The kind of designers you want to hire
My boss has a favorite question he always asks potential designers he is hiring. The question usually starts with him showing the designer an existing page or design from our current website or product. He then asks how they would improve the design. If they immediately start into the colors, layout and aesthetics then he has his answer and he doesn’t hire them. He calls this kind of a designer an agency designer (his term, not mine), because in his experience there are too many creative agencies that are more interested in doing work that will make their portfolio look good rather then add to his company’s bottom line.
The answer he is looking for goes more like this. When he puts the design in front of the designer and asks them how they would improve it they immediately answer, before anything else, “what is it you are trying to accomplish?” That tells him that they understand there is a business reason behind every design task and that the business reason dictates whether the design is successful or not. This is the kind of designer he wants to hire, because they understand that a design is only “good” if it creates direct or indirect financial success for the business.
