go live. Be prepared to explain common additional expenses they’ll incur, such as purchasing a domain, choosing a website plan, and paying for third-party tools. (If your clients choose to go with an annual plan on Squarespace, the cost of a domain is included with the first year of purchase.)
Do you build wireframes first, or do you design on Squarespace?
In case you’re unfamiliar with the term wireframe, a wireframe is a blueprint and visual framework of a webpage. Its purpose is to represent the layout, functionalities, and intended visitor journey while saving any implementation of style and design for the site building platform.
Your answer to this question comes down to knowing what works best for your business and your creative process. If the project is big enough, you may opt to create wireframes. Wireframes can be a great way to get feedback from the client on the site before spending hours developing it.
However, you may prefer building directly in Squarespace and receiving feedback based on what you’ve created. Either way, there is no right answer other than the one that best reflects your creative process.
I need my site refreshed–do you edit the live site?
When editing live—also known as published—sites, there is a risk that something can go wrong and you’ll end up deleting a key element or publish pages with misalignments or typos. Instead, try designing new pages on a duplicate of your client’s current site. You can then walk them through the changes and get their approval before copying the new look and feel over to their live site.
Do you write the copy?
The response to this question is entirely based on your skills. For different types of clients, you may or may not offer to write the copy. If you decide not to include this service, offer to leave text placeholders for the client to complete.
If you do provide this service, be ready to share examples and any additional costs or timeline impact associated with writing the website copy.
Do you create the graphics?
As with copywriting, be prepared to speak to what graphic design services you can offer and be clear about it. If you don’t create the graphics, be sure to say so. And if you do, walk them through the process and additional costs.
Do you do SEO for the site?
Once again, it’s up to you, your process, and your expertise. You can offer SEO as part of the original package or it can be something you discuss when the site is launched.
Learn more about building your clients site with an SEO strategy.
If I need updates in the future, can I hire you hourly?
While it’s important to keep repeat clients in your sphere, you don’t have to quote at an hourly rate if you don’t typically do so. When asked to explain, you can respond by saying: “I’d be happy to help. Just shoot me a message when you need any site adjustments and I would be happy to send you a quote.”
You may choose not to bill hourly as requests can vary from adjusting text to adding new customizations to a site. And as you gain experience, you’ll likely increase your hourly rate. If you’re just starting out, you’ll want to avoid over-promising a low rate that may change when your client reaches out for updates two years down the line. If they still ask for a specific rate, you can give it to them with notice that it is subject to change.
Guiding principles for any interview
No matter what questions you’re asked, these principles can help you shine through the interview phase and place you at the top of the list of candidates.
Build trust: The strongest way to nail your interview with a prospective client is to build trust. Share honest and clear answers that establish confidence in your ability to solve the client’s issues.
Keep out of the weeds: A practical way to build trust is by keeping the discussion high-level and easy to follow. Stay on the right track by preparing possible answers beforehand, always maintaining a big-picture focus. Sometimes you’ll have to talk a bit about how to solve a specific problem, but even then, don’t get too technical. “Yes, we can do that,” is often more than enough.
It’s okay to say no: It’s better to speak humbly than to overpromise and under-deliver. Being honest by saying no builds trust and can land you in a more positive place with your prospective client.
Be patient and keep an open mind: Remain humble and understanding during every interview. If some of your prospective client’s questions sound unprofessional or overly simple, give them the benefit of the doubt. This could be their first time interviewing or hiring a designer or developer, and they may not know what questions they need to ask or how to ask them.
Learn more about succeeding in introductory calls with prospective clients in our guide to consultations.
Finish strong, every time
When the interview is over, remember to follow through with the following steps:
Thank the prospective client for their time.
Send a follow-up email within 24–48 hours of the interview.
In the follow-up email, include:
Another quick thank you for their time.
Your portfolio or links to previous, relevant work.
A proposal for the project.
Great testimonials.
Next steps for moving forward with the project.
Learn more about managing clients on the Circle blog, and sign up for the Circle newsletter for additional tips.
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