First hire · Design

How to hire your first designer.

The first designer sets what 'good enough' looks like for years. Ten questions to surface taste, discipline, and collaboration style.

10 questions · rubric-backed · Built for small-team hiring panels
The rubric these map to
40%
Design craft
Evidence of care. Can defend every decision with user or business reasoning.
20%
Portfolio evidence
Shipped work, not case studies. Can walk through without slides.
15%
Collaboration
Works with engineers as partners, not executors.
15%
Attitude & ownership
Handles critique without defensiveness. Iterates toward honesty.
10%
Culture fit
Behavior-based — especially around feedback and shipping vs polishing.

The questions.

  1. 01
    collaboration medium · engineer

    An engineer tells you 'that animation will hurt performance.' You love the animation. What do you do?

    Strong answer
    Asks for concrete numbers. Proposes a less-expensive variant. Doesn't dismiss. Doesn't cave. Works toward a 'both' answer.
    Weak answer
    Either accepts silently or escalates.
  2. 02
    communication medium · specs

    Describe your design handoff to engineers.

    Strong answer
    Specs are tight. Edge cases documented. Motion + interaction spec'd. Available for questions. Reviews the implementation.
    Weak answer
    Throws Figma over the wall.
  3. 03
    culture medium · critique

    You're presenting design work to a room of 10 people. Someone says 'this doesn't work for me.' What do you do?

    Strong answer
    Asks specific questions — what specifically doesn't work? For whom? In what context? Doesn't get defensive or immediately capitulate.
    Weak answer
    Either defends reflexively or changes everything.
  4. 04
    design hard · tradeoffs

    You have to cut 30% of the features from a launch to hit the date. What's your framework?

    Strong answer
    User-journey completeness first. Brand-damaging cuts avoided. Technical feasibility respected. Communicates trade-offs visually, not politically.
    Weak answer
    'Let PM / eng decide.' Or cuts without user-centered reasoning.
  5. 05
    design medium · accessibility

    Your new pattern has perfect visual hierarchy but fails WCAG AA contrast. What do you do?

    Strong answer
    Doesn't treat accessibility as a nice-to-have. Finds a path that preserves the hierarchy. Knows when compromise is needed.
    Weak answer
    Either ignores WCAG or throws out the pattern entirely.
  6. 06
    experience baseline · resume-probe

    Your portfolio shows X. What were the hard parts that aren't in the case study?

    Strong answer
    Honest about unseen complexity — political decisions, constraints, failed iterations.
    Weak answer
    The case study is the whole story.
  7. 07
    design medium · craft

    Walk me through a design decision you changed your mind on during the project. Why?

    Strong answer
    Specific design choice. Specific feedback / data that changed their mind. Humility about the initial instinct.
    Weak answer
    'Everything worked out.' Or blames stakeholders for the change.
  8. 08
    culture medium · ego

    A junior designer proposes something you initially think is wrong. Turn out they're right. What do you learn?

    Strong answer
    That you don't have a monopoly on good ideas. Changes how you run critiques.
    Weak answer
    Defensive about having been wrong.
  9. 09
    craft medium · portfolio

    Show me a project where the design looks simple, and tell me what's hard about it.

    Strong answer
    Articulates the invisible work — iteration, constraints, edge cases handled. Knows that simple is the result, not the process.
    Weak answer
    Can't articulate what's hard. Talks about layers in Figma instead of user outcomes.
  10. 10
    situational medium · deadline

    Your PM wants to ship on Friday. You know the design needs another iteration. What do you do?

    Strong answer
    Articulates the cost of shipping as-is (specific, not vague). Proposes a smaller cut. Respects the business constraint. Clear recommendation, not complaint.
    Weak answer
    Either ships unhappy or blocks the launch.
Why stop at ten?

Lucida runs round one for you, and books the shortlist on your calendar.

Adaptive interviews tuned to the role, rubric-backed scoring, and a founder-ready briefing for every candidate who clears the bar. You do the human call.

Try it on your next role → See how Lucida works
Related interview question sets