Our comprehensive collection of Physical Product Designer interview questions offers valuable insights into the essential skills and expertise required to excel in this critical role. From design thinking to prototyping and manufacturing, our curated list will help recruiters and hiring managers to assess candidates' abilities to create and bring innovative physical products to market.
Considerations for Hiring a Physical Product Designer
Today, every business, big or small understands the value of good product design. A good design not only makes the product look more alive, current, and professional but also encourages the users to buy the products. As such, more and more companies are investing in skilled Physical Product Designers.
The role of a Physical Product Designer broadly includes working on the ergonomics, aesthetics, and general usage of a product. He ensures that the design of the product meets human needs and is incredibly cool and appealing in its looks.
Considering the agile business landscapes these days it’s important to look for multi-skilled and hybrid designers who are versatile and can handle the project end to end. An ideal candidate would be one capable of taking responsibility for the design from the initial research stage to the final delivery.
In order to evaluate the product-thinking and designing skills of the applicants, you can conduct a short practical test. Present the candidates with a general problem with no detail. Then ask the candidates to generate fresh ideas and design a solution for them. Look for the following indicators to assess the potential of each prospect:
- Their ability to identify their own best ideas.
- Response to constraints and how they explore outstanding ideas.
- Fluency in generating ideas to fill up a whiteboard.
Portfolio Review
- Which aspect of your design course did you find most engaging?
- Mention some of your favorite pieces in your portfolio. What problems did you face and how did you make your design decisions to overcome those problems?
- What are you currently working on?
- Describe the way you prototype your ideas.
- Are you working on any other project that you would like to talk to us about?
- What research methods do you use when you are starting a new project?
Role-specific Questions
- What types of product designs have you developed and who were your users?
- In your past projects, to what extent were you involved in the conception and strategy phase?
- What process do you follow when it comes to designing for multiple landscapes?
- What questions do you ask before beginning your design process?
- What is the most important information required to start the product design?
- How do you go forward with your design decisions when you do not have appropriate data?
- How do you know that your design is ready for delivery?
- Explain how you evaluate your own work.
- How do you see design evolving in the next five years?
Behavioral Questions
- Share a time when you had to balance multiple competing priorities.
- How do you keep yourself organized when you are provided with several design ideas, assets, and files?
- Do you follow your intuition or leverage data for your design decisions?
