Navigating Design Challenges: Is the journey worthwhile without research or business context?
By: Maria Gallo
I made it to the second round of interviews for a UX position at a start-up that I’m excited to work at.
In the first round, I had a chance to talk to the founder and lead developer about all the basic information; my experience, background, their experience and what the design team setup/size is, amongst other important information…
After the interview, they asked me if I would be fine with completing a 3 hours design challenge.
There’s a bit of controversy with design challenges and I wanted to write this article to share my experience because I’m curious about what kind of challenges others have faced in their interviews.
~What kind of design challenges did you get in your interviews?
~What were the tasks like, and how did you handle them?
Any tips or stories would be awesome to hear.
The Challenge
The company currently has two key pages for customers:
Dashboard — where customers land when they log in, and where they track their process
Asset pages — where they can see information about a particular product they can purchase.
The Problem
Different designers designed these pages, and the main issues we’ve identified are:
~The designs are good, but they’re not as impressive as we’d like in terms of design quality
~There is limited consistency in the aesthetic feel across them (no design cohesion)
~The design is slightly off in terms of our intention with the “brand”(brand identity)
The Task
Redesign these two pages, with a focus on trying to solve the problems described above ^
Notes from the team:
We acknowledge that this may be quite a large amount of work, so the minimum we want to see done is elements in the above-the-fold section for both on desktop and mobile. Prioritise doing “some” of both pages at the very least — we’re really focused on how you find consistency between designs and less about how much is done. I.E. Even just a fraction of both pages is a great start for us to get a sense of how you think
For the dashboard, we don’t expect you to handle all different states and use cases — generally just focusing on a filled-out happy path is adequate.
My Approach
In tackling this challenge, my primary objective was to ensure consistency between the Dashboard and Assets pages. To accomplish this, I curated a colour palette embodying qualities of lightness, maturity, sleekness, and playfulness, in alignment with the brand identity.
I applied foundational colour theory principles and states to devise a palette facilitating user navigation across distinct sections: CTA’s, Paginations, Icons, Sliders, Tabs and Nav Menus while upholding component consistency.
I must confess, that it was difficult for me to rely on assumptions derived from platform usage alone to guide my design choices, striving for what might constitute “an aesthetically pleasing site” while also presuming it would enhance users’ productivity during their journey.
This is where the question comes to place: Is the journey worthwhile without research or business context?
It’s worth mentioning that the platform UI displays differently between mobile and desktop and again (aesthetically) between the Dashboard and Assets pages.
To say it took longer than 3 hours in an understatement ..
Redesigns & Solutions
These basic designs exhibit cohesiveness between both the Dashboard and the Asset pages and are emblematic of the brand’s identity. I purposefully rearranged important information to ensure there was ample space between components, strategically aligning with the principles of information architecture, this intentional spacing facilitates cognitive processing, allowing users to navigate, comprehend and interact with the content more effectively.
After also crafting a small UI Library and Design System, it became apparent that this task constituted a design project in its own right! Despite the temptation to refine it further, I chose to draw a line. I’m hoping that this decision can be seen as aimed at prioritising efficiency and workflow for the challenge itself without compromising my commitment to delivering the best design proposal possible.
In my submission email, I provided recommendations for implementing a basic design library system to enhance their team’s productivity.
I would like to display the before and after but I have to be respectful of the privacy of the company, therefore I will only display my results:
Dashboard page: desktop and mobile designs
Assets page: desktop and mobile designs
Conclusion
I found satisfaction in tackling this design challenge and became deeply engrossed in it, perhaps excessively. However, I was aware of my privileged position, enabling me to devote a lot of time to the project. Upon completion, I experienced a sense of fulfilment similar to having a job, yet also felt a lingering desire to continue refining it. Coming to terms with the reality that it wasn’t an actual project and may not lead to job a opportunity can be disheartening.
With that said, for all of you reading this; consider the value of your expected contribution to the company and the worth of your own time. I view it as a chance to learn, another project from my portfolio with the potential rewards of gaining their recognition and landing this UX/UI designer role. However, it ultimately depends on your individual goals and aspirations.
If you feel like you’ve had a similar experience or have anything to share I would love to hear your experience.
