Interior Designer Interview Questions
1. Which do you consider more important: functionality or aestheticism?
Neither answer is correct here. Interior designers should be able to balance the needs of making both functional designs that are practical and intuitive, and those that are aesthetically appealing.
2. Walk me through your design process. Where do you start?
Candidates should be able to describe, in detail, not just their design workflow, but their project management workflow too. They should always begin with understanding the needs of the client and emphasize their role as executors of someone else's vision.
3. A client is difficult to please and is constantly rejecting your ideas. How do you handle this situation?
This question tests a candidate's ability to manage 'difficult clients'. In some cases, a failure to convince a client of a design plan is a flaw in communication rather than design. Interior designers need to be able to persuade a client of their design.
4. Where do you get ideas/inspiration for new designs?
This tests a candidate's ability to talk about the kinds of art/media that inspire their work. Candidates might even cite functionality as a design inspiration, where the functional needs of the space inspire a creative design.
5. Describe an experience where you fell behind schedule. How did you recover?
Project management is an essential part of the job. Look out for a response that demonstrates leadership skills, an understanding of the complexities of project management, as well as lessons learned from the crisis, such as better planning of project timelines and budgets.